The crowd waiting to see Mohammed Abu Mettlaq at work is a little disappointed when he finally turns up. In his jeans, tee-shirt and trainers, Mettlaq looks like any other average guy. But the 37-year-old deftly throws a whitekandora– the white, flowing traditional robe that Muslim men wear - over his clothes and ties a white and black checkedkeffiyeh, a traditional scarf, around his head, and he is immediately transformed into an impressive, exotic figure. 

When he starts painting, it's even more impressive. Mettlaq has an array of bowls on the table. They contain sand obtained from the nearby dune and dyed in various colors. He uses a funnel to pour some into one of the many bottles before him and begins scratching out patterns on the sand. Then he puts more sand of a different color, scratches some more and continues the process till the bottle is filled and exquisite images appear carved on the sand. There are camels against a backdrop of swaying palm trees, dolphins leaping among blue waves and elephants weaving among trees. 

This is the ancient sand art that originated in the Middle East. Mettleq's forefathers practiced the art and when violence escalated in his homeland Palestine, Mettleq left home to earn a living through his art in a more stable environment. He went to Malaysia and set up a shop in Kuala Lumpur's Central Market where artisans from different countries have stalls selling handicrafts, but he found Malaysia oppressively hot. 

As luck would have it, he met a Chinese entrepreneur, Wei Wei, who told him about Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China with a remarkable Muslim presence and culture. Mettleq arrived in Yinchuan City, capital Ningxia, for a recce, loved the weather and decided to shift from Kuala Lumpur. 

Today, he is a partner in Wei Wei's Ningxia Western Culture and Art Media and has shops in three tourist destinations. The popularity of the art made him bring his neighbor and friend from Palestine, Zuheir Abu Yusuf, to help out in the shops. 

A Palestinian practices a Middle Eastern art in China. If that doesn't show art has no borders, then Mettleq's newest student would. Csaba Zalai, an electronic engineer from Budapest, came to Ningxia, fell in love with a local girl, and gave up his job to stay back. Fascinated by Mettlaq's art, Zalai expressed his interest to learn it and now, is part of Mettleq's entourage.