Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

Islam in China 1 7 1Muslim nationalities themselves. In this scheme, the Uyghur are much moreresistant to accepting integration into Chinese society than are other Muslimgroups. They are the only Muslim minority in China expressing strong desiresfor a separate state, which they refer to as Uyghuristan. However, it is not at allclear that all Uyghur desire such independence. At the other extreme, the Huiare arguably the most integrated of all the Muslim minorities into Chinese societyand culture. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage: They oftenhave greater access to power and resources within Chinese society, but at thesame time they risk either the loss of their identity or the rejection of otherMuslim groups in China as being too assimilated into Chinese society, to thedetriment of Islam. In between there is a range of Muslim nationalities. Some,the Uzbeks, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tajiks, are closer to the Uyghur in resistingChinese culture and maintaining a distinct language and identity. Others,Dongxiang and Bonan, are much closer to the Hui in accommodation to Chineseculture. Much of this difference is due to historical interaction and localeand can also serve as a heuristic way of examining the challenges faced by eachMuslim minority in their daily expression of identity and Islam in Chinese soci e t y. It must be clearly noted, however, that there are many exceptions to thisoverly generalized pattern. For example, there are some Uyghur, such as CommunistParty officials and secularists, who are quite integrated into Chinese soci e t y, and at the same time, there are also some Hui, including some religiousleaders and rebellious youths, who live their lives in strident resistance to Chineseculture.Increased Muslim activism in China might be thought of as “nationalistic,”but it is a nationalism that often transcends the boundaries of the contempora ry nation-state, via mass communications, increased travel, and the Internet.Earlier Islamic movements in China were precipitated by China’s opening tothe outside world. No matter what conservative leaders in the governmentmight wish, the politics of China’s Muslims have reached a new stage of openness.If China wants to participate in an international political sphere of nation-states,this is unavoidable. With China’s opening to the West, travel by Chineseto and from the Islamic heartlands has dramatically increased. In 1984,over 1,400 Muslims left China to go on the h a j j to Mecca. This number increasedto over 2,000 in 1987, representing a return to pre-1949 levels, and inthe late 1990s, official hajj numbers regularly surpassed 6,000, with many otherstraveling in private capacities through third countries. Several Hui studentsare presently enrolled in Islamic and Arabic studies at the Al-Azhar Universityin Egypt, and many others seek Islamic training abroad.Encouraged by the Chinese state, relations between Muslims in China andtheir coreligionists in the Middle East are becoming stronger and more frequent.This appears to be motivated partly by China’s desire to establish tradingpartners for arms, commodities, and currency exchanges and partly by