Muslims and Muslim food in Guangzhou City

Just had my breakfast outside the hotel in a Muslim food stall nearby. Traditional Northwest Food is of the scale of a small mamak stall in Malaysia and it sells halal beef- and mutton- noodles cooked with spicy soup. No alcohol and non-Muslim food are allowed inside the stall's compound.

According to its Chinese-speaking boss-cum-waiter, this kind of Muslim food stalls are so numemous in Guangzhou that it has become part and parcel of the normal society for the past few hundred years. His daughter, who serves as the cook, wears a piece of scarf. Otherwise, both the father and daughter look and sound like any other Chinese in China, Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of the world.

The boss also told me that his family actually originates from the Great Northwest and his late grandfather, also a Muslim, was an oppressed and poor peasant who joined Chairman Mao's Red Army when they passed by his village during the historic 25,000-li Long March in 1934-1936.

Muslims in China is also known as the Hui people.