The China Islamic Association held a reception in Beijing Friday to celebrate Saturday's Corban Festival, one of the three most important Islamic holidays.
Chen Guangyuan, president of the association, conveyed holiday greetings on behalf of the association to all Muslim people in the world. He also expressed best wishes to the reception participants.
Senior officials attending the reception included Tomur Dawamat,vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), State Councilor Ismail Amat and Bai Lichen, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Participants at the reception also included diplomatic envoys from Islamic countries as well as foreign Muslim experts working in Beijing.
Besides Beijing, members of a Muslim delegation from Hong Kong also joined 2,500 Muslims in Guangzhou to celebrate the Corban Festival Saturday.
Local Muslims gathered at the Huaisheng-Guangta Mosque and the Haopan Mosque today to extend festival greetings to each other.
The participants also included experts from a dozen Islamic countries who are working in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province in south China.
The Corban Festival falls on the 10th day of the last month of the Hui (Chinese Muslim) calendar and this year's Corban Festival falls on February 23, and coincide swith the Spring Festival period (New Year by the traditional Chinese lunar calendar). During the holiday, Muslims visit their friends, have family gatherings and slaughter cattle and sheep on the occasion.
China has 10 Islamic ethnic groups, including the Hui and Uygur. Ningxia is China's only autonomous region of the Hui ethic group.
(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2002)
