HAIKOU, May 16. /TASS/. Sanya's Muslim community takes more and more interest in the development of a regional free trade port, reported the Chinese newspaper Global Times.
"Since the creation of Hainan's Free Port was announced, we have not experienced a seasonal lull," said Ha Zhibao, the secretary of the party committee of the Huihui Municipality, one of the two places where Muslims live in Sanya. As the official clarified, amid Hainan's growing popularity, representatives of the city's Islamic community are increasingly involved in the rapid development of the island's tourism industry.
"We welcome people from different cultures and invite them to visit the Muslim community to learn more about our culture," said Li Shaohua, executive director of the Hainan Provincial Islamic Association. According to him, Muslims living in Sanya are tolerant of other religions and philosophical views.
"We invite representatives of different cultures to visit the Muslim community and learn more about our spiritual values," added the head of the organization. As he specified, the followers of the Islamic faith living on Hainan are striving to strengthen international contacts. "Whike Hainan's Free Trade Port is developing, the authorities are encouraging young people to learn foreign languages, including Arabic," Li Shaohua said.
According to official statistics, at least 9,400 Islam believers live in Sanya. The Muslim community has existed on Hainan for about 1,500 years, many of its representatives are descendants of Persian and Arab merchants who settled on the island during the Tang dynasty (618-907). Sanya is also home to the Cham people minority, whose ancestors moved to the island from Vietnam during the military conflicts on the Indochina Peninsula in the X-XIV centuries. In addition, in recent years, migration to the province has increased from regions of Northwest China, where numerous adherents of Islam have historically lived - from Xinjiang and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
On April 13, 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the creation of a pilot free trade zone and port on Hainan. The program aims to involve the island in the process of globalization and international distribution of labor, to lay a solid innovation base. The provincial administration creates attractive conditions for investors, forms a developed research infrastructure. According to the government plan, by 2050 this region will become a unique international cluster with an advanced economy, where the campuses of leading universities, advanced laboratories and the headquarters of world corporations.