Beijing, Aug 31 (IANS) Millions of Muslims in China celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr Wednesday with religious zeal and fervour.
Early Wednesday morning, Muslims from northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, as well as other Muslim-populated regions, donned festive outfits and swarmed local mosques.
About 5,000 Muslims went to the Yanghann Mosque in the regional capital of Urumqi, reported Xinhua.
China has 20 million Muslims, of which about half are from the Hui ethnic group.
Zhu Hailun, Urumqi’s top official, said Wednesday that the morning services went off without a hitch, drawing tens of thousands of local residents.
The worshipers went to local cemeteries to honour their dead relatives before returning home for family gatherings, he said.
Xinjiang has a population of more than 21 million people. More than half of the population are Muslims from 10 ethnic groups, including Uyghur, Kirgiz, Kazak and Uzbek.
The local government declared Wednesday a public holiday.
The holy month has been good for local businesses.
In bazaars and supermarkets in Urumqi, worshippers purchased candles and ‘sanza’, a type of fried dough, in large numbers.
