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Hui People: China’s Chinese-Speaking Muslims, From Noodles to Mosques

Customs
Nov 9, 2026
Bowl of Lanzhou beef noodles with clear broth, red chili oil, white radish, green garlic sprouts and cilantro

If you have eaten a bowl of hand-pulled beef noodles anywhere in China, you have probably already met the Hui people. Most visitors do it without knowing. They follow a green sign with the characters 清真 into a noodle shop, or they queue for lamb skewers in Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter. Then they leave, full and slightly confused about who cooked the meal. So this guide starts where travellers and students actually start: with the food. From there it moves to the mosques that look like Chinese temples, the festivals and the small rules that make a visit go smoothly.

Who the Hui People Are

The Hui (回族, Huizu) are one of China’s 56 officially recognised ethnic groups. China’s 2020 census counted 11,377,914 of them, which makes them one of the largest minorities in the country (Wikipedia, 2026a). For the bigger map of how the groups fit together, see our overview of ethnic groups in China.

Unlike most minorities, though, they are not concentrated in one corner. Census figures put about 2.52 million in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, roughly one in five of all Hui. Gansu follows with about 1.34 million. After that come Xinjiang, Henan, Qinghai, Yunnan, Hebei and Shandong, and Beijing alone counts around 274,000 (Wikipedia, 2026a). In practice, almost every Chinese city has a Hui neighbourhood, a mosque and a row of halal restaurants.

Muslims who speak Chinese

Here is the part that surprises most people. The Hui have no separate language. They speak Chinese, usually the local dialect, and simply mix in some Arabic and Persian words for religious life (Wikipedia, 2026a). Most other minorities in China are defined partly by a language of their own. The Hui are defined instead by a shared faith and a shared history.

That history starts on the Silk Road and the sea routes. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Arab and Persian merchants settled in Chinese port cities and in Chang’an, today’s Xi’an. Then, under the Mongol Yuan dynasty, many more Muslims arrived from Central Asia as soldiers, craftsmen and officials (Wikipedia, 2026a). Over the centuries they married locally, took Chinese surnames and kept their faith. In the Ming and Qing periods, people called them Huihui, and older texts sometimes describe them as the “white-capped Huihui” after the small white caps many men still wear (Wikipedia, 2026a).

Halal Food: Where Most Visitors Meet the Hui People

Look for two characters: 清真, qingzhen, literally “pure and true”. It is the Chinese word for halal, and it hangs over shop doors from Harbin to Kunming. A qingzhen kitchen serves no pork. Many also keep alcohol off the menu. Western readers can think of a kosher deli in New York or a halal kebab shop in London — a food tradition tied to faith, which outsiders mostly enjoy for the taste.

Lanzhou beef noodles

The most famous Hui dish is probably a breakfast. According to its national heritage file, Lanzhou beef noodle making was started more than a century ago by a Hui cook, Ma Baozi. His son Ma Jiesan then refined the clear broth (China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network [ihchina], 2021). Locals judge a bowl by a five-colour rule: clear broth, white radish, red chilli oil, green coriander and garlic sprouts, and yellow noodles. The same file claims over 40,000 Lanzhou noodle shops across China (ihchina, 2021). Our full guide to Lanzhou beef noodles explains how to order the noodle thickness you want.

Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter

Meanwhile, in Xi’an, the Hui quarter behind the Drum Tower is the city’s busiest food street. Expect beef or lamb roujiamo, lamb skewers heavy with cumin and yangrou paomo, a bread-in-mutton-soup you tear up yourself. The main drag gets packed at night. Honestly, the side lanes are calmer and often cheaper. Our Xi’an street food guide lists what to order and where.

Ningxia and the northwest

Further northwest, halal food is the default rather than the exception. In Ningxia, lamb is the star — boiled, hand-torn and dipped in salt and garlic. Across Gansu, expect noodles at nearly every meal. And for Muslim students weighing where to study, our guide to Ningxia University covers daily halal life on and around campus.

Mosques of the Hui People That Look Like Temples

Many first-time visitors walk past a Hui mosque without realising it. There may be no dome and no tall minaret. Instead, you see curved tiled roofs, painted beams and courtyards — the same vocabulary as a Buddhist temple or a palace. Europe has a parallel. Churches in Norway, Italy and Ethiopia share one faith yet look nothing alike, because builders used local materials and local styles. Chinese Muslims did exactly that.

The Great Mosque of Xi’an

Down Huajue Lane, in the eastern part of the Muslim Quarter, sits the best-known example. Tradition dates its founding to 742, under the Tang. However, most of what stands today was built in the early Ming dynasty, in the late 14th century (Wikipedia, 2026b). The complex covers about 1.23 hectares. Its courtyards run east to west, so the prayer hall at the far end faces west, towards Mecca. That breaks the usual north-south layout of Chinese temples. Look out for the Shengxin Lou, an octagonal pagoda-like tower that some scholars think once served as the minaret (Wikipedia, 2026b). Visitors pay a small entry fee. Non-Muslims may walk the gardens but may not enter the prayer hall. Fees and hours change, so check on site.

Niujie Mosque, Beijing

In Beijing, the Niujie (“Ox Street”) Mosque is the capital’s oldest. It was first built in 996, under the Liao dynasty. Later it was rebuilt in 1443 and expanded in 1696 (Wikipedia, 2026c). The site covers roughly 10,000 square metres, laid out around courtyards like a traditional Beijing home. Again, the prayer hall is for Muslims only. Afterwards, the surrounding street is a good place for halal snacks and pastries.

Najiahu Mosque, Ningxia

South of Yinchuan, in Yongning County, the Najiahu Mosque serves a village where many families share the surname Na. It is built in Chinese style and protected as a national-level heritage site (Wikipedia, 2026d). Local accounts date its founding to the Ming dynasty. Fewer tourists come here, so it feels more like a working village mosque than a sight.

One more detail worth knowing. Hui communities have had female religious teachers, called nü ahong, for centuries. They guide women in prayer and study, though they do not lead mixed prayers (Wikipedia, 2026a).

Festivals of the Hui People: Eid and Corban

Two festivals shape the Hui year. Both follow the Islamic lunar calendar, so they move about eleven days earlier every year.

  • Eid al-Fitr (开斋节, Kaizhai Jie) — the end of Ramadan. Families go to morning prayers, visit relatives and share festive fried pastries.
  • Eid al-Adha, called Corban (古尔邦节, Gu’erbang Jie) — the feast of sacrifice, about seventy days later. Lamb or beef is shared with relatives and neighbours.

In Ningxia, both are regional public holidays. For 2025, for example, the regional government gave two days off for Eid al-Fitr (31 March and 1 April) and one day for Corban (6 June) (General Office of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region People’s Government, 2024). Dates for later years appear in each year’s official notice, so check before you plan around one. During Ramadan, meanwhile, some halal restaurants shift their hours, especially at lunchtime.

Music crosses community lines, too. Hua’er, a style of mountain folk song from Gansu, Qinghai and Ningxia, is sung by Hui people alongside several neighbouring groups. UNESCO inscribed it in 2009 (UNESCO, 2009). In Linxia, just south of Lanzhou, the Hui make up about 32% of the prefecture’s population, and several smaller Muslim groups live alongside them (Wikipedia, 2026e).

Etiquette Tips for Visiting the Hui People

  • Never bring pork, or pork-based snacks, into a qingzhen restaurant. Don’t ask for it either.
  • Many halal restaurants serve no alcohol. Ask before you open your own bottle; often the answer is no.
  • At mosques, dress modestly: covered shoulders and knees. Women may be asked to cover their hair in some places, so carry a scarf.
  • Take your shoes off where others do, and stay out of prayer halls unless you are invited.
  • Avoid visiting at prayer times, especially Friday midday, which is the busiest.
  • Ask before photographing people, particularly worshippers and women.
  • Don’t assume every halal kitchen is Hui. Uyghur restaurants are qingzhen too, but the food and language differ — see our introduction to the Uyghur people.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Do the Hui speak a language of their own? No. They speak Chinese, usually the local dialect, with some Arabic and Persian religious words.
  2. Where can I see Hui culture most easily? Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter, Niujie in Beijing and the city of Yinchuan in Ningxia are the easiest starting points.
  3. Can non-Muslims visit Hui mosques? Many mosques welcome visitors to their courtyards. Prayer halls are usually for Muslims only.
  4. Is all halal food in China Hui food? No. Uyghur, Kazakh and other Muslim groups run halal kitchens too, each with its own dishes.
  5. When is Corban? It falls on the 10th day of the 12th Islamic month, so the Western date moves earlier by about eleven days each year.

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