September 10 2019 was the first time I landed in Qingdao, China. Without expectation, I just want to do my best to live here. I don’t know how’s live here because I never go to overseas before. As I knew, China is one of the competitive countries with hard worker people.
In China, I lived at the international dormitory (inside campus) located at Yushan Road, Shinan District, Qingdao, Shandong province. There are many international students from various countries like Thailand, Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, and Indonesia as well. This dormitory dominated by Asian countries.
How are lives as a Muslim in China?
Okay, let me breakdown into several aspects related to Muslims.
1. Food
When we talk about food, it’s always related to culture and habit. In China, We can found rice easily. As an Indonesian, it’s a positive point because We eat rice every day. How about halal food? Fortunately, our campus provides halal food on the 3rd floor of the restaurant. There are many halal foods at cheap prices. How’s taste? For me, the taste is good enough. I have tried several kinds of food here. My favorite menu is fried chicken + eggplant + rice. I never bored eating that food. The restaurant opens every day at 11.00 AM and 17.00 AM. Don’t come late otherwise, you will not get any food. Anyway, we can eat outside the campus and find a “Lanzhou Restaurant” but the price is not cheap compared to the price inside the campus.
 |
Halal Restaurant in my Campus |
2. Mosque
The important thing when you come to another country is to find where the mosque located. Fortunately, our city has a mosque located in Fushan which is 1 hour from my dormitory by bus. Every Friday and my Muslim friend go to the mosque by Bus (No. 307). For one trip by bus, we pay 1 yuan (IDR 2000). In China, we use transportation card or digital payment like WeChat pay and Alipay. Everything is cashless, amazing. Even the mosque provides payment barcodes if we want to donate. Another interesting thing is we can found a halal market and restaurant beside the mosque. In this market, we can buy instant food, snack, basic food ingredients, and many more. We also can eat meat here. Everything is halal.
 |
| Qingdao Mosque |
 |
| at the backside of Qingdao Mosque |
3. Social
As far as I live in China, I can do any activities related to Islam. Every people is busy with their business. The Muslim people in Qingdao city is also friendly with Muslims from overseas. Everyone has the freedom to do activities as long as they are still within the normal corridor and do not interfere.
“give your respect to others, then you will be respected”
