Started in Xining, because that is where we live
HalalTravelChina began in Xining, the capital of Qinghai, on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. It is one of the most openly Muslim cities in China: Dongguan Grand Mosque sits in the centre of town, halal restaurants line the streets around it, and the call to prayer is simply part of the day. We started by showing friends and family around our own province, and it grew from there.
What we kept noticing was how badly served Muslim travellers were by ordinary China tours. The itinerary would be excellent on paper and then quietly impossible in practice: a restaurant chosen for its view rather than its kitchen, a day with no room for Asr, a hotel room with no idea which way to face, a guide who had never been inside a mosque. None of it was malice. It was simply that nobody doing the planning was Muslim.
So we built the company around the opposite assumption. We plan as people who pray five times a day, eat only halal, travel with children and fast in Ramadan — and we publish exactly what that means, including the parts that are inconvenient. If we cannot confirm a kitchen, we do not eat there. If a mosque has no usable women's section, we say so before you fly rather than after.
We have been running trips since 2016. We are still owned and operated by Chinese Muslims, still based in Xining, and still doing the restaurant checks ourselves.
