Can China Make Its Cuisine — and Finance — Friendly to Muslims?

[Armstrong]

- never mind -

 

[Gnimgnay]

There are a lot of whole-veggie resteraunts in China. And some of them are very popular. They use vegetables and soy products to mimic the flavour of all kinds of meat...I suggest Muslim and Hindu friends to try those resteraunts.

 

[Sonyuke_Songpaisan]

China has plenty of Muslim cuisines-xinjiang dapanji, Lanzhou lamian,etc.

 

[ephone]

I think you make the wrong suggestion. It is not China that need to make its legendary cuisine friendly to muslims but muslims need adapt to China' legendary cuisine. You need remember, in China's 1.4 billion's population, only about 1.3 percent is muslims. You ask 98.7% people to make compromise to the 1.3%???

That must be a joke.

China's legendary cuisine has been a secret weapon to winning many an investment. But when a major ingredient of the culinary experience is pork, hospitality can only go so far when it comes to entertaining Muslim businessmen from countries like Indonesia and the Gulf's emirates.

How the Chinese have been able to adjust can be seen in Hong Kong, the international trade port that many of these business people go through on their way to mainland China.

Take a look at the Islamic Centre Canteen, just a few floors above the Wan Chai mosque. Wrapped up in the savory, little dumplings the canteen serves is the quintessential Hong Kong culinary experience, sans the pork. That kind of accommodation for Islamic dietary rules is growing, along with business prospects from the Muslim world.

In 2010, there were only 14 certified halal restaurants and markets in Hong Kong, advertised by visitor centers. In the past year alone, however, the number has almost tripled. Muslim community leaders have intimated that the Hong Kong government has collaborated with Islamic clergy in order to lure prospective Muslim guests with dining options. The Hong Kong Tourism Board reports that in recent years, the number of Middle Eastern visitors to the region has grown by as much as 20% annually.

One can often find tourists from the Middle East, Pakistan and Indonesia in the Tsim Sha Tsui district, where 13 of Hong Kong's official halal restaurants are located. The tourists usually buy wholesale mobile phones — often knockoffs — manufactured at mainland factories for resale at home. "There has been an increase in halal restaurants in the past few years; not only that, but supermarkets are now serving lots of halal products," says Wael Ibrahim, an Egyptian businessman who has lived in the greater China region for a decade and chairs Serving Islam, Hong Kong's Muslim community organization. Ibrahim explains that promoting halal-food offerings is an effective way of "tightening the relationship between Hong Kong and other countries."

Establishing Muslim-friendly services in China's Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region may well be part of a multipronged attempt to establish a stronger business relationship between the natural-resource-rich Muslim world and the greater China region, which is in dire need of fuels for its burgeoning economy. "Mutually beneficial cooperations between China and the Muslim world are extremely important to China," says Ma Hongjian, president of the Beijing-based China-Arab Council for Investment Promotion, explaining that since 9/11, trade partnerships between the two have skyrocketed because many Muslim businesspeople were unable to obtain visas to the West and instead started going to China in droves. "There are so many examples of the Chinese government trying to provide facilities for our Muslim guests," says Ma, himself a Chinese Muslim.

(PHOTOS: Year of the Dragon)

In 2010, the mainland Chinese city of Guangzhou, which has become a hub for international Muslim businesses in recent years, hosted the Asian Games. Over half of the 45 participating nations were majority-Muslim countries and major sources of China's oil and energy needs. For the occasion, the Guangzhou city government poured some $2.4 million into the construction of a giant mosque, a monument to the Prophet Muhammad's uncle, Saad Ibn Abi Waqqas, who is traditionally believed to be entombed nearby. The government estimates that 30% of the food served at the games was certified halal.

More recently, Hong Kong has been trying to position itself as a conduit for Muslim business with the mainland. And it is not just by offering the business community more dining options but also by developing a strong platform for Islamic finance — which is compliant with Shari'a and prohibits usury, which many modern-day practitioners interpret to mean any form of interest. Investments in un-Islamic industries dealing, for example, in pornography, gambling and alcohol are also prohibited. "We hope to develop a wholesale Islamic capital market," says a spokesperson for Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau. That would include Islamic bonds, known in Arabic as sukuk, which pay investors in assets to avoid, at least nominally, the exchange of interest.

Local Muslims are still skeptical. "We hear that [Hong Kong banks like HSBC] are studying about implementing Islamic finance in Hong Kong, but so far nothing major has materialized," says Ibrahim of Serving Islam. Indeed, while the official policy of the Hong Kong government may be to welcome Muslim business to the region, perennial reports of workplace discrimination and harassment of Pakistani and Indonesian Muslims abound.

Hong Kong may work to offer Muslim visitors halal dumplings at the Islamic Centre Canteen in Wan Chai, but the city's employers often refuse to let Muslim migrant workers practice their religion as desired. Sullying Hong Kong's name in Indonesia late last year, two live-in Indonesian domestic workers were reportedly forced to eat pork and take off their headscarves by Hong Kong employers, according to the Jakarta Post. They also told the newspaper that they no longer prayed five times a day. "There's no time, and the employers always complain, so we just gave up. It's easier that way."


Read more: Can China and Hong Kong Lure Muslim Business and Money? - TIME

 

[ephone]

the so-called rok is really a country or just another concubine of U.S.A.???

When China had foreign troops occupying China, Chinese people rised up to drive them out. However, those little k's in rok seem enjoying being occupied with its countries being raped day in and day out.

BTW, how about those U.S. soldiers who have raped k's females??? Well, it seems that they just get out of so-called rok so easily and your own damn r.o.k could do nothing about it. Aren't you shameful???

As for rok's military? Well, even now, the so-called tianan ship sunk for such a long time, where is the mighty rok military power?

That's a good news, then the NK regime would fall in a week. The ROK military and the rightwingers are eager for a war now, because they calculate they are strong enough to overthrow Kim's regime in a week. A lot of people close to the military are shocked by that one week estimation, but the entire NK air defense would be cleaned and Pyongyang would be under siege in 3 days according to the top secret war simulation.

 

[Rusty]

I think you make the wrong suggestion. It is not China that need to make its legendary cuisine friendly to muslims but muslims need adapt to China' legendary cuisine. You need remember, in China's 1.4 billion's population, only about 1.3 percent is muslims. You ask 98.7% people to make compromise to the 1.3%???

That must be a joke.

Relax man, no one is telling you that you can't eat pork.
The article is merely saying that it is in China's best interest to have Halal Chinese restaurants to attract Muslim business.
For Muslims, having one or two Halal restaurants in the city would be amazing and allow us to experience Chinese food.

 

[SinoChallenger]

Seoul is expected to be under shelling for about two hours before the entire origin of attack is suppressed by the ROK military. So about two hours is the maximum duration of attack before the ROK invasion of North Korea begins.

And what kind of nasty things do you expect in those shells?

Only about 300 are long range enough to strike Seoul, and the positions of those are tracked daily, so they would be gone by counter artillery in 30 minutes.

LOL at Koreans bragging about their artillery when they were blasted to pieces in 2010.

About the cuisine...I just came back from Sichaun ( A Chinese restaurant in Lahore - My city) - the Shashlik was heavenly, the Prawns were amazing, the Chop suey was great and the Chicken Corn Soup was a stunner ! As for Finance, we in Pakistan, don't really indulge in Islamic finance that much either...its still a growing business and China should explore this Capital Market (Islamic Banking) because its projected to grow quite a lot in the future.

I dont know about finance but I love Chinese (Cantonese) food

Korean fails again.

Relax man, no one is telling you that you can't eat pork.
The article is merely saying that it is in China's best interest to have Halal Chinese restaurants to attract Muslim business.
For Muslims, having one or two Halal restaurants in the city would be amazing and allow us to experience Chinese food.

Agreed. I love Xinjiang food too. Lamb kebabs, naan bread (yes same pronunciation as the indians), hand stretched noodles....

 

[ephone]

That suggestion is simply nonsense. Whoever makes such suggestion seems to know nothing about China.

Muslims are living everywhere in China. Muslim restaurants are also everywhere. They all serve Halal food.

In China, there is no restriction for opening muslim restaurants and indeed such muslim restaurants flourish in almost every major cities.

Such suggestion seems to suggest the China has restriction over muslim halal restaurants or is hostile towards such food. However, indeed there is nothing like that.

Relax man, no one is telling you that you can't eat pork.
The article is merely saying that it is in China's best interest to have Halal Chinese restaurants to attract Muslim business.
For Muslims, having one or two Halal restaurants in the city would be amazing and allow us to experience Chinese food.

To those little korean trolls, it is not our Chinese members intention to laugh at your despicable misgivings.

However, if you want to make fun of China out of nowhere, you know what you will get. Do not cry so hard for being poked at the deepest hurting parts in your little history.

 

[Shardul.....the lion]

I love chinese dishes availaible in India.

But yet to dare chinese dish in sydney, dont know what to order in chinese restaurant.

Can chinese friends suggest names of chicken and fish dishes in chinese restaurant in foreign countries.

 

[Gnimgnay]

I love chinese dishes availaible in India.

But yet to dare chinese dish in sydney, dont know what to order in chinese restaurant.

Can chinese friends suggest names of chicken and fish dishes in chinese restaurant in foreign countries.

Hmm, there are way too many Chinese dishes. I can only recommend you some regular low-end ones.
how about Kongpao Chicken? a safe but plain choice. Correct Kongpao chicken is sweet and sour. It is stir fried with peanuts and cuccumbers. And try Beijing roasted duck, if it is available. As for fish, steamed bass or spicy water-boiled fish are my personal favourites.
I strongly suggest you try high-end Chinese courses, if you find the chance. They are arts.

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Relax man, no one is telling you that you can't eat pork.
The article is merely saying that it is in China's best interest to have Halal Chinese restaurants to attract Muslim business.
For Muslims, having one or two Halal restaurants in the city would be amazing and allow us to experience Chinese food.

Every Chinese university has a halal section. There are no restrictions on halal food in China. However, you should not expect the 99% to accomodate the 1% and all switch to halal food. That is unrealistic and China simply isn't going to do it. You'll have better luck getting Israel to adopt Halal food than China.

 

[Götterdämmerung]

A few years ago, I was flying from Beijing to Xining, Qinghai Province and they served halal food in the plane. I also took the train from Shanghai to Urümqi and they served halal food in the train. Oh, the food in Xinjiang and from the Hui in Qinghai was amazing!