Mamat Zunum Obulkasim, 66 year-old in Kashgar, can be exempt from fasting during Ramadan due to his health condition. [Photo by Hu Yongqi/China Daily]

Break fast

In Urumqi during Ramadan many Muslim restaurants were closed until sunset, when believers would break their fast and enjoy a meal. Dinner could be taken either at home or in mosques before night prayers.

Baida Mosque, like others in Urumqi, employs cooks to prepare food. On the second floor of the mosque, Muslims sat on blankets in a circle around plastic sheet on which fried rice was served. After a short prayer, believers ate a plate of rice and then went downstairs for a night prayer.

Alimu, a chef at Hualian Hotel near the mosque, said he volunteers to help at Baida Mosque every day after work.

"I help cook food here four hours a day, as a way of doing something good," he said in the Uygur language.