Delicious bean jelly is one of the most popular dishes at Orda Restaurant in Kashgar. [Photo by Hu Yongqi/China Daily]

In Kashgar, Huseyin Sidik, 40, owns a hat factory near the downtown area that makes about 50,000 hats a year, this high output being mostly due to the ubiquity of the traditional square hats in the area. The factory employs six workers and has annual income of about 150,000 yuan ($24,000), he says.

Like other Muslims, during Ramadan the factory's workers fast and pray, Sidik said.

"At other times of the year they go back to work after lunch. Because they are not eating during the day while Ramadan is on, they get two or three more hours' extra rest in the afternoon."

About 4:30 am Sidik leads prayers in his community and starts a day of fasting.

Anyone visiting the region will be struck by how much everything is steeped in tradition, and the observance of Ramadan is just one token of that.