Chinese official warns against creeping Islamisation

Men wait for afternoon prayers to begin at a mosque in China's Linxia, Gansu province, home to a large population of ethnic minority Hui Muslims [File, Reuters]

Chinese Muslims need to guard against creeping Islamisation, including mosques that copy foreign styles, and strive to practice their faith in a more Chineseway, a senior Chinese Islamic official said on Saturday.

China is home to roughly 20 million Muslims, many living in the western part of the country, from the Uighurs of Xinjiang who speak a Turkic language to the largely sinified Hui people.