Beijing  - As several bare-chested Chinese men enjoyed the late summer sunshine in a quiet alley near Beijing's 500-year-old Dongsi Mosque, lunchtime diners drank beer and ate lamb at the nearby Crescent Moon Xinjiang Restaurant on the fourth day of Ramadan.

Despite the traditional Muslim requirement to fast between sunrise and sunset during the holy month, it is business as usual at the Crescent Moon and other Uighur restaurants in Beijing.

"We are not closing at all (for Ramadan)," said a young waitress from the mainly Muslim Uighur minority.

The Crescent Moon sells beer, wine and liquor produced 3,000 kilometres away in the Uighurs' home in Xinjiang, a vast Chinese-named region that borders Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The liberal atmosphere of this "Uighur new-style restaurant" suits the ruling Communist Party, which tries to assimilate ethnic and religious minorities into mainstream Chinese culture.

The government has stepped up security at mosques for Ramadan and ordered state-approved Muslim leaders, who accept an uneasy alliance with the party, to promote stability among the 21 million Muslims spread across China.

"Of course we should enhance vigilance and the state security department, police and officials should continue to maintain stability and make preparations in advance," said Feng Jinyuan, an expert on religious affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Science.

"It is possible that a few separatists could use Ramadan for sabotage," Feng told the German Press Agency dpa.

At Beijing's Dongsi and Niu Jie mosques, police are to also control the celebration of the Eid al-Fitr festival that follows the end of the Ramadan fasting.

"Generally, local governments will prepare in advance and send civilian police to maintain order [at the mosques]," Feng said.

About half of China's Muslims are from the Hui group which predominates in poor north-western areas, while some eight million Uighurs form the largest minority in Xinjiang.

Many Uighurs complain of cultural and religious repression and claim ethnic Chinese migrants enjoy the main benefits of development in the oil-rich but economically backward region.

Some pro-independence Uighurs have staged small-scale terrorist attacks, prompting the party to declare a public battle against the "three evil forces" of religious extremism, separatism and terrorism.

Xinjiang is especially tense this year after deadly ethnic violence last month between Uighurs and members of the country's Han Chinese majority in the regional capital, Urumqi.

Many local governments in Xinjiang have placed restrictions on religious practice at schools and other institutions during Ramadan.

A religious affairs official in Khotan, a poor Uighur-majority area of southern Xinjiang, said local authorities in the city had "persuaded" restaurants to remain open during Ramadan.

"We did persuade to them (not to close), because China is not a Muslim country and many old people and children do not fast," the official from the Khotan Islamic Association told dpa by telephone.

"Generally officials do not take part in fasting," the official said. "Students under 18 years are not allowed to take part," he said.

In a testimony to a UN human rights commission earlier this year, exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer said violations of religious rights had worsened in Xinjiang since China hosted last year's Olympic Games.

The government publicized its restrictions on the observance of Ramadan with "an unprecedented level of explicitness," said Kadeer, who China accused of organizing rioting in Urumqi on July 5.

Religious affairs officials in Urumqi refused to answer any questions about the marking of Ramadan this year, while Xinjiang government websites have remained off-line since the violence in Urumqi.

The rioting left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 injured after Uighur protestors rampaged through Urumqi and attacked Han Chinese residents and police, according to official reports. Uighur exile groups have said that up to 800 people died in the violence, many of them Uighurs shot or beaten to death by police.

Last week, Xinjiang officials again urged mosques to promote unity and stability during Ramadan.

"Religious figures and superintendents of mosques should educate and guide Muslims, and prevent people with ulterior aims from starting rumours or stirring up sabotage activities by using the religious activities during Ramadan," Xiaokaiti Yiming, a regional Communist Party official, said during visits to two mosques in Urumqi.

Xiaokaiti Yiming urged Muslim clerics to "develop the positive factors in religion, publicize the spirit of pursuing peace (and) explain the Islamic commandments of anti-violence and forbidding the murder of innocent people."

President Hu Jintao promoted a similar message during a visit to Urumqi earlier this week, urging Xinjiang's 20 million people, including some eight million Uighurs, to "oppose ethnic separatism."

"National solidarity is the lifeblood of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang," Hu was quoted as saying in a speech broadcast by national television. (dpa)