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China at the Crossroads:
BLOGGING ABOUT HUI CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND DAILY LIFE IN URBAN CHINA
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David R. Stroup
Aug 26, 20157 min read
My Afternoon at the Chinese Nationalities Museum
Scholarship on nationalism tends to focus on the dramatic. Nationalists start uprisings. Nationalists push politics to the brink....
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David R. Stroup
Aug 24, 20151 min read
Photo Essay: Jumu'ah (Friday Prayer) at the Niu Jie Mosque
A little bit on the lighter side with today's entry. This Friday I was able to observe the Jumu'ah (weekly Friday prayers) at Beijing's...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 23, 20157 min read
What is 清真, anyway?: On eating a "pure and true" diet
Recently, I talked about the subtle, yet profound, differences that distinguish Hui and Han ethnicities. I also talked a lot about how...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 18, 20152 min read
On Hui pop music and performing the nation.
I've written before on this blog about how China's minorities are occasionally portrayed as essentialized caricatures. Often this means...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 16, 20159 min read
Islam, In-betweeness, and the Hui as "Familiar Strangers"
The small souvenir shop (labeled the “Muslim Commodity Service Shop” or 穆斯林用品服务部) just inside the front gate of the Niujie Mosque in...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 14, 20152 min read
In a station of the (Beijing) Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough. -Ezra Pound, "In a Station of the Metro" (1884) To trace the...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 10, 20152 min read
Sino-phonic: Punk, Metal and Indie Rock with a Mandarin inflection
These days, I find myself busy in the struggle to find a place to live in Beijing. And it is, no doubt, a struggle. As James Murphy of...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 6, 20157 min read
Homecoming
建设美丽幸福济南 Build a Beautiful, Prosperous Jinan My first couple weeks in China have been primarily in places that I've only visited briefly,...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 4, 20151 min read
Jinan's Muslim Quarter (回民区HuiMinQu) in photos
I'm leaving Jinan today, so I'll be on the road again. Instead of a full post, I thought I'd share some photos of Jinan's Muslim Quarter,...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 4, 20152 min read
In Praise of You Xuan'r (油旋儿).
The list of my favorite Jinanese/Shandong food is simply too long to profile each one: Hot and Sour Cabbage, Spicy Shredded Potatoes,...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 4, 20153 min read
Mosques and Markets in Shanghai's Islamic Community
As I've noted before, Shanghai is an international city, and so it's home to all kinds of communities. Shanghai's Muslim community,...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 2, 20153 min read
Two views of Shanghai by the riverside
Standing on the raised platform above the sidewalk on the east side of Zhongshan Road in Shanghai, the past and the future both come into...
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David R. Stroup
Aug 1, 20151 min read
Shanghai: A city in photos
Hey there from Shanghai, readers. I'll post a more substantive essay about this behemoth of a city later, but for now, here's Shanghai in...
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David R. Stroup
Jul 26, 20152 min read
"Ah, General Gao, you were a bloodthirsty foe, but your chicken is delectable!"
So, my summer class in Nanjing wrapped up today. I'll be busy over the next couple of days with grading, and finishing up things here in...
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David R. Stroup
Jul 24, 20155 min read
U.S.-China Relations from "where the rubber meets the road"
A seemingly inevitable part of doing a teaching exchange like the one I'm doing in Nanjing is the "cultural exchange" session. These are...
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David R. Stroup
Jul 23, 201510 min read
Nanjing's Hui community: visibility and invisibility in the Han-majority heartland
The misty drizzle of a mid-July afternoon settled into a slightly more steady, spitting rain, making the air feel thick, sticky and...
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David R. Stroup
Jul 21, 20155 min read
"Isn't it wonderful when friends visit from distant places?"-Confucius
"有朋自遠方來、不亦樂乎?"- Confucius, The Analects, Chapter 1 It's an understatement to say that Confucius is important to Chinese society. A vast...
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David R. Stroup
Jul 18, 20155 min read
What's New is Old Again: "山寨 Antiquity" and redeveloping China's cities
As I mentioned previously on this site, Nanjing, my current base of operations, is a city with a lot of character, and a long, important...
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David R. Stroup
Jul 15, 20154 min read
In praise of Xiao Long Bao (小笼包)
It's something of a truism in travel blogging that most readers are only really in it for the posts about food. And why not? I'll admit...
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David R. Stroup
Jul 14, 20153 min read
A word about Nanjing
Before I start working on my Fulbright grant, I'm spending a couple weeks in Nanjing on a teaching exchange. I've been to Nanjing once,...
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