Instead of traditional text books, some students in Xinjiang Islamic Institute have started to use tablet computers to study Quran.

China Daily reporter Cui Jia visited the institute recently, which is under a renovation work to make the buildings earthquake proof.

China has a total of 10 Islamic institutes. Xinjiang Islamic Institute is the only one that teaches in Uygur. Most of its graduates go back to their hometowns to become worship leaders.

Related story: Muslim students look to the future

Islamic centers of learning train a new generation, reports Cui Jia in Xinjiang.

As the students filed into the mosque at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute, Chinese construction workers repairing the buildings quietly laid down their tools and waited in silence as the scholars performed the fourth of the five daily prayers required by the Muslim faith.

Reporter: Cui Jia

Photographer: Yao Tong