OK, so it's been a year. Once again, just as it was after every stop on this journey, it's time to pause, take a minute to recap, and think about what I've learned up to this stage of the journey. Summarizing a year's worth of findings is, indeed, difficult. In many senses, I feel like I won't truly understand everything I've seen and done this year until I get some distance from my research (probably in the midst of writing it up). Still, I think it's a good idea to start pulling together some of the themes that I'd like to draw on as I continue to write and develop this study. So, what insights come from a year in the field? Here are some observations:
-Internal migration continues to be the most surprising storyline I've stumbled on to this year. Every city I visited feels the effects of rural to urban or west to east migration. In cities like Beijing or Jinan, the migrants from west China were revitalizing Hui communities, and were bringing cultural currents from the global Islamic community with them. In Yinchuan, migrants were helping to form a new Yinchuan identity, as the city became one populated largely by people who were born elsewhere. In Xining, more proximate to the communities from which migration occurred, the economic effects of migration were clear: larger houses, better cars, better education. But in some senses, long stays in east China meant that some migrants feared losing touch with their local culture.
-Another side effect of migration is the internal boundaries it draws within the Hui community. Different communities hold up different standards for piety and observance. Western Chinese Hui often regard their eastern co-ethnics and being "assimilated" while some eastern Hui remarked that their western co-ethnics prioritized religious faith to the detriment of their educational and economic advancement.
-China's increased interest in the greater Middle East and Central Asia (due in large part to the continued rhetorical development of the "One Belt, One Road" project) will put increased attention on Hui communities, especially as a symbolic bridge between China and the Middle East. What this means isn't exactly clear. However, the recent attention given by western media outlets to sites like the Yinchuan Hui Culture Park (中华回乡文化园) perhaps indicates that China may try to use important Hui centers (like the Najiahu Mosque, the Niu Jie community in Beijing, or the Dongguan Mosque community in Xining) to forge important cultural ties with Middle Eastern or Central Asian partners.
-Just as it does in all aspects of life, the internet is making a significant impact on how Hui across China communicate and associate. This year I have been impressed with the large number of resources devoted to various aspects of the study of Hui idenity: WeChat groups devoted to the study of Hui History, Persian/Arabic Language, Qur'anic interpretation, etc. Further, the internet allows China's Hui community to be more connected to the global Islamic community.
-The importance of religion in Hui identity varies widely from community to community. In Jinan, for instance, sectarian differences among the Islamic community are barely even recognized. The sectarian differences seem to have totally subsumed in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. In Yinchuan, Hui recognize different sectarian divisions, but insist that these differences mean very little. However, in Xining, differences in 教派 or 门宦 still have an important influence on the community. Sufi and non-Sufi adherents don't pray together. Historical divisions between the groups still animates long-held grudges, and the arrival and increased presence of Salafists in the community is perhaps forging new ones.
-Responses to urban renewal are a mixed bag. In Jinan, where the Hui Quarter is, as I write this, undergoing large-scale transformation to accommodate a new road widening project, and an underground shopping mall expansion, the residents expressed more concern about what urban renewal might bring. However, in Xining, where some of the older houses in the Hui Quarter have recently been cleared away to build structures like the new XinQian International Mall, respondents remarked that they felt as if urban redevelopment had actually done a lot to improve the living conditions of residents.
-Increasingly the state is playing an important role in activities like setting standards for halal food
certification, and the training of religious clergy. However a gap exists between the state's standards for halal and the dictates of the Qur'an. Some of the largest debates about what it means to be Hui or Muslim revolve around such aspects of diet. Are restaurants that sell alcohol truly halal? Is it enough to abstain from pork and other taboo items, or must one eat food that has been explicitly certified as halal? Should there be a national legal standard for certification, and if so, how should it be implemented? These are several of the central questions which animate the debates over daily aspects of Hui identity.
-In every community I visited, there are struggles to attempt to reconcile Islamic practice with contemporary life. Hui across China must grapple with questions about how to both work in a modern, liberalizing market economy and also figure out how to observe their faith. Hui must ask if their jobs will allow them to pray, either daily or even just once a week on Friday. Whether or not an employer will allow Hui employees to wear headscarves or prayers hats is a similar considerations. Weighing the cost of learning how to read and recite Arabic or having a secular, public school education is another consideration. These matter all impact conceptions of Hui identity.
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As I continue to dig into my interview transcripts and my fieldnotes, there will be, doubtless, more reflections. I plan to continue to update this blog from time to time throughout the process. So while the year I had to spend in the field is rapidly coming to a close, I hope that this blog will live on. Make sure to stay tuned as the next phase of the adventure begins!