As you may have already noticed, the bulk of this blog (and my research) is dedicated to understanding the place of ethnic minority cultures, and the Hui in particular, in contemporary Chinese culture and society. And to that end, I've been trying to use this blog as a forum for starting a broader discussion on how people live and experience ethnicity in China on an everyday basis. Admittedly, there's a lot to talk about, and it can get pretty thorny (though, as I recently blogged about the ethnic significance of barbecue, it can also be a pretty fun, light conversation as well). One thing that I (and many other scholars of Chinese minority culture, to be honest) often forget is that this conversation happens alongside another, different, but very important conversation about the meaning and significance of ethnic majority Han culture.
After all, establishing something as belonging to a given identity requires an "other" against which contrast may be drawn. This is something that most social scientists have come to agree on: we define what we see as our own identities in relation to others. Thus, in order to understand what is Hui, it's probably important to take a look at the backdrop of Han majority culture against which it is set. This is a discussion that I started into before. Remember this guy?:
From this tapestry?
Yes, there in the midst of all of China's ethnic minorities is a Han college student wearing blue jeans and a button up, and looking like an island of modernity in a sea of traditionalism. Or like the one guy who didn't realize that the theme of the party was "wear your traditional ethnic costume." It's an important distinction to point out. Understanding what it means also requires some careful thought. This representation of China's 56 minzu (民族, national peoples) coming together to showcase the unity of Zhonghua Minzu (中华民族, Chinese National Peoples) hangs in the Nationalities Musuem at the Chinese University of Nationalities (中央民族大学). Inside the museum, the selection of clothes that represent the Han in the "Clothing of the Northern Nationalities" Exhibit looked slightly different:
The clothes above are, indeed, more traditional. They date from the Qing Dynasty (which ended in 1912, taking Imperial China with it). Those who know their Chinese history will note that during this time period, ethnic Manchus ruled China, and greatly influenced its culture and dress. This fact was not lost on my student tour guide. "You may notice that some of these clothes look a lot like the Manchi qipao from earlier in the exhibit," she remarked. "And that's because during the Qing Dynasty, Han and Manchu styles of dress frequently blended together. So they do look a lot alike."
But why this choice? Why use the Qing to represent the Han? Some particularly nationalist Han (in particular the members of the Han Clothing Movement) complain that while the other nationalities have special traditional clothing, and unique folk culture, the Han's own culture is rarely recognized in the same way. When it is, they complain, Qing Dynasty clothing is used to represent Han clothing. The culture on display, they claim, is not Han at all, but instead, Manchu.
But the choice to represent the Han in Qing Dynasty regaila is understandable. "It's really hard to choose clothing to represent the Han ethnicity," the tour guide at the museum said. "The clothing the Han wear has changed so often over time, and they live in such different places in China that you can't really represent them all. We had to choose one. So we chose the Qing." She's right. Sometimes you just have to make choices. And during the Qing Dynasty Han and Manchu styles did blend. Suggesting that showing the Han in Qing dynasty dress is somehow non-Han doesn't really make much sense.
What's more is that, contrary to the claims of the Han Clothing enthusiasts, the rich heritage of Han ethnic clothing does get a full range of representation. Take the image below. This is how the Han are seen on the wall of nationality caricatures near the Niu Jie Mosque: wearing clothing that are similar to those worn by all those characters in TV Dramas set in the Republican Era (1912-1949).
Or, in the image below. These two (taken from a public service poster found in a subway station) are also Han in traditional clothing, albiet from western China (presumably somewhere like Sha'anxi).
In fact, I find Han traditionalism to be abundantly present in China (especially Beijing), as a marketing or branding tool. Any number of restaurants in Beijing attempt to create a "traditional" aesthetic, branding their food as authentic and old-stlye by using traditional clothing on waiters, or staff, or even mannequins (like the one below):
Countless souvenir shops sell figurines of Beijing Opera characters, or mandarins and Buddhist monks, or Ming Dynasty emperors, or characters from the great Chinese novels, like Journey to the West, or The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. These little knick knacks are emblematic of Chinese culture, but the characters they feature are all Han.
Even venerable sages like Confucius get the branding treatment. The former Imperial Confucian Temple and Examination complex is down a narrow hutong lane near Andingmen in central Beijing. The area grands itself as a "Paradise of National Studies" (国学天下), and clearly presents the vision of a neighborhood steeped in traditional Chinese culture. This feeling is compounded by the fact that many of the little houses on the road leading to the temple have been transformed into shops and cafes that promote the "traditional" Chinese wares they vend. While a lot of the locals have set up shop selling souvenirs, or clothing, or tea, one cofee shop takes the cake: the Confucius Cafe, where you can celebrate the virtue of China's leading ancient historical luminary by eating western food and drinking imported coffee.
And here we arrive at an interesting point: Han culture is everwhere, but it is presented as Chinese culture writ large. What would otherwise be seen as Han (Chinese Opera, Epic novels, Confucian philosophy, etc.) often gets rebranded instead as "Chinese" more generally. This spans all periods of time and all geographic regions. So, a depiction of a couple riding a donkey through a loess plateau landscape in Western China can be a vision of traditional Chinese culture, as can a mandarin wearing a red silk suit and a queue standing in an alley advertising roast duck in Beijing. And so can a college student wearing jeans and a button up in the midst of all of his ethnic minority classmates.
And here we return to the guy in the tapestry. At the museum, the Han are represented by Qing dynasty gear, but the exhibitors recognize and mention the very diverse array of items that comprise Han clothing, and Han identity. A range of identity so diverse that it includes contemporary culture. By making Han a universalized identity, there is a preclusion of any one particular representation of "Han". And this means that, yes, the Han clothing people are correct in stating that the Han aren't usually seen wearing any particular "traditional" clothing item in minority song and dance events. But it again gives rise to the question about whether or not other groups should be either. We've discussed here the range of iterations of Hui culture. Why not allow for similarly broad interpretations there?