I often discuss the way that the Hui and other groups are represented in public displays. It's something I see a lot of here, and though it might be useful to give you a little bit more clear look at what I'm talking about though the use of pictures.
Why do this? Well, figuring out the ways in which identity is officially representated say a lot about how the state and members of the group understand their ethnic identity. How the state chooses to portray and represent its people is, indeed, a matter of some political and cultural significance. Contemporary theories of nationalism and ethnicity posit that identity evolves and changes as it is continually negotiated. Such theories also maintain that there isn't any single true form of an identity. There's not some Platonic ideal type of what it means to be German, or French, or Mongolian, or Hui, etc. In this sense, aspects of what it means to claim a particular identity shift and change with an individual. However, in some cases formalization or institutionalization by a force like the government of a state, or marketization by people attempting to sell identity as a commodity may attempt to fix or essentialize certain aspects of an identity. In China, the fact that every citizen has an ethnicity box to check and register for causes some fixing of the boundaries of what it means to be a part of the group. The state can define through membership criteria what Hui or Han or ethnic Mongolian culture is all about. Such standardization is often dsiplayed in public propaganda or art.
So how does Hui identity get publicly portrayed? Well... like this:
This seems to be the standard template for depicting Hui identity. This cartoon version is just one of 56 different cartoon depictions of China's various ethnic minorities. Each is engaged in some form of dance or musical activity, and each is wearing traditional garb. In these visions each nationality group is depicted as members of a larger chorus of Chinese peoples engaged in performing the Chinese civilization state into being. Aspects of this art work. Like the hat the man is depicted as wearing. In many Hui communities across China, men wear white prayer hats (or bai maozi, 白帽子). Equally, however, they may not. And outside of this I've never seen anyone wearing these types of costumes outside of performances on Chinese New Year's Eve Galas.
These are not the only depictions of the Hui, however. Some look like this:
These details were taken from a larger woven silk tapestry that hangs in the lobby of MinZu University's "Nationalities Museum." It depicts the 56 ethnic groups of China all standing together, representing the diversity and togetherness of China. It looks like this, for reference:
It's possible that the men in the top of these two images are members of one of China's other Islamic minority groups; there's no chart (I actually would guess that the two men in that picture are probably one of the northwestern minorities: Bonan, Dongxiang, or Salar perhaps, but it's equally possibly they're meant to be Hui.) But the images feel fairly familiar. Bearded men wearing skullcaps and longish robe looking clothing. It's a familiar trope. The Hui are an incredibly heterogenous group. There are Hui communities all over the country. Circusmstances in which they are found vary from the incredibly urban communities like the ones I'm looking at, and the very rural communities in places like Linxia, or Tongxin, or Shadian in Gansu, Ningxia and Yunnan Provinces respectively. The group's portrayals here simply do not afford them the kind of diversity that the group really embodies. That's somewhat problematic. It's worth highlighting one other figure, however. The one at the center of the image. This guy:
The only figure not wearing traiditonal garb, who seems to be, doubtless a representation of the Han. There's a lot of parsing out to be done here. And that will have to wait for another entry, I think. But it's particularly evocative to me that in the midst of these very traditional looking costumes, the Han stand in jeans and t-shirts.
So what's the big deal here? Depictions like these matter because they attempt to standardize a form for ethnicity to take. Not only does this limit the kinds of forms identity may take (by taking certain aspects of a culture that previously may have been seen as localisms, or rare but nonetheless legitimate facets of traditional culture, and making them into aspects that are non-standard, non-sanctioned, or out of sync with the official form), but it also may lead individuals to tailor their behavior to conform with the ideal type the state puts forward. Ethnic entrepreneurs (people who run ethnic businesses, or "ethnopreneurs" as I've taken to calling them), may market their goods to meet the image the state produces. Culture may drift towards these ideal types, and certain apects or practices may be altered or adapted in order to fit. Unfortunately it may also lead to caricature or stereotyping. It's an interesting question in cultural evolution. And its one that I'll continue to try and unravel as I go.