The number of female imams, known locally as ahong, acting as spiritual leaders and teachers for Muslim women, is rising in China, especially in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. They have broken through taboos and barriers and won wide recognition among female believers. After learning doctrines and taking certification exam, more than 80 female imams in Ningxia have been licensed by the government. They lead Muslim women in prayer at mosques, teach them about the Koran and Islamic culture and offer religious services. They also mediate domestic disputes and enhance women's awareness of their rights. Female imams are playing an increasingly essential role in improving gender equality, the quality of local women's religious life and social harmony.

Imam Ma Guixia leads a group of female students in Koranic chants at the Wunan Mosque in Wuzhong, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Photo: Liang Chen/GT

Every morning before the clock strikes five, 50-year-old Jin Meihua, a Muslim living in Wuzhong, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, has already hauled herself out of bed and walked into her living room.

She turns on the lights, opens her Koran and starts to chant Islamic verses.

After preparing breakfast for her family, she trots to a mosque a few minutes' walk away to lead a Koran study class.

There, dozens of Muslim women wait every morning for Jin to teach them about their religion. Over the course of a two-hour class, Jin guides them in chanting Koranic verses in Arabic and teaches them how to interpret the holy scripture. This has been Jin's routine for 18 years, rain or shine.

Jin is a female imam or ahong, an Islamic spiritual leader. Female imams and female-only mosques are a distinctive feature of Chinese Islam, rarely, if ever seen elsewhere.

Currently, Ningxia has more than 80 female imams that have been licensed by the local government after passing official examinations. There are more than 3,760 registered mosques and 8,000 imams in the region according to a Xinhua News Agency report, and they provide services to the 2.32 million Muslims that live in Ningxia, one third of the region's residents.

Jin's hometown Wuzhong has one of the highest concentrations of ethnically Hui Muslims of any town in China, as they make up around 53 percent of its population.

"The appearance of female imams has met female Muslims' demand for religious education and is beneficial for the stability and harmony of the Muslim community," Ma Yuzhong, director of the Wuzhong Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, told the Global Times.

This phenomenon has coincided with Muslim women's growing demand for greater equality, Ma said.