Biting a halal sesame seed cake against the backdrop of a
tapestry with the image of Mecca, 80-year-old Muslim Xie Shenglin
had a pleasant chatting with a restaurant manager with Arabic.
Meals and accommodation here are all arranged in line with our
custom, making us feel at home," said Xie, vice chairman of the
Islamic Association of China who came from northwest China's
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Together with dozens of other Muslim members of the National
Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
(CPPCC), Xie lives in the Beijing Friendship Hotel and will attend
the upcoming Fifth Session of the Tenth CPPCC National
Committee.
The manager, Gai Jingmin, is especially moved to take charge of
the halal restaurant of the hotel because he is a Muslim
himself.
"Communication with the guests in Arabic helps shorten our
distance and make them feel more at home," said the man wearing a
Muslim white hat.
Food at the restaurant was bought from halal food factories, and
Muslim chefs good at halal cuisine like mutton chop and corn flour
pancake were hired, according to Gai.
Rooms for the Muslim political advisors in the hotel are
specially decorated as well. A long carpet is spread for their
pray. On a wall writes a big character Xi, or west.
"When praying, we face the west, the direction of Mecca. This
mark of direction brings convenience to our life here," said Ma
Yuxiang, a Muslim member of the CPPCC National Committee.
It is the seventh year that the Beijing Friendship Hotel
receives Muslim CPPCC members, who will in the coming days hold
political consultation, exercise democratic supervision and
participate in discussing state affairs.
China is home to more than 20 million Muslims, most of whom
dwell in northwest China like Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Qinghai and Gansu provinces.
(Xinhua News Agency March, 2, 2007)