Lvlan women's mosque was oringinally biult in 1956 by a group of female Muslims who relocated to Lanzhou from Central China's Henan province. The faithful had set up female Muslim schools around the country as early as the late Ming Dynasty. These turned into female mosques operated by women imams in the late Qing Dynasty. The practice of female imams then spread to all the Chinese Muslim societies. China Daily Cui Jia went to investigate.

Related story: Mosques give women a major say

Related slideshow

Reporter: Cui Jia

Photographs: Zou Hong

Editor: D J Clark

Producer Flora Yue

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About D J Clark

D J Clark has worked worldwide as a multimedia journalist for more than 20 years. As well as working for China Daily he runs an MA course in Multimedia journalism at Beijing Foreign Studies University and is the Director of Visual Journalism at the Asia Center for Journalism in Manila, Philippines.