Muslims in NW China celebrate annual Corban festival

Muslims in northwest China's Qinghai Province celebrated the annual Corban Festival on Thursday. Thousands of Muslims from the Hui, Salar and Dongxiang ethnic minority groups attended a religious ceremony Thursday morning at the Dongguan Mosque in Xining, the provincial capital. Haji, deputy director of the 900-year-old Dongguan Mosque's administration committee, said at the ceremony that Muslims are praying for national prosperity and happiness within their own families. The festival, also known as Eid al-adha, is a major Islamic festival intended to demonstrate faith and obedience to Allah. The festival officially fell on Friday this year. "Our whole family cherishes our harmonious life and traditional virtues. We wish for prosperity for our country," said Ma Honglu, a 72-year-old ethnic Hui, after the ceremony. Local resident Wang Lichun said she has prepared a feast for the holiday for her parents, brothers and sisters. "Life is much better than it was in my childhood, when my family could not afford to buy chicken," she said. China has more than 20 million Muslims, mainly living in the provinces and provincial-level regions of Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and Henan.