I travelled by local bus from Shangri-La to Dali in September 2015, arriving shortly before Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice. I had planned to photograph the observance of the holiday in Xiaguan, the modern urban centre of Dali in Yunnan Province. Before leaving, I had made a sketch of the location of Xiaguan Mosque so that I could find it when I arrived.
The Hui Muslim communities of Yunnan form part of a long history of movement, trade and cultural exchange in southwestern China. Islam reached different parts of China over many centuries through merchants and travellers, and local Muslim communities developed their own institutions and traditions. In Dali, the mosque was more than a building I wanted to photograph: it was a gathering place where I hoped to witness the holiday as it was lived by the people who came there.
When I reached Xiaguan Mosque, I introduced myself to the imam and explained my photographic work. I asked whether I could document the Eid celebrations. He gave me permission. That simple act of trust was essential: it allowed me to work openly, without turning a religious gathering into a spectacle observed from a distance.
On the morning of 24 September, worshippers began gathering in the mosque courtyard. I photographed the congregation as people arrived and moved into the prayer space. The collective rhythm of the morning, the moments of preparation and the prayers themselves gave the occasion a solemn atmosphere. As a photographer, I was interested not only in the ceremony but also in the relationships between the people taking part.
After the Eid prayer, some members of the congregation joined the imam in prayer in front of the building in the courtyard where the sacrifices were to take place. I remained to photograph the next stage of the observance. The imam carried out the slaughter of six cattle purchased for the occasion by members of the congregation. The work that followed was collective: participants helped divide the meat into portions for distribution.
Eid al-Adha recalls the religious tradition of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice in obedience to God. In Muslim communities, the sacrifice is also associated with generosity and sharing. What I witnessed at Xiaguan Mosque was a practical expression of that communal dimension: people working together so that the meat could be divided among members of the congregation. The significance of the day lay not only in the formal prayers but also in this shared responsibility.
The sequence of photographs records several stages of a single morning, from the arrival of worshippers to prayer and the preparation and distribution of the sacrificial meat. I did not want to isolate the most dramatic moments from their context. The photographs belong together because they show the ceremony as a process, shaped by faith, cooperation and everyday human gestures.
Looking back on my journey through Yunnan, I remember the openness with which I was received at the mosque. I arrived as a visitor with a camera and left with a deeper impression of a community celebrating an important religious day. My photographs of Xiaguan Mosque are both a record of Eid al-Adha on 24 September 2015 and a reminder of the generosity that made it possible for me to witness it.