Under efforts to protect ancient religious books, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has collected and cataloged more than 2,000 Islamic tomes.

 

Over the past 30 years, the central government and Xinjiang's regional government have allocated more than 10 million yuan (1.5 million U.S. dollars) to the collection, registration, collation and publication of ancient religious books, said Abulat Esan, director of the office of the leading group for the collection, collation and publication of ancient books from ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

 

Preserved Islamic tomes include the Quran, "The Biography of the Prophet" and "The Biography of Muhammad" in the Arabic, Persian and Chagatai languages. A manuscript of "The Biography of the Prophet" has a history of 230 years.

 

Eight ancient books including "The Biography of the Prophet" have been added to the national register of precious ancient books, according to Abulat Esan.

 

In 2016, Xinjiang established a special library for ancient books, featuring constant humidity and temperature. In 2019, the region promoted the digitization of ancient books, further strengthening the preservation, study and utilization of ancient religious books.