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The Hui ethnic minority
 With a sizable population of 8.61 million, the Hui
ethnic group is one of China's largest ethnic minorities. People of
Hui origin can be found in most of the counties and cities throughout
the country, especially in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and
Gansu, Qinghai, Henan, Hebei, Shandong and Yunnan provinces and the
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Islamic Religion
The Islamic religion had a deep influence on the life style of the Hui
people. For instance, soon after birth, an infant was to be given a
Huihui name by an ahung (imam); wedding ceremonies must be witnessed
by ahungs; a deceased person must be cleaned with water, wrapped with
white cloth and buried coffinless and promptly in the presence of an
ahung who serves as the presider. Men were accustomed to wearing white
or black brimless hats, specially during religious services, while
women were seen with black, white or green scarves on their head - a
habit which also derived from religious practices.
 The Huis never eat
pork nor the blood of any animal or creature that died of itself, and
they refuse to take alcohol. These taboos originated in the Koran of
the Moslems. The Huis are very particular about sanitation and
hygiene. Likewise, before attending religious services, they have to
observe either a "minor cleaning," i.e. wash their face, mouth, nose,
hands and feet, or a "major cleaning," which requires a thorough bath
of the whole body.
Islamism also had great impact on the political and economic systems
of Hui society. "Jiaofang" or "religious community," as once practiced
among the Huis, was a religious system as well as an economic system.
According to the system, a mosque was to be built at each location
inhabited by Huis, ranging from a dozen to several hundred households.
An imam was to be invited to preside over the religious affairs of the
community as well as to take responsibility over all aspects of the
livelihood of its members and to collect religious levies and other
taxes from them. A mosque functioned not only as a place for religious
activities but also as a rendezvous where the public met to discuss
matters of common interest. Religious communities, operating quite
independently from each other,
 had thus become the basic social units
for the widely dispersed Hui people. Following the development of the
Hui's agricultural economy and the increase of religious taxes levied
on them, some chief imams began to build up their personal wealth.
They used this to invest in land properties and engage in exploitation
through land rents. The imams gradually changed themselves into
landlords. Working in collaboration with secular landlords, they
enjoyed comprehensive power in the religious communities, which they
held tightly under their control. They left routine religious affairs
of the mosques to low-rank ahungs.
The last stage of the Ming Dynasty and the early years of the Qing
Dynasty (1644-1911) saw the emergence of a new system of religious
aristocracy among the Huis in Hezhou (today's Linxia in Gansu
Province). It came into existence as a result of intensified land
concentration which exceeded the boundaries of one single religious
community. This made certain imams rulers of a whole series of
religious communities, turning them into Islamic aristocrats. They
were deified. Kiosks were erected in their cemeteries for Moslems
under their jurisdiction to worship. Their position was seen as
hereditary. They enjoyed a series of feudalistic privileges as well as
absolute authority over their people. The system had been in
 existence, however, only in some of the Hui areas in Gansu, Ningxia
and Qinghai. The Huis in hinterland China had always functioned under
the religious community system. |
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