ARRIVAL
Touch down in Xi'an — the ancient Silk Road terminus and home to one of the oldest Muslim communities in China. Transfer to your hotel and settle in at leisure. Xi'an's Great Mosque, founded in the Tang Dynasty, stands just a short walk from the old city walls.
Welcome Group Dinner. The first shared meal of the journey — a warm introduction over Xi'an's celebrated Hui cuisine.
Group Dinner · Halal
Tour: Architectural Arts of Chinese Mosques. A professional lecturer leads an immersive exploration of Xi'an's historic mosques — the unique synthesis of Tang-dynasty Chinese architecture and Islamic aesthetics, from calligraphic stone carvings to courtyard prayer halls that echo both the Forbidden City and the great mosques of Central Asia. SPIRITUAL
Group Lunch · Halal
Free Exploration — The Muslim Quarter (Huimin Jie).A labyrinth of lane stalls, noodle shops, spice merchants, and artisan vendors stretching toward the Great Mosque. Sample yangrou paomo, sesame flatbreads, pomegranate juice, and roasted nuts at your own pace. FREE TIME
Dinner · Free exploration (own expense)
Choose your final Xi'an experience: YOUR CHOICE
① Terra Cotta Warriors — A UNESCO World Heritage Site: over 8,000 life-sized soldiers standing guard over Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb since 210 BCE.
② Muslim Quarter (continued) — Revisit Huimin Jie for any sites or shopping missed, including the magnificent Xi'an Great Mosque complex.
Group Lunch before departure.
Bullet Train: Xi'an → Wuzhong. High-speed rail westward toward Ningxia — the Loess Plateau scrolling past the window. Journey time: approximately 2.5–3.5 hours. TRAIN
Arrival, rest, and free stroll in Wuzhong — a city where the Hui Muslim community forms a significant majority and Islam is visibly woven into daily life.
Group Dinner · Halal
Hui Village Home Visit — Dongtasi Township. Be welcomed into the home of a local Hui family for a traditional breakfast. Guests learn to make beloved Hui snacks by hand — from hand-pulled noodles to sesame pastries — in a setting of genuine village hospitality arranged exclusively through the tour agency.
Special Hui Family Breakfast (included)
Group Lunch · Halal
Visit the Local Mosque.Explore a neighborhood mosque that has served as the spiritual anchor of this Hui township for generations. SPIRITUAL
Group Dinner · Halal
Choose your morning activity:YOUR CHOICE
① Hui Martial Arts (Hui Wushu) — A living tradition that developed within Chinese Muslim communities as a form of physical discipline rooted in Hui cultural identity.
② Free Stroll in Wuzhong — Wander at your own rhythm through local markets, tea houses, and artisan workshops.
Group Lunch · Halal
Tongxin Grand Mosque. One of the oldest and grandest mosques in the Ningxia region, whose history spans dynasties and bears witness to the endurance of Islamic faith in northwest China. SPIRITUAL
Wuzhong Halal Night Market.Dozens of stalls, lanterns strung overhead, aromas of grilled lamb, spiced flatbreads, and sweet pastries. FREE TIME
Dinner · Free exploration at the night market (own expense)
Bullet Train: Wuzhong → Lanzhou. Approximately 2 hours through Gansu Province, gateway to the Silk Road's Central Asian heart. TRAIN
Group Lunch · Halal
Tea Ceremony & Incense-Making Workshop. At a local teahouse, participate in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony and craft your own incense blend to take home as a fragrant memory of the journey.
Lanzhou Xiguan Grand Mosque. One of Gansu's most important mosques — its minaret visible across the city skyline. Evening prayers here carry a particular resonance. SPIRITUAL
Lanzhou Halal Night Market.Free exploration of Lanzhou's renowned halal food scene — including its legendary beef noodle soup, a Hui culinary tradition since the Qing dynasty.
Dinner · Free exploration (own expense)
Gansu Provincial Museum.One of China's premier regional museums — home to extraordinary Silk Road collections of bronze artifacts, Han dynasty relics, and Islamic-era objects illuminating millennia of cross-cultural exchange between China, Persia, and Arabia.
Group Lunch · Halal
Visit to a Sufi Shrine or Mosque. Lanzhou's active Sufi orders maintain gongbei as centers of dhikr, learning, and pilgrimage. Guests visit at least one such site — an encounter with living Sufi traditions that have flourished in Gansu since the 17th century. SPIRITUAL
Group Dinner · Halal
Bus: Lanzhou → Linxia.Approximately 1.5–2 hours through Loess Plateau valleys and river gorges — some of the most dramatic landscapes of the journey. BUS
Eight Lanes and Thirteen Alleys (Bajie Shisanxiang). Linxia's historic Muslim quarter — a maze of mosques, Sufi shrines, Quranic schools, Islamic bookshops, and artisan workshops producing prayer rugs, caps, and incense. Walk slowly; every alley holds a story. SPIRITUAL
Group Lunch · Halal
Free stroll in Linxia's evening bazaars.
Dinner · Free exploration (own expense)
Yellow River–Taohe River Intersection & Liujiaxia Gorge. A full-day excursion (approx. 1.5 hours each way) to the confluence of the Yellow River and Taohe River — one of the region's most spectacular natural landmarks — and the dramatic cliff faces of Liujiaxia Gorge carved over millennia. A moment to breathe, reflect, and witness the earth's own testimony.
Group Lunch & Group Dinner · Halal
Free stroll in Linxia. Final unstructured time in this extraordinary city — revisit a shrine, linger over tea with a local scholar, or simply sit with the atmosphere of a place where the adhan rises from dozens of minarets simultaneously. FREE TIME
Group Lunch · Halal
Visits to Mosques and Sufi Shrines. A dedicated afternoon of ziyarah — Linxia contains some of the most important Sufi gongbei in China, belonging to the Qadiriyya, Naqshbandiyya, and other orders. Each shrine is a living center of remembrance. SPIRITUAL
Bus: Linxia → Lanzhou. Return journey, approximately 1.5–2 hours. Check into your Lanzhou hotel for the final night of the rihla. BUS
Dinner · Free exploration (own expense)
Check out, gather memories, exchange farewells. May your journey homeward carry the blessings of all that you witnessed, tasted, and touched in the Muslim heartland of China.
Airport drop-off — Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport.