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Comment by wajdiben | Hacker News Reader

To be honest, I don't know whether or not the number of Muslim and/or Arab tourists to Beijing represent a significant portion. Any statistics anyone?

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Anecdotally I think that the population of Muslim or Arabic workers in Beijing and china is quite large. Last time I was there I was surprised at the number ir halal stands, Arabic lettering and other related accoutrement.

If this site is to be believed then China has a Muslim pouplationof over 24 million https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-large...

If China's Muslim population amounts to 24 million thus they represent about 1.7% of the whole country'pop; not much maybe.

Interestingly enough that 1.6ish pc makes up 20% of their ethnic population. I guess there about 1000 halal shops in Beijing and super old numbers from 2010 put the Beijing Muslim populations at somewhere a little under 260000. Indeed a pretty small enclave for such a large city. Curiously, despite the relative small size of that enclave I really did notice their presence. Though I guess anything non Han Chinese-related has a tendency to really stick out in Beijing.

Halal is more important to Muslims in China than in USA or Western Europe.

The reason is that Christians and Jews are "people of the book" according to Islam. That means that actually their slaughter is also halal, except for pork of course. So actually per sharia law halal slaughter is not necessary in countries they deem as people of the book. They still prefer it.

In China, however, or any other country that is non-Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, their slaughter can never be halal. In these countries the Muslims may only eat seafood and vegetables.

Very enlightening! Thanks for the info. The implications of Sharia in countries lacking an Abrahamic religious tradition frankly never occurred to me.

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