Abdurehim (center) works in his restaurant in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province. The Uygur man came from Awati county, Aksu, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [Photo by Yan Yiqi / China Daily]

"As long as I can afford their salaries, I will accept those Uygur people who come to ask for a job," he said. "I hope they can regard the restaurant as another home."  

Originally from Awati county, Aksu, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Abdurehim left his hometown in 2000, hoping to broaden the outside market for its produce.

"My parents are farmers in my hometown, growing fruit. I left Awati to search for sales channels for our fruit after I graduated from college," he said.

As the first college graduate from his village, Abdurehim undertook a mission to expand the fruit market of his hometown. During those three years, he went to large cities, including Guangzhou, Tianjin and Nanjing, and small cities like Shaoxing.

"During my stays in these cities, the largest inconvenience I found was not having a proper place to eat," he said.

Abdurehim said due to strict religious restrictions on what they can eat, Muslims have few choices in most restaurants. Most of the time when he was away searching for business, crusty pancakes were all he could eat, he said.

"After spending three years away from my hometown and finally settling down in Hangzhou, I decided to open an authentic Xinjiang-flavor restaurant that can both serve Muslims in the city and present our food to other city dwellers," he said.

With the profits he gained from selling fruit and the 30,000 yuan ($4,800) he borrowed from relatives, Abdurehim opened his first restaurant in Hangzhou in 2003.

Eleven years later, that restaurant is listed as one of the top two Xinjiang-style restaurants in Hangzhou, and he has opened two more, in Shaoxing and Suzhou. His brothers run the other two restaurants.

"Their income is at least 10 times more than they earned back in our hometown because we provide the most authentic Uygur flavor," Abdurehim said.

The restaurant has many regular customers who are not Muslims.