14,000 Chinese to Perform Hajj This Year
For the first time, Chinese pilgrims from Ningxia, an autonomous region will be performing the Hajj this year.
The first flight with 297 pilgrims from Ningxia arrived in Jeddah on Saturday. A total of 2,833 pilgrims are scheduled to arrive from this part of China, Arab News reported.
Some pilgrims expressed joy at being able to perform the pilgrimage noting that their parents had been unable to do so owing to the restrictions in the past.
Around half of China’s 20 million Muslims live in Ningxia, where the people identify their ethnic group as Hui, a recognized minority in China.
Unlike the Uighur Muslims in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, otherwise known as East Turkestan, where the Muslims are largely of a Turkic ethnic background, the Hui population is a Sinitic race that has accepted Islam.
