"The Muslim Hui are an anomaly in China, an ethnic minority granted significant autonomy and allowed to devoutly follow their religion in a region where Islam thrives ... More than 400 mosques dot the region, and Islamic schools have produced some 7,000 imams - or Islamic clerics known locally as ahongs. While Muslim Uighurs of Turkic descent in the far west face harsh religious restrictions and repression, the Hui have been afforded much more political and religious freedom by Beijing. Observers say it is their friendly historical relations with the ethnic majority Han that is the difference." (Quoted from article)