Hui pan-nationalism
These sentiments are grounded upon the Hui "zealously preserving and protecting their identity as enclaves ensconced in the dominant Han society.
As an emerging, nascent identity in China, spreading Islam and the implementation of Shari’a law, and thus Hui pan-nationalism was of low priority.
[2] The fall of the Yuan dynasty and subsequent dissolution of the Mongol racial class system,[2] was met with state-sanction program of Sinicization (cultural integration).
This in culmination with the state imposing a monopoly on trade during agrarian distress, resulted in some Hui physically rebelling against government forces in the late Ming and Early Qing period.
The Qing dynasty was marked by collective violence and anti-Hui political, social and literary discourse, known as Hui-phobia.
[5] Nationalism became introduced into Chinese politics as a system of defence and regeneration in response to emerging western imperialism and the weakening of the Qing Dynasty.
In response, the book the Muslim Awakening, written by Chinese students, published in 1908, was an early literary attempt of pan-nationalism; forming a group identity and rejecting the single minzu formation.
[6] Big nationalism encouraged the Hui to consider the positions as Chinese citizens; which takes precedence over their ethnic identities.
Their ‘small’ nationalism however, conversely awards them a limited amount of freedom to identify as ethnically different from the Han majority.
[6] The communists, which later established the People's Republic of China, would later regard Hui as a distinct nationality rather than a religious sub-division.
This mobilisation by the Japanese aided in fostering declining attitudes of nationalism, as many Hui were satisfied with the state's recognition of the Hui in the ‘Five Official Nationalities.’ By the 1920s in China, propaganda efforts such as the founding of the magazine Huiguang 回光 (Light of Islam) within the Society of Light (International Moslem Association) were common.
In 1934, the Guomindang government, the Chinese National Party led by Chiang Kai-shek, allied with the Hui warlord Ma Zhongying to overthrow the separatist state.
[8] The Association of Research on the National Question in the North West Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party edited a comprehensive document investigating the Hui minority, published in 1941.
This was in order to enlist support against the Chiang Kai-shek nationality policy which de-emphasised ethnic differences in favour of unity of all peoples as member of the Chinese race.
[1] This was encapsulated during the Long March, as communist leaders were faced with extermination unless promised affordances were granted to the minorities.
In Article 4 of the PRC Constitution of 1982, it declares that all nationalities have the right to preserve or change their own ways and customs and develop their own languages.
Compared to the status of other Muslim groups, these successes are attributed to the Hui's “skill of negotiating around the grey areas of China’s political system and the pan-nationalist movement.
[1] Despite legal assurances, Muslim minority groups are facing an increasing 'crackdown' on their religious practices under the guise of the Global War on Terror, whereby their international connections and links to Islam are seen as a threat to Chinese nationalism, as is evident in the CCP's actions in Xinjiang in regards to the East Turkestan independence movement.
Historian Jin Jitang 金吉堂, argues that Huijiao minzu 回教民族 (“Huireligion nationality”) or Huimin/zu (“Hui people/nationality”) is a Sinophone Muslim ethnicity.
[1] Protestors claimed that the book “denigrated Islam.”[1] Over 3000 Muslims in Beijing attended, with over 20,000 in Lanzhou, 100,000 in Xining and smaller protests in Ürümqi, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia, Wuhan and Yunnan during April and May.
[1] This is due to the subsequent state sponsored tourism and private Islamic investment opportunities that were encouraged following this visit.
[12] However, the translation of works was highly selective, with ideals normally in line with Chinese nationalism and of benefit in the face of imperialist aggression and indigenous modernism.
Some scholars believe that the Hui will eventually revolt, and attempt to violently secede from the Chinese state, whilst others believe they are too assimilated to dominant Han culture, known as Sinicization.
In 2004, scores were reportedly killed during ethnic bloodletting in Henan Province, and in 2012, dozens of people were injured by the police during protests over the demolition of a mosque in Ningxia that the government had declared illegal.
