

Photographer Lee Jian grew up in a Muslim family in Beijing. Beginning in 2013, he started documenting the various traditions and holidays practiced and celebrated by Muslim communities across China. Lee started in Beijing, then moved on to cities across the country, in Henan, Hebei, Ningxia, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi and Hubei, he took over 3,000 pictures in total, detailing the architecture of various mosques, the atmosphere at praying sessions and during holidays like Eid al-Fitr, which occurred yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan.

The picture above was taken last month at Niujie Mosque in Beijing, marking the first day of Ramadan.





Another mosque in Beijing, located right on the south side of Chaoyang gates.







People praying inside the Niujie Mosque.





Twin brothers in the mosque near Chaoyang.





Elderly Muslims from Ningxia touring Beijing.







Tongzhou Mosque in Beijing.







Changying Mosque.







A prayer session comes to an end at Jinjue Mosque in Nanjing.







A little girl reading the Koran during Ramadan at the mosque in Chaoyang, Beijing.







A man praying at Qianmen Mosque in Beijing during Ramadan.







This Muslim family came from Qinghai to Jilin in order to attend the Eid al-Adha ceremony at the mosque there.







A man prays on the second floor of the East Xiguan Mosque in Lanzhou, Gansu province.







A gathering at the East Xiguan Mosque.







Elderly Kazakhs at Niujie Mosque.







People praying inside the Niujie Mosque.



This photo series is only a glimpse of the whole story. Lee said, “There are over 30,000 mosques in China with over 20 million Muslims from at least 10 different ethnic groups. My work of documenting Muslim life in a genuine and compassionate way has just begun. This is both my motivation and the goal I strive towards.”

By Sarah Lin

[Images via Tencent]