Female imams have important role in China

At Yinta Mosque in China's Muslim heartland, Tian Xinghong teaches other Muslim women scriptures from the Quran every morning from 6:30 to 9:30.

The 28-year-old, wearing a black robe and pink scarf, has 60 students at the mosque in Wuzhong in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, where many of the country's Muslim Hui ethnic minority live.

Although Muslim women pray at home, Tian also leads them in prayer and chanting on special occasions such as festivals, either at a women's mosque or another mosque's restricted areas for women.