KUALA LUMPUR: Muslims in China have been living in peace and harmony with other ethnic groups of the country for a long time, said China’s ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian.
Bai said China has a big Muslim population, with some 23 million of them residing in the country.
“In China, the Muslims also celebrate Ramadan. Nowadays if you go to some cities like my home city in Xi’an and also to some provinces you will see the Muslims enjoying the festival as much the Malaysian Muslims here,“ he told the media at the Hari Raya Open House hosted by the Chinese Embassy at the embassy’s compound, here, Tuesday.
More than 500 people including ministers, non-governmental organisations, Chinese Muslim associations, government agencies and members of the media attended the event, hosted for the first time by the embassy.
The guest of honour was Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof.
Guests were served a variety of delicious food and special Chinese Muslim cuisine such as pulled noodle and entertained with various performances and a live band.
Teachers from the University of Malaya’s Kong Zi Institute taught guests Chinese calligraphy and paper cutting.
Bai said the event was to show the Chinese embassy’s respect to Islam and Muslims in Malaysia.
“The reason we organised this event is to show respect to Islam, to show our respect to Muslim friends, and to show our friendship and love to our Muslim friends in Malaysia.
“Because we think that the cultural values embedded in Ramadan something similar to Chinese culture, loving, sharing and forgiving. I think there is something in common,“ he said. — Bernama
