By Ren Ke and Feng Guo (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-11-15 10:55

The newly built South Christian Church in Yan'an. Feng Guo. [China Daily]

Liu, who is now a preacher, says she reached Yan'an from Yichuan three years later. Though Yichuan is a county of Yan'an, it has more believers than the city proper. Though the church is empty now, "about 200 believers come here every weekend," says the 25-year-old. "During the peak tourist season, the number can cross 300. Students returning home for holidays come here, too, as do some foreign visitors."

Liu's younger sister, based in another part of Shaanxi, is also a preacher. And her younger brother works in a city in East China. Liu says the South Christian Church has five preachers including her. There are more than 50 churches, with more than 100 preachers, in the whole of Yan'an, which comprises 13 counties.

A 10-minute ride from the Protestant church takes you to Liulin Town Mosque. A green-domed building stands out among the few houses scattered on the mountainside by the Yanhe River. And the first thing you see on entering the courtyard is a stone tablet with three Chinese characters in Mao Zedong's handwriting, qing zhen si, meaning mosque. "That's the only thing Mao Zedong ever wrote for a religious site," says the imam, Han Chuanjin.

The newly built South Christian Church in Yan'an. Feng Guo The mosque was built in 1940 to support the Hui People's Detachment in Yan'an that, along with the communists, fought the Japanese invaders. Since the original mosque had fallen into disrepair and couldn't be used for prayers, a new one was built in the 1990s, and Mao's inscription was moved there.

Han graduated from the Xi'an Foreign Languages College in 1986. His knowledge of Arabic, which he learned in college, helped him visit Pakistan and pre-war Iraq on a religious exchange program.

Before coming to Yan'an, Han used to be the imam of a mosque in Nanyang, Henan Province. "When I was in Henan, thousands of Muslims used to come to the mosque," he says. "The mosque could receive more than 100,000 yuan ($13,300) a year. I enjoyed a high income too: 25,000 yuan ($4,000) a year."

But after reaching Yan'an in February this year, he found only 300-plus Muslims were living in the area. The mosque depends on government allowances, and Han gets only 500 yuan ($65) a month.

So why did he give up his higher earning and leave behind his family in Nanyang to come to Yan'an? He says the decision was difficult but "I came here because I think this mosque needs better management". He has grand plans, one of which is persuading the local government to include the mosque into the national program called "red tourism", which encourages tourists to visit revolutionary bases and landmark sites.

"Yan'an's mosque has a special significance," Han says, gesturing toward Mao's inscription. "I also hope that the original mosque can be restored."

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