Fast breaking festival, which falls on Thursday, is celebrated across northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where 2.02 million Muslims live.

Early in the morning, autonomous regional Party and government authorities, including Chen Jianguo, secretary of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), led chief regional officials in charge of united front work, religious affairs and Islamic associations to visit urban communities and townships in Yinchuan, the regional capital, and convey holiday greetings to Muslim residents and imams in mosques.

Chen and his entourage visited Shuangqukou Mosque in Yinchuan, refurbished and bedecked with colorful banners. Around 10 a.m., more than 1,000 Muslims wearing their festive costumes and donning white caps, swarmed to the mosque for a religion function.

While extending his holiday greetings to all Muslims at the function, Chen pledged that they would work harder still to better execute the Party's policies on ethnicities and religion affairs.

"We will advance an overall development of Ningxia by ways of helping religion adapt to local society, amassing the strength and wisdom of locals of various ethnicities in Ningxia and seizing the chances provided by the 11th five-year-plan," said Chen.

All regional government Muslim employees also enjoyed one day's leave on Thursday. Many officials of Han ethnicity and ordinary people, too, joined local Muslim brothers in celebrating the fast-breaking festival.
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2005)