For China's Muslim schools, a balancing act

[rug]

YINCHUAN (NINGXIA), September 25, 2011

For the Ningxia Islamic College's 420 students, lessons can often be confusing.

During their morning classes, the students, all from China's 10 million-strong Hui Muslim minority group, recite verses from the Koran and study Arabic.

When afternoon lessons resume, after prayers, their teachers shift tack: the students pore over Chinese textbooks on Socialist theory, learning about capital, labour and Communist Party philosophy.

“Socialism and Islam are, usually, not the most compatible of subjects,” says Ma Ming Xian, the vice dean of the college, with a smile.

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