Xiaoming Wang, "Muslim Chinese: The Hui in Rural Ningxia" (de Gruyter, 2019)
Oct 14, 2024
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Xiaoming Wang, a librarian in the East Asia Department of the Berlin State Library and an expert in the anthropology of Islam, dives into the lives of the Hui people in rural Ningxia. With a population of over 10 million, the Hui face unique challenges in preserving their identity amidst modernization and migration. Wang discusses the intricate relationship between their purity concepts, fasting practices, and socio-political dynamics. He also highlights the struggles of Hui women navigating cultural tensions and shifting roles in a rapidly changing society.
The Hui people's identity, shaped by cultural assimilation and Islamic practices, faces challenges from modernization and internal migration affecting their religious observance.
Migration has notably altered the Hui's participation in Ramadan, as work commitments often conflict with traditional practices, reshaping their communal and religious life.
Deep dives
Understanding the Hui Identity
The Hui are China's largest Muslim group, comprising descendants of foreign Muslims who integrated with local Han Chinese between the 7th and 14th centuries. They present a diverse identity shaped by both cultural assimilation and the preservation of Islamic practices, often drawing distinctions from the Han majority through dress and religious observance. The Hui's internal diversity is notable, with different subgroups, or menhuan, existing with varying interpretations and practices of Islam, which complicates the understanding of what it means to be Hui. Historically, the Hui identity began to coalesce during the Yuan dynasty when they gained a higher social status, gaining a recognition that persists today, but which faces challenges amid modernization and migration.
Impact of Migration on Cultural Practices
Migration has significantly transformed the Hui's understanding of purity, as traditional practices encounter new challenges in urban settings where access to Halal food and methods of preparation have become complicated. This transition often leads to ambiguity about what constitutes cleanliness and purity within their diet, challenging their Islamic dietary laws. The compression of lives into shared spaces with Han populations in schools and workplaces further complicates adherence to these laws, exposing the Hui to conflict and misunderstanding regarding purity. Despite these pressures, many Hui remain committed to preserving their religious identity through careful distinctions between themselves and Han Chinese, highlighting their resolve against assimilation.
Fasting and Religious Practices
The practice of fasting among the Hui has evolved due to the structural changes brought about by migration, resulting in altered rhythms of communal life and religious observance. Work commitments often conflict with the traditional practices surrounding Ramadan, making it more challenging for Hui to maintain collective fasting and prayer rituals. As they are more frequently engaging in labor-intensive jobs with fixed schedules, many Hui have begun prioritizing work over fasting, leading to a shift in perception of its importance within their religious lives. This phenomenon illustrates a broader trend where the pressures of modern labor markets create a tension between religious practices and economic necessity.
Gender Dynamics and the Role of Women
Female Hui migrants have seen shifts in their roles due to economic opportunities that migration presents, yet patriarchal structures continue to dominate their social standing. The increased engagement of women in wage work has provided them with some economic independence and participation in family decisions, although traditional gender roles remain largely intact. Many women still face barriers to religious participation due to societal norms and restrictions, as mosques often lack facilities for them. This struggle highlights the complex interplay between migration, identity, and gender among the Hui, where women strive for autonomy while navigating an entrenched patriarchal environment.
As the predominantly Muslim Chinese who claim ancestry from Persian and Arabic-speaking regions in Central Asia and the Middle East, the Hui people in China have received relatively little attention in anthropology. According to the 2010 census, the Hui are the largest Muslim group in China and its third largest ethnic minority with a total population of 10.6 million. Due to their extensive geographic distribution and long-term acculturation by the atheist Han majority, the question of Hui identity is rarely raised in humanities and social sciences both in China and abroad. This book examines Hui identity in the rural area of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, while taking account of China’s rapid modernization and industrialization in the twenty-first century. Specifically, it focuses on the massive internal migration of rural populations, which has been playing an essential role in the socioeconomic life of Chinese peasants in the past few decades.
Based on field data collected between 2011 and 2013 among the Jahriyya Hui, Wang seeks to clarify the impacts of migration on the Hui’s ethnoreligious identity by investigating three key issues: the Hui’s purity concept, fasting and their belief in the afterworld. In relation to these reference points, religious rituals, including commemoration ceremonies and the Ramadan fast as well as their changing forms and values, are illustrated and analyzed. Muslim Chinese - the Hui in Rural Ningxia (de Gruyter, 2019) shows that Islam continues to play a crucial part in drawing boundaries and maintaining identity for the Hui both before and after migration. However, population movements in Ningxia are resulting in increased interactions between Hui and Han populations as well as between Hui from diverse “menhuan” (Sufi paths). Consequently, the Hui’s unique “menhuan” awareness is being weakened and their purity concept subjected to many queries, doubts, ambiguities, and tensions.
Xiaoming Wang currently works as a librarian in the East Asia Department of the Berlin State Library. She holds a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the Free University of Berlin. Her research interests include the anthropology of Islam, identity and migration, power structure, and rural transformation.
Yadong Li is a PhD student in anthropology at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, medical anthropology, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here.
