Status Check: What have we learned so far? (Part 2)

Now that I've wrapped up the second of my three intensive case studies in Yinchuan, it feels like a good tie to take a second to reflect a little bit on the state of the project at this point, and think about what 9 months in China have revealed thus far:

- Migration continues to be the surprising recurrent theme of my studies. The relocation of people from the countryside to the cities is a major factor in the cultural change that is occurring within Hui communities. In Jinan. In Beijing. Even in Yinchuan.

- The standard of rigor applied to whether or not something is qingzhen, or halal, varies widely from person to person. In some cases, the bar is as low as to mean "there's no pork in this." In other cases, the standard is much higher. I had a few respondents in Yinchuan tell me that food wasn't halal unless the chef took time to pray over the ingredients before cooking them.

- The involvement of the state in designating things to be Halal provides for some interesting dilemmas. For instance, the state may certify a restaurant or a butcher as halal. However, devout Hui may regard this certification as illegitimate because the restaurant serves liquor, or the meat is of unknown provenance, etc.

- Huge gulfs of understanding exist between Han and Hui, even in communities like Yinchuan where interaction between the groups is more common than elsewhere.

- Another (unexpected?) aspect of modernization has little to do with physical space, and everything to do with digital space. The internet is providing an increasingly important means of communication and space for dialogue about Islam, both in China and worldwide. It's now possible to study Arabic, Hui history, Islamic theology, etc. online, and groups for this kind of study are forming cross-regional and (in some cases) transnational Islamic communities.

-Connections with the larger Islamic world are influencing local Chinese Islamic communities in almost every major aspect of daily life from art and architecture, to dress, diet, and language study.

- The urban/rural divide is producing interesting findings. Seemingly everywhere I go, I'm told that urban Hui are "assimilated" or "watered down." By contrast, rural Hui are almost always cited as more devout.

-Sectarian division within Hui community is always spoken of as being insignificant within cities, but more important in rural communities.

-The words used to described the community are still something of a stumbling block. Often "Hui" and "Muslim" are used interchangeably. This often leads to problems differentiating between Hui as an ethnic identity and as a religious one. In Yinchuan, I was often asked if I was Hui-- meaning was I a Muslim? However, on some occasions I was corrected when I tried to use similarly interchangeable meanings.

-As I move further west, I find it interesting that Hui culture becomes synonymous with regional culture. Ningxia specialties, especially in regard to food, are all Hui or Islamic specialties.

There's certain to be more to say as I learn more in Xining. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

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