From Huímín (the Hui people) to the Huízú (Hui ethnicity)- the history of islamic group in China mainland.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Given that many people still do not understand the relationship between the Huímín and the Huízú, I feel it is necessary to share some basic knowledge.
People who believe in Islam are called Muslims. So where do the terms Huímín and Huízú come from? Historically, Islam in China wasn't called Islam; it was called Huìjiào (the Hui Religion). Those who believed in Islam were called Huìjiàotú (followers of the Hui Religion) or Huímín (the Hui people). In modern times, these Huímín were then designated as a minority ethnic group—the Huízú (Hui ethnicity). This is why people often get them confused.
From Dàshí Fǎ to Huìjiào
For a very long time, Islam was known as Huìjiào, which is connected to the history of how it came to China. According to historical records, Islam entered China in the second year of the Yonghui reign of the Tang Dynasty (651 CE). It first came to the capital, Chang'an, via the Silk Road, and to Guangzhou via the Maritime Silk Road. The Muslims who came to China at that time were mainly Arabs and Persians, though the Persians were also under Arab rule for a time. The Arabs were called the "Dàshí," and so in the Tang Dynasty, people sometimes called Islam "Dàshí Fǎ" (the Law of the Dashi).
"Dàshí Fǎ" was simple and clear: the law that the Dashi people believed in. The Tang Dynasty also used place names for other religions. For example, when Christianity came to China, it was once called "Dàqín Jǐngjiào." Dàqín was their name for Rome, and "Jǐngjiào" referred to a particular branch of Christianity (the Church of the East). They left behind a stone tablet in Zhouzhi, Shaanxi, called the "Stele on the Propagation of Dàqín Jǐngjiào in China."
When the Mongols ruled China, they also ruled over Central Asia, West Asia, and parts of Europe. The Mongol Empire included many regions in Central Asia, West Asia, and Southeastern Europe, all of which became its territories. The people of this vast empire were no longer held back by borders and could travel much more freely. Some Muslims came to inland China as soldiers for the garrisons, while others came for politics or business. As a result, a large number of foreign Muslims flowed into inland China.
During the Yuan Dynasty, a large portion of the foreign population was made up of the "Huíhuí" people. The term Huíhuí referred to the people from the Khwarazmian Empire and Eastern Iran. "Khwarazm" was once translated as the Huíhuí Country. The Huíhuí Country did not refer to the Arabian Peninsula; at that time, the Arabian Peninsula was translated as "Tiānfāng Guó" (the country of the Heavenly House, i.e., the Ka'bah). In the Tang Dynasty, there were more Arab Muslims in China, so people called their religion "Dàshí Fǎ." By the Yuan Dynasty, more Muslims were coming from the Huíhuí Country, so people started calling their religion "Huíhuíjiào" or simply "Huìjiào."
This is a bit like today, when some Muslim women in the interior of China wear headscarves and long robes. Many people don't know where they're from and think their clothing looks like that of people from Xinjiang, so they just assume they are from Xinjiang. If this misunderstanding keeps going, they might start saying they follow the "Xinjiang religion." The situation back then was similar. A large number of Huíhuí people appeared in the interior, and the religion they followed became known as "Huíhuíjiào." Even if local Han Chinese people converted to this religion, others would mistakenly call them "Huíhuí" as well.
You see the same thing in Malaysia. Because the Malay people are Muslims, the Chinese there sometimes call Islam the "Malay Religion." This is exactly what happened in the Yuan Dynasty. Since the Huíhuí people from Khwarazm all followed this religion, people called it the Huíhuí religion. And when Han people in the interior converted, they were also called "Huíhuí people."
Because people had a hard time telling the different foreign groups apart, for a while they called everyone who came from the West "Huíhuí." Later, as they learned to distinguish better, they called the Gypsies Luōlǐ Huíhuí, the Ossetians Lǜjīng Huíhuí (Green-eyed Huíhuí), the Jews Lánmào Huíhuí (Blue-capped Huíhuí), and the Christians Shízì Huíhuí (Cross Huíhuí).
Eventually, people's understanding became clearer. They started to only call followers of Islam Huíhuí, since, after all, they were the most numerous. In time, they became the main group associated with the name and came to monopolize it. Huíhuí came to mean a person who believes in Islam, and Huìjiào came to mean only Islam, not Judaism or Christianity.
The Sinicization of the Huíhuí People
Although Islam was called Huìjiào in China for a time, Islam is a universal religion; it’s not just for the Huíhuí people. So after it spread to the Han areas, many Han Chinese people accepted the faith. Because the Huíhuí were the main group practicing this religion, people also started calling the Han converts Huíhuí. By the Ming Dynasty, the Han Chinese had regained control of the government. To speed up ethnic integration, Ming law forbade foreign populations from marrying only among themselves; it required the Huíhuí and Mongols to intermarry with the Han. Intermarriage with the Han people accelerated the Sinicization of these foreign groups, and all the ethnicities quickly blended together. The foreign populations merged into the Huaxia nation, and it became difficult to tell who was originally Chinese and who was not.
The Huaxia nation is called the Han people, named after the Han Dynasty founded by Liu Bang. And who are the Han people? They are the Chinese people, the Huaxia people. The term "Han" cannot refer to Mongols, nor to Turkic peoples, nor to Tibetans. Even if Inner Mongolia, the Turkic lands, and Tibet are ruled by China, it is wrong to call Tibetans "Han," and it is wrong to call Turkic peoples "Han." They are not Han, and so they are not part of the Huaxia nation.
The Huaxia nation is not a strictly racial concept. The ancient Huaxia people were the residents of the Central Plains. As the Huaxia civilization expanded, it absorbed the Yue people of the south and the Hu peoples of the north. The Han people have continuously absorbed foreign populations, turning other ethnic groups into new Han people. In the Han mindset, Huaxia is a land of culture and etiquette, while foreigners are barbarians. When barbarians entered the Central Plains, as long as they accepted Huaxia culture and teachings, they could become students of Confucius and Mencius, citizens of Huaxia, and they were no longer considered barbarians. In this way, anyone who moved into Han areas, spoke the Chinese language, and adopted a Han surname was gradually Sinicized and became Han, no longer a foreigner.
During the Tang Dynasty, some foreign Muslims who came to China were quickly Sinicized. They took part in the imperial examinations and became government officials, like Li Shunxuan, who was of Persian origin. By the Yuan Dynasty, even more foreign Muslims poured into China. They married Han women, took Han surnames, spoke Chinese, wrote Chinese characters, wore Han clothing, and ate Han food. They were quickly Sinicized into new Han people. Mr. Chen Yuan wrote a book called A Study of the Sinicization of People from the Western Regions in the Yuan Dynasty, which discusses this very process. Sinicization means becoming Han, definitely not becoming Mongol or Manchu. By the Ming Dynasty, the Sinicization of foreign populations happened even faster. Because they were required to intermarry with the Han, their foreign bloodlines were quickly diluted. Their descendants had a large amount of Han blood and eventually blended completely into the Han people. The Han people thus include both the native Han and the Sinicized Han. The native Han are the indigenous people who have always lived here. The Sinicized Han are the foreign groups who have continuously merged into the Han people. For example, throughout history, many peoples like the Xianbei, Tangut, Jie, Qiang, Di, Jurchen, and Khitan settled in China, intermarried with the Han, and gradually assimilated, becoming new Han people. Their surnames, like "Murong," "Dongfang," and "Ouyang," all became part of the collection of Han surnames. The same happened with Arabs, Persians, and the Huíhuí people. When they came to China, they also began to marry Han women, take Han surnames, wear Han clothing, and speak Chinese. They too were soon Sinicized and became new Han people.
To give you an example, the people of North Africa were not originally Arabs; they were Berbers, Copts, Sudanese, Somalis, and so on. After the Arabs conquered these regions, the local people were rapidly Arabized, and they all eventually became Arabs.
The Han people are the same. The Dashi and Persians who came to China in the Tang and Song dynasties, and the Turkic and Huíhuí people who came in the Yuan dynasty, were all Sinicized into new Han people, just like the Xianbei and Xiongnu before them. But even after becoming Han, they held on to their Islamic faith. Because Islam was called Huìjiào, and believers were called Huíhuí, their ethnic identity became Huaxia, became Han, but their religious identity was Huìjiàotú (followers of the Hui Religion), or Huímín (people of the Hui Religion).
Chán Huí and Hàn Huí
The Great Qing Empire occupied the Han lands, and the Chinese people became subjects in their own land. The Qing also occupied the Turkic lands, Mongolia, and Tibet. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, Xinjiang was brought into the Qing Empire's territory. Then, the believers of Huìjiào were not just Han people anymore; Turkic peoples were now among them. Since the Turkic peoples also followed Huìjiào, they were naturally also called Huíhuí. So how did they distinguish between the Turkic Huíhuí and the Huíhuí of the Han lands? The government and historical texts called the Huíhuí of the Han lands "Shú Huí" (Assimilated Hui) or "Hàn Huí" (Han Hui), while the Huíhuí from the Turkic regions were called "Shēng Huí" (Unassimilated Hui) or "Chán Huí" (Turban-wearing Hui).
The people of Xinjiang also followed Huìjiào and had a custom of wrapping their heads in turbans, so they were called Chán Huí. This is why Xinjiang was also called Huíjiāng (the Hui Frontier) or Huíbù (the Hui Region). The followers of Huìjiào in the Han lands, on the other hand, were no different from ordinary Han people except for their religion. They didn't wear turbans but wore the queue hairstyle, they didn't speak Uyghur but spoke Chinese, and so they were called Hàn Huí.
Huíhuí refers to a follower of Huìjiào. Anyone who believes in Huìjiào can be called a Huíhuí. Besides the Hàn Huí, Dai people who became Muslim were called "Dǎi Huí," Tibetans who became Muslim were called "Zàng Huí," Mongols who became Muslim were called "Méng Huí," and Bai people who became Muslim were called "Bái Huí."
When Buddhism came to China, it influenced three main areas, forming what we know as Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Southern (Theravada) Buddhism. When Islam came to China, it influenced at least two main areas: the Turkic lands and the Han lands. The believers in the Turkic lands were Turkic Muslims, and the believers in the Han lands were Han Muslims. Using the historical terms, one group was the Chán Huí, and the other was the Hàn Huí. The Chán Huí are the Turkic Muslims, and the Hàn Huí are the Han Muslims.
The term Huíhuí at first meant people from Khwarazm, but later it came to refer to all followers of Huìjiào. Whether they were Turkic followers or Han followers, Chán Huí or Hàn Huí, they were all Huíhuí (followers of the Hui Religion), or Huímín (people of the Hui Religion).
A Huíhuí is a follower of Huìjiào, and these followers come from many ethnic backgrounds. Anyone who embraces Huìjiào (Islam) is a Huíhuí (Muslim). But embracing Huìjiào and becoming a Huímín doesn't mean your ethnicity changes. You can't say that believing in Huìjiào makes you a Khwarazmian, or an Iranian, or a Dashi person; that’s impossible. Just as believing in Christianity doesn't make you an Italian or a Roman, and believing in Buddhism doesn't make you an Indian or a Nepalese. As a Han person, if you embrace Huìjiào, you are still a Han person. But because Islam was called Huìjiào, if you believe in it, you are called a Huímín. But even as a Huímín, you are a Han Huímín. The term Huímín shows they are people of the Huìjiào faith; it doesn't mean they've changed their ethnicity and become foreigners. They are still Han people, just the Huímín among the Han. So even if they are Huíhuí, they are Hàn Huíhuí.
So what is a Hàn Huíhuí? To put it simply, it's a Han person who believes in Huìjiào. Who are the Hàn Huíhuí? The Muslims in the Han lands are basically all Hàn Huíhuí. As Han people migrated to Xinjiang, a large number of Hàn Huí went there too, and their customs are completely different from those of the local Muslims.
Even if someone's research shows that a certain family's ancestors were Persian, or Jewish, or Uyghur, we don't deny that. But what I want to say is this: ancestors are ancestors, and they are who they are today. Their ancestors may have been Arabs or Persians, but they are Han people now. Their ancestors were Sinicized and became Han within a few generations, so of course they are Han people too.
So why do people usually just say they are Huíhuí and not put "Hàn" in front of it? It's because in the past, China was a Han country. Everyone was Han, so was there really a need to specifically point out your Han identity? Take Christians, for example. Do they need to call themselves "Han Christians"? Do Buddhists need to emphasize that they are "Han Buddhists"? Even during the Qing Dynasty, after Xinjiang became part of the country, the interior was still a Han region, filled with Han people. When everyone is in the Han lands, do you need to go out of your way to stress your Han identity? It’s like if your surname is Li and my surname is also Li. When the Li brothers are together, do they need to spell out which member of the Li family each one is?
A Han Christian only needs to specify that they are a Han Christian when they meet a Naxi Christian, a Dai Christian, or a Jingpo Christian. A Buddhist only needs to specify they follow Han Buddhism when they meet a Tibetan Buddhist or a Southern Buddhist. The term Hàn Huí is really only useful when you put it next to Chán Huí, to show the difference between the two.
Huíhuí means a follower of the Huìjiào religion. A Hàn Huí is a Han follower of Huìjiào, or to put it plainly, a Han person who believes in Islam. Apart from their religious practices, they are no different from ordinary Han people. But some people think Huíhuí is a separate ethnicity, the Hui ethnicity. This is as absurd as saying Buddhists are an ethnicity—the "Buddhist ethnicity." The Hàn Huí of the Han lands and ordinary Han people only have a religious difference, not an ethnic one. And having a different religion doesn't mean you belong to a different ethnicity. For example, a Lebanese Arab doesn't stop being an Arab just because he converts to Christianity. In the same way, a Han person doesn't stop being Han just because he believes in Huìjiào.
The Four Common Characteristics
The standard for defining ethnicities in China is often based on the four commonalities proposed by Stalin: a common language, a common territory, a common economic life, and a common psychological make-up. If you measure the Huímín of the Han lands by these four points, you’ll find they share the exact same four characteristics as ordinary Han people, which is enough to prove that they are, in fact, the same people.
First, let's look at common language. The inland Huíhuí have spoken Chinese since ancient times; they share a common mother tongue with ordinary Han people. Some people claim their mother tongue is Arabic, but that's nonsense. Which group of Huíhuí has Arabic as their mother tongue? The Huíhuí of Hainan? The Huíhuí of the Northwest? None of them. Even the first Muslims who came to China—be they Arabs, Persians, or Jews—all started speaking Chinese after they arrived. They had no single, unified language other than Chinese. Their descendants all speak Chinese. Chinese is the common language they share with ordinary Han people.
Some might say that while they speak Chinese, it's mixed with a lot of foreign words, a dialect called "Jingtangyu" (scripture hall language). But Jingtangyu isn't a separate language. It's just Chinese with some religious vocabulary mixed in; it's still Chinese. It's like Buddhists, who might use some Sanskrit loanwords in their daily speech, like "Fótuó" (Buddha), "Pútí" (Bodhi), "Fútú" (Stupa), "Chànà" (instant), or "Jiénàn" (calamity). You wouldn't say they aren't speaking Chinese because of that.
Others claim that "Xiao'erjing" is the common language of the Chinese Huímín. That’s also nonsense. Xiao'erjing is just a way of writing Chinese sounds using the Arabic script, used by some Muslims in the Northwest. They are still writing Chinese. At most, Xiao'erjing is a phonetic system for Chinese, not a language in itself.
The Huíhuí and ordinary Han people share a common territory: the Han lands, the areas of the Han people. All Hàn Huíhuí live in the Han lands and wherever Han migrants have settled. Take Xinjiang, for instance. When Han migrants moved there, Huíhuí appeared there too, because the Huíhuí among the Han people also moved there. Or the Northeast; during the great migration period, Han people went to the Northeast, and the Huíhuí among them went as well. In minority regions, where there are fewer Han people, there are fewer Huíhuí among them. Tibet is a Tibetan region, so very few Huíhuí went there. Why? Because there were few Han migrants, and so the number of Huíhuí among them was also small. Where there are Han people, there are Huíhuí; where there are no Han people, there are no Huíhuí. Therefore, the Huíhuí and ordinary Han people share a common territory: the Han lands and the places where Han migrants have gone.
The inland Hàn Huíhuí and ordinary Han people share a common economic life. For example, in an agrarian society, everyone farms. In the cities, they do business. In pastoral areas, they herd livestock. In Xinjiang, they are part of the production and construction corps.
They also share a common psychological make-up with ordinary Han people. They have the same sense of national identity and belonging as ordinary Han people. They are unwavering in their support for one China, which is different from their Uyghur compatriots. The Huímín who moved to Xinjiang deeply despise separatists. They are of one heart with the Han people and staunchly support the Han government, seeing the Han rulers as their own people. This is enough to prove that their psychological make-up is the same as that of the Han. Because they share a common ethnic foundation with the Han, the Uyghur people call this group of Huíhuí people "Dungan."
In the eyes of the Uyghurs, a Dungan is a Han person who believes in Islam. Some say the word means "East Bank," because the Huímín came from the east. Others say it means "Eastern Han," and still others say "Tong Han" (connected with the Han). The term "Tong Han" is very fitting. "Huí rén tōng Hàn" (Hui people connected with the Han) seems to capture both the sound and the meaning well. Their hearts are truly connected with the ordinary Han people, which is why they hope the Han will govern Xinjiang and do not want to see it split away.
More Than Just Four Common Points
They share common surnames with the Han people: "Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li, Zhou, Wu, Zheng, Wang..." Their surnames are Zhang, Liu, Han, Wei, Huang, Sun, Kong, and so on. These are all Han surnames; they rarely have other kinds of surnames. For example, the late scholar Jian Bozan had the surname "Jian," which is a Uyghur surname and has been identified as such. The surnames of the Huíhuí are no different from those of the Han. Although a few of these surnames came from Arabic or Persian, they have been Sinicized to fit the pattern of Han surnames. The given names of the Huíhuí are even more filled with Han character. For instance, women often have names like "Fengxian," "Shuxian," "Xiulan," and "Yulan," while men have names like "Ma Hualong," "Ma Rulong," "Du Wenxiu," "Ma Wanfu," "Ma Fuxiang," "Ma Qi," and "Ma Lin," all of which are typically Han in style.
They share a common architectural style with the Han people. Their mosques have decorative roof ridges (wǔjǐ liùshòu), coiling dragons and phoenixes, inscribed plaques, couplets, and stone tortoise pedestals (bìxì)—all of these are the same. Many mosques have a treasure vase ornament instead of a crescent moon. The only difference is that there are no idols inside the main prayer hall. Han people like to place an idol in the center of an alcove. Han people who believe in Islam often feel that something should be placed there, so they put winding Arabic calligraphy in the center, feeling that praying towards that spot gives them more peace of mind. Strictly speaking, this is not appropriate.
They share common eating habits with ordinary Han people. The Huíhuí in the north love noodles, while those in the south prefer rice. In the Central Plains, the Huíhuí enjoy "zhēngwǎn" (steamed bowls of meat), where meat is first fried and then steamed. The steamed bowl is a classic Han dish; Arabs, Persians, and Central Asians don't have this custom. This is all part of the culture of Islam in the Han lands. Just as there is an Arab Islamic culture, a Persian Islamic culture, a Turkic Islamic culture, and a Malay Islamic culture, there is also a Han Islamic culture. When Islam came to the Han lands, the great Han nation embraced it and created a great Han Islamic culture with its own unique Han characteristics.
In matters of marriage and funerals, the Huíhuí are also similar to other Han people. They place great importance on continuing the family line and still keep family genealogies. At funerals, the eldest son leads the mourning rituals. At weddings, they have the custom of teasing the newlyweds (nàodòngfáng). In Xi'an, the custom of testing a bride's virginity still exists; they spread a white handkerchief on the bed on the wedding night. When a baby is born, they cook red-dyed eggs. In the past, their women also practiced foot-binding. After a person passes away, they observe anniversaries, the day of death, the fortieth day, and the one-hundredth day. After a death, scriptures are recited for dozens of days. Han people hire Buddhist monks to recite scriptures; the Hàn Huí hire an Ahong (Imam) to recite scriptures. In both cases, money is given after the recitation is done. Christians, not having been Sinicized in this way, do not have this custom. When there is a death, the Huímín of Xi'an perform a ritual of balancing the Qur'an on their head (dǐng jīng), which is almost identical to the Han custom of balancing a basin on the head (dǐng pén), except that other Han people have to smash the basin afterwards, while the Huímín balance a plate and circle with the scripture, pretending to give charity. Historically, the bodies of the Huíhuí were carried in a sedan chair. On the sedan chair, there was a dragon. If the deceased was a man, the dragon had a beard; if it was a woman, it was a beardless female dragon. Their folk beliefs include a belief in dragons, in possession by spirits, and in the idea that those who commit suicide cannot report to Allah but instead wander with the stars and moon. These are all Han folk beliefs.
They have a common cultural and recreational life. The Huíhuí in the eastern regions enjoy traditional operas like Henan opera, Qinqiang, and Peking opera. Those in the western regions enjoy "Hua'er" folk songs. Whether it's Peking opera, Qinqiang, or Hua'er, these are all forms of Han entertainment. The Huíhuí also practice martial arts, or gongfu, which is a traditional Han way of strengthening the body. The founder of Tai Chi came from Chenjiagou village, and Muslims with the surname Chen consider themselves part of that lineage. The techniques of Xinyi Liuhe Quan were also created and passed down by the Han. Some martial arts styles were modified by Muslims, such as Chaquan and Tangping Qishi, but the forms are still Han-style. All of these characteristics are no different from those of ordinary Han people. The only difference is that they believe in Huìjiào. After converting, they were influenced by the religion, and some of their customs changed. In their diet, although they no longer eat forbidden foods, their cooking methods are still Chinese. The inland Huímín do not make pilaf or roasted baozi.
From Huíhuí to the Huí Ethnicity
The religion of Islam was called Huìjiào, and its followers were the Huíhuí. So, what should we call the Han Chinese who convert to Islam today (new Muslims)? Can they still be called Huíhuí? If Huíhuí means Muslim, then anyone who believes in Islam is a Huíhuí. The Han Chinese who are converting to Islam now are, of course, also Huíhuí. They are new Huíhuí, new Hàn Huí. After some Han people accept Islam, their mindset becomes even more "Huíhuí" than the old Huíhuí.
Now that we've talked about the Huímín, let's discuss the Huí ethnicity (Huízú). The idea of a "Hui ethnicity" is linked to the Japanese. The Japanese wanted to divide China. First, they split off Manchuria. Manchuria was the homeland of the Manchu people, and the Japanese manipulated Puyi to establish the state of Manchukuo. They also supported Mongolian independence. The Mongols were never Han people, and they had been occupied by the Qing state. Since the Qing had fallen, they sought their independence. Beyond this, the Japanese came up with a new idea: to establish a Huíhuí state. The theory behind this was that the Huíhuí people were not Chinese and should separate from China. This Huíhuí state they imagined was not Xinjiang, because the plan for Xinjiang at the time was to establish a Turkic state. They were referring to the Huímín of the Han lands. These people had always called themselves Huíhuí, so the Japanese seized on this, saying that the Huíhuí were not Han but a foreign people who should therefore form their own independent country. The Japanese promoted this idea of a Huíhuí state and spread a lot of propaganda, but it didn't work. Later, this viewpoint was adopted by the authorities in Yan'an. They said that the followers of Huìjiào in inland China were not Han people, but the Huíhuí ethnicity, and that the Huíhuí ethnicity did not belong to the Chinese nation, so they shouldn't be part of the Republic of China but should establish a Huíhuí Republic instead. The Party at one point encouraged all Huíhuí to break away from China and form another country. But the Huíhuí themselves didn't think this way; they had always considered themselves Chinese. But the Party didn't see them as Han. It stripped them of their Han identity and treated them as a separate ethnicity, the Huíhuí ethnicity, or Huízú for short.
It's worth noting that the term Huízú had appeared before. In Qing Dynasty historical books, the term Huízú shows up occasionally, but it didn't mean an ethnicity in the modern sense. It basically referred to the community of Huìjiào followers, similar to how we might say the "car-owning crowd" today; they were the "Huìjiào crowd." Dr. Sun Yat-sen once proposed the concept of a "Republic of Five Races," which included the Han, Hui, Manchu, Tibetan, and Mongol peoples. But the "Hui" he was talking about did not refer to the followers of Huìjiào in the interior; it referred to the Turkic people of Xinjiang. Since the Turkic people of Xinjiang followed Huìjiào, Xinjiang was also called Huíjiāng, and the Turkic people were also called the Huízú. The Huízú Dr. Sun mentioned were them. So, to be precise, the five races were the Han, Turkic, Manchu, Tibetan, and Mongol, while the followers of Huìjiào in the interior were considered Han people at that time.
Later, the government classified the Turkic and Tajik peoples into six separate ethnic groups, and the Hui ethnicity had nothing to do with them. The government designated the Hàn Huíhuí of the interior as the Hui ethnicity. This required two conditions: first, you had to be a follower of Huìjiào, and second, you had to be a Chinese-speaking Han person. Those who believed in Huìjiào but didn't speak Chinese, like the Dongxiang people who speak the Dongxiang language, or the Salar people of Xunhua who speak the Salar language, were classified as the Dongxiang and Salar ethnicities, not as Hui. And you couldn't be Hui if you spoke Chinese but didn't believe in Islam. For example, the descendants of Muslims in Chendai (in Jinjiang) and Baiqi (in Hui'an) were not classified as Hui because, although their ancestors were Muslims, they themselves were not. It wasn't until after 1979 that their classification was changed to Hui. That happened much later. Even today, that part of the Hui ethnicity does not practice Islam and is no different from ordinary Han people.
The Hui ethnicity was created by separating the Han followers of Huìjiào from the rest of the Han people. When this was done, the Hui ethnicity was made up of followers of Huìjiào; they all believed in Islam. But after seventy years of atheistic education, many no longer believe in Islam. As a result, there is now a portion of non-Muslims within the Hui ethnicity. Adding to that the descendants of non-practicing Muslims on the southeast coast who were later classified as Hui, you have a situation like in Quanzhou, where there are two hundred thousand ethnic Hui, almost none of whom practice Islam. So, to be precise, the Hui is not an ethnicity that universally believes in Islam.
The original Hui ethnicity came from Han people who believed in Islam. As for the Hui ethnicity today, you can only say that a part of them believes in Islam, a part believes in Christianity, a part believes in Buddhism, and another part believes in atheism. The Hui are descendants of Muslims, but they are not all Muslims. If you want an accurate definition, the Hui ethnicity is composed of the descendants of Chinese-speaking Muslims.
The Hui people are, in fact, Han people. They speak Chinese, write Chinese characters, have Han surnames, and are no different from ordinary Han people. Their ancestors were either originally Han, or they were Sinicized Han. A portion of the Hui people's ancestors were foreigners, but after coming to China, they were quickly Sinicized and became Han. It’s just like how after the Arabs conquered North Africa, the original Berber, Sudanese, and Somali peoples were quickly assimilated by the Arabs and became new Arabs.
Let's review the difference between these three terms: Huìjiào, Huímín, and Huízú. Huìjiào is the old Chinese name for Islam; it refers to the religion of Islam. In China, there are two large groups of people who follow Huìjiào. There are twenty million followers of Huìjiào (Muslims) in China. Of these, ten million are Han people, and the other ten million are Turkic peoples. The Turkic peoples are divided into six ethnic groups. The Han Muslims were designated as the Huíhuí ethnicity. In addition, there is a very small number from the Mongol, Tibetan, Manchu, Dai, and Bai ethnic groups.
Huímín means the people of the Huìjiào faith; it refers to people who believe in Islam. Who are the Huímín? If Huímín means Muslim, then all Muslims are Huímín. By that logic, Saudi Muslims are Huímín, Malay Muslims are Huímín, Indian Muslims are Huímín, and Turkish Muslims are Huímín. All these countries would be Huímín countries.
And the Huízú is a group of people that the Chinese government separated from the Han population. The difference between them and ordinary Han people is their belief in Islam. But since a portion of the Hui people no longer believe in Islam, it is more accurate to say that the Hui ethnicity consists of the descendants of Han Muslims, rather than Han Muslims themselves.
Islam is a religion for all people, not just for the Hui people. Even if all Hui people were practicing Muslims, they would only be one part of the global Muslim community. This is not to mention that a significant number of people in the Hui ethnicity do not practice Islam. Therefore, we should not equate the Hui ethnicity with Muslims.
The Hui ethnicity comes from the Han people, but these ten million Han people are not considered Han; their Han identity has been taken from them, even though they speak Chinese, write Chinese characters, and have Han surnames. They are no different from ordinary Han people. The only difference is their belief in Islam. If they were to leave Islam, there would be no difference at all between them and ordinary Han people. Of course, once an ordinary Han person accepts Islam, they become no different from a Han follower of Huìjiào. This is because they are originally the same people. The tragedy is that after this group of people was stripped of their Han identity, they started to believe they really weren't Han. They forgot their own compatriots, stopped interacting with their relatives, and stopped spreading the message of Islam to ordinary Han people. The authorities' policy of catering to them was warmly embraced by this group. They legitimately took on the identity of a foreign population, contentedly became second-class citizens, and stopped seeing themselves as descendants of the Chinese people, as children of the legendary ancestors Yan and Huang. They really began to think of themselves as sojourners, as Arabs or Persians.
In the beginning, a few Italian missionaries came to China to spread Catholicism. If Catholics today naively believed they were Italian, that would be absurd. In the beginning, some Arabs and Persians did come to China, but they were quickly Sinicized and became Han, and their descendants were all Han. Yet now, the descendants of this group are shouting that they are Arabs or Persians and denying that they are Han. This is just as absurd and laughable as Catholics claiming they are Italian.
This group displays strong nationalistic tendencies. At every turn, they emphasize how different they are from others, that they are a separate category, not ordinary Chinese, not ordinary Han. They oppose the Han in every respect and deliberately avoid anything that seems similar to Han culture. Things that have already become habit, they don't mention. For example, terms like "sì" (temple), "wúcháng" (impermanence), "jiàomén" (religious community), and "qīngjìng" (pure and clean) were originally Buddhist terms. Terms like "Tiānjīng" (heavenly scripture), "Tiānfáng" (house of heaven/Ka'bah), "Tiānkè" (heavenly tax/zakat), "Tiānmìng" (mandate of heaven), and "Tiānqǐ" (heavenly revelation) also have a Han cultural flavor. They use these words without a second thought, assuming they were always Huíhuí terms. But if a word wasn't used in the past and hasn't become a habit, they will fiercely oppose it. For example, if a Muslim refers to Allah as "Tiān" (Heaven) or "Shàngdì" (Lord on High), they will say it is a great heresy, an act of apostasy, and an imitation of the Han. Yet they turn a blind eye to the fact that their own speech is entirely in the Han language. We are originally Han people, so how can we be "imitating"? We are simply carrying on the customs of our own nation.
Nearly all the mosques in the Han lands are built in a temple-like style, no different from the religious architecture of ordinary Han people. But now, mosques must be built in a Byzantine style to distinguish them from ordinary Han architecture. Also, it’s fine for a mosque to hang couplets—even though this is a Han custom, they have come to see it as their own. But if a family hangs couplets at home, that's not acceptable; that's imitating the Han. Then there are those who nitpick over words. For instance, you can't say "féi" (fat), you must say "zhuàng" (stout); you can't say "tián" (sweet), you must say "xián" (savory); you can't say "sǐ" (die), you must say "mò" (pass away); you can't say "shā" (kill), you must say "zǎi" (slaughter for consumption). The truth is, even if you say "mò," it's still a Chinese word. But even so, they must be different from the habits of ordinary Han people. Deliberately drawing lines and creating differences—this is a classic feature of nationalism.
Our non-Muslim compatriots are part of the same nation; we are all Han people. If you must divide the Han people into two types, you could divide them by region into southern Han and northern Han, because there are indeed significant differences between southerners and northerners. If you divide them by faith, you can also split them into two types: ordinary Han and Muslim Han. Ordinary Han people do not follow a single religion, while Muslim Han people believe in Islam. Other than that, there is no difference between us.
Common Slips of the Tongue
Ordinary Han people are our compatriots, and we are Han people too. That being the case, we should correct some mistakes we often make in our speech. Many people say that the development of Islam depends on the Hui ethnicity, that the Hui ethnicity is the vehicle for the development of Islam in China. This is nonsense. The history of the Hui ethnicity is only sixty or seventy years long. Before that, Islam had been spreading in the Han lands of China for over a thousand years. Who was responsible for spreading Islam then? It was the Huímín, not the Huízú. And the Huímín were the Han people who had embraced Islam, the Hàn Huímín, the Hàn Huíhuí. In other words, it was the Han people who carried Islam in China.
Others say that to develop Islam, we must first improve the character of the Hui ethnicity, because, after all, developing Islam in China relies on the Hui. This is also nonsense. To develop Islam, you just need Muslims. In the Han lands, you need Han Muslims. Rely on the Hui ethnicity? Are all Hui people Muslims? The two hundred thousand Hui in Quanzhou no longer practice Islam—can you rely on them? A Han person who has embraced Islam is just as reliable. So, who do we rely on to develop Islam? On Muslims, that's enough. And if you must ask which ethnicity's Muslims, then of course it must be Han Muslims. You might say we rely on the Hui ethnicity, but the Hui ethnicity is, in fact, Han people who believe in Islam.
Someone once introduced a seeker to me and said, "You should teach him more about Islam; he is Han." I replied, "Does being Han mean he must learn about Islam? Who here isn't Han? I am also Han. We speak the Chinese language, have Han surnames, have Han faces, wear Han clothes, and write Chinese characters. In what way am I not Han? You tell me." Am I not of the Hui ethnicity? Yes! But that is because others have stripped you of your ethnic identity, so you became "Hui," and you are no longer seen as Han. But in reality, you are still Han.
I've never seen a Christian introduce a friend by saying, "Here, this person is Han, tell him about Christianity!" Never. Everyone is Han, so why the need to emphasize it?
When we approach religion with a preconceived ethnic bias, we fall into a trap. When you deliberately emphasize a non-Muslim's Han identity, it shows that you have already accepted the stripping of your own identity and agreed with the way others have classified you. The implication is that you are not Han, which means you consent to this classification—and this classification is wrong. We have been Han people since ancient times, for generations, descendants of Yan and Huang. When others take away your Han identity, do you really start to believe you are not Han? If you're not Han, then what are you? An Arab? A Persian? Do you believe that yourself? A member of the Hui ethnicity? By that logic, if you believe in Buddhism, are you of the "Buddhist ethnicity"? If you believe in Taoism, do you become of the "Taoist ethnicity"?
Someone once asked me, "Teacher, our school doesn't have halal meals. Can we eat 'Hàn cān' (Han food)?" We are all Han people. Isn't all the food we eat 'Hàn cān'? What does he mean by 'Hàn cān'? He means non-halal food. But isn't a meal cooked by a Han Muslim a halal meal? It is wrong to use an ethnic concept to define what is halal and what is not. A meal cooked by a Han person is Hàn cān. If he believes in Islam, the meal he cooks is naturally a halal meal—a halal Hàn cān. If a member of the Hui ethnicity eats pork, then even if he cooks a "Huí cān" (Hui meal), you cannot eat it, because it is a non-halal Huí cān.
We cannot let the term "Hui ethnicity" be used to bind Muslims, to bind Islam, because Islam is not just for the Hui; Islam is for all of humanity. To whom should we spread the message of Islam? Not to "the Han people." I have never emphasized preaching to the Han people. I emphasize preaching to those outside the faith, meaning to non-Muslims. There are many non-Muslims, and quite a few of them are within the Hui ethnicity. Are all Han people non-Muslims? No, there are Muslims among the Han. How many? Ten million. And those who are now called the Hui ethnicity—are they not all Han Muslims? To whom do we preach? To all non-Muslims, to the sons and daughters of Huaxia, to the one-point-three billion Chinese people—not just to "the Han ethnicity." The Han people already include many Muslims; they cannot be seen as a group of non-Muslims. These are the common mistakes we must be mindful of.
We must be especially careful with our words. Some people are quick to say, "we Hui people do this," and "you Han people do that," or "we can't intermarry with you Han people," and so on. When they talk like this, they have already put a label on Islam, unconsciously treating it as the exclusive property of a certain ethnicity. For example, someone might say, "Muslims cannot intermarry with other ethnicities." This statement is completely wrong. What is an "other ethnicity"? Is the Han ethnicity an "other ethnicity" and the Hui an "inner ethnicity"? Ten million Han people in China have embraced Islam; are they still an "other ethnicity"? Islam makes no distinction between inner and outer ethnicities; anyone can believe in Islam. Islam is a world religion; you will find it among all peoples. Therefore, statements like "we must preach to the Han ethnicity," "we need to develop Han Muslims," "we cannot marry Han people," or "we must not imitate the Han"—all of these are driven by a nationalistic mindset, and these are the things we must be careful about.
Given that many people still do not understand the relationship between the Huímín and the Huízú, I feel it is necessary to share some basic knowledge.
People who believe in Islam are called Muslims. So where do the terms Huímín and Huízú come from? Historically, Islam in China wasn't called Islam; it was called Huìjiào (the Hui Religion). Those who believed in Islam were called Huìjiàotú (followers of the Hui Religion) or Huímín (the Hui people). In modern times, these Huímín were then designated as a minority ethnic group—the Huízú (Hui ethnicity). This is why people often get them confused.
From Dàshí Fǎ to Huìjiào
For a very long time, Islam was known as Huìjiào, which is connected to the history of how it came to China. According to historical records, Islam entered China in the second year of the Yonghui reign of the Tang Dynasty (651 CE). It first came to the capital, Chang'an, via the Silk Road, and to Guangzhou via the Maritime Silk Road. The Muslims who came to China at that time were mainly Arabs and Persians, though the Persians were also under Arab rule for a time. The Arabs were called the "Dàshí," and so in the Tang Dynasty, people sometimes called Islam "Dàshí Fǎ" (the Law of the Dashi).
"Dàshí Fǎ" was simple and clear: the law that the Dashi people believed in. The Tang Dynasty also used place names for other religions. For example, when Christianity came to China, it was once called "Dàqín Jǐngjiào." Dàqín was their name for Rome, and "Jǐngjiào" referred to a particular branch of Christianity (the Church of the East). They left behind a stone tablet in Zhouzhi, Shaanxi, called the "Stele on the Propagation of Dàqín Jǐngjiào in China."
When the Mongols ruled China, they also ruled over Central Asia, West Asia, and parts of Europe. The Mongol Empire included many regions in Central Asia, West Asia, and Southeastern Europe, all of which became its territories. The people of this vast empire were no longer held back by borders and could travel much more freely. Some Muslims came to inland China as soldiers for the garrisons, while others came for politics or business. As a result, a large number of foreign Muslims flowed into inland China.
During the Yuan Dynasty, a large portion of the foreign population was made up of the "Huíhuí" people. The term Huíhuí referred to the people from the Khwarazmian Empire and Eastern Iran. "Khwarazm" was once translated as the Huíhuí Country. The Huíhuí Country did not refer to the Arabian Peninsula; at that time, the Arabian Peninsula was translated as "Tiānfāng Guó" (the country of the Heavenly House, i.e., the Ka'bah). In the Tang Dynasty, there were more Arab Muslims in China, so people called their religion "Dàshí Fǎ." By the Yuan Dynasty, more Muslims were coming from the Huíhuí Country, so people started calling their religion "Huíhuíjiào" or simply "Huìjiào."
This is a bit like today, when some Muslim women in the interior of China wear headscarves and long robes. Many people don't know where they're from and think their clothing looks like that of people from Xinjiang, so they just assume they are from Xinjiang. If this misunderstanding keeps going, they might start saying they follow the "Xinjiang religion." The situation back then was similar. A large number of Huíhuí people appeared in the interior, and the religion they followed became known as "Huíhuíjiào." Even if local Han Chinese people converted to this religion, others would mistakenly call them "Huíhuí" as well.
You see the same thing in Malaysia. Because the Malay people are Muslims, the Chinese there sometimes call Islam the "Malay Religion." This is exactly what happened in the Yuan Dynasty. Since the Huíhuí people from Khwarazm all followed this religion, people called it the Huíhuí religion. And when Han people in the interior converted, they were also called "Huíhuí people."
Because people had a hard time telling the different foreign groups apart, for a while they called everyone who came from the West "Huíhuí." Later, as they learned to distinguish better, they called the Gypsies Luōlǐ Huíhuí, the Ossetians Lǜjīng Huíhuí (Green-eyed Huíhuí), the Jews Lánmào Huíhuí (Blue-capped Huíhuí), and the Christians Shízì Huíhuí (Cross Huíhuí).
Eventually, people's understanding became clearer. They started to only call followers of Islam Huíhuí, since, after all, they were the most numerous. In time, they became the main group associated with the name and came to monopolize it. Huíhuí came to mean a person who believes in Islam, and Huìjiào came to mean only Islam, not Judaism or Christianity.
The Sinicization of the Huíhuí People
Although Islam was called Huìjiào in China for a time, Islam is a universal religion; it’s not just for the Huíhuí people. So after it spread to the Han areas, many Han Chinese people accepted the faith. Because the Huíhuí were the main group practicing this religion, people also started calling the Han converts Huíhuí. By the Ming Dynasty, the Han Chinese had regained control of the government. To speed up ethnic integration, Ming law forbade foreign populations from marrying only among themselves; it required the Huíhuí and Mongols to intermarry with the Han. Intermarriage with the Han people accelerated the Sinicization of these foreign groups, and all the ethnicities quickly blended together. The foreign populations merged into the Huaxia nation, and it became difficult to tell who was originally Chinese and who was not.
The Huaxia nation is called the Han people, named after the Han Dynasty founded by Liu Bang. And who are the Han people? They are the Chinese people, the Huaxia people. The term "Han" cannot refer to Mongols, nor to Turkic peoples, nor to Tibetans. Even if Inner Mongolia, the Turkic lands, and Tibet are ruled by China, it is wrong to call Tibetans "Han," and it is wrong to call Turkic peoples "Han." They are not Han, and so they are not part of the Huaxia nation.
The Huaxia nation is not a strictly racial concept. The ancient Huaxia people were the residents of the Central Plains. As the Huaxia civilization expanded, it absorbed the Yue people of the south and the Hu peoples of the north. The Han people have continuously absorbed foreign populations, turning other ethnic groups into new Han people. In the Han mindset, Huaxia is a land of culture and etiquette, while foreigners are barbarians. When barbarians entered the Central Plains, as long as they accepted Huaxia culture and teachings, they could become students of Confucius and Mencius, citizens of Huaxia, and they were no longer considered barbarians. In this way, anyone who moved into Han areas, spoke the Chinese language, and adopted a Han surname was gradually Sinicized and became Han, no longer a foreigner.
During the Tang Dynasty, some foreign Muslims who came to China were quickly Sinicized. They took part in the imperial examinations and became government officials, like Li Shunxuan, who was of Persian origin. By the Yuan Dynasty, even more foreign Muslims poured into China. They married Han women, took Han surnames, spoke Chinese, wrote Chinese characters, wore Han clothing, and ate Han food. They were quickly Sinicized into new Han people. Mr. Chen Yuan wrote a book called A Study of the Sinicization of People from the Western Regions in the Yuan Dynasty, which discusses this very process. Sinicization means becoming Han, definitely not becoming Mongol or Manchu. By the Ming Dynasty, the Sinicization of foreign populations happened even faster. Because they were required to intermarry with the Han, their foreign bloodlines were quickly diluted. Their descendants had a large amount of Han blood and eventually blended completely into the Han people. The Han people thus include both the native Han and the Sinicized Han. The native Han are the indigenous people who have always lived here. The Sinicized Han are the foreign groups who have continuously merged into the Han people. For example, throughout history, many peoples like the Xianbei, Tangut, Jie, Qiang, Di, Jurchen, and Khitan settled in China, intermarried with the Han, and gradually assimilated, becoming new Han people. Their surnames, like "Murong," "Dongfang," and "Ouyang," all became part of the collection of Han surnames. The same happened with Arabs, Persians, and the Huíhuí people. When they came to China, they also began to marry Han women, take Han surnames, wear Han clothing, and speak Chinese. They too were soon Sinicized and became new Han people.
To give you an example, the people of North Africa were not originally Arabs; they were Berbers, Copts, Sudanese, Somalis, and so on. After the Arabs conquered these regions, the local people were rapidly Arabized, and they all eventually became Arabs.
The Han people are the same. The Dashi and Persians who came to China in the Tang and Song dynasties, and the Turkic and Huíhuí people who came in the Yuan dynasty, were all Sinicized into new Han people, just like the Xianbei and Xiongnu before them. But even after becoming Han, they held on to their Islamic faith. Because Islam was called Huìjiào, and believers were called Huíhuí, their ethnic identity became Huaxia, became Han, but their religious identity was Huìjiàotú (followers of the Hui Religion), or Huímín (people of the Hui Religion).
Chán Huí and Hàn Huí
The Great Qing Empire occupied the Han lands, and the Chinese people became subjects in their own land. The Qing also occupied the Turkic lands, Mongolia, and Tibet. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, Xinjiang was brought into the Qing Empire's territory. Then, the believers of Huìjiào were not just Han people anymore; Turkic peoples were now among them. Since the Turkic peoples also followed Huìjiào, they were naturally also called Huíhuí. So how did they distinguish between the Turkic Huíhuí and the Huíhuí of the Han lands? The government and historical texts called the Huíhuí of the Han lands "Shú Huí" (Assimilated Hui) or "Hàn Huí" (Han Hui), while the Huíhuí from the Turkic regions were called "Shēng Huí" (Unassimilated Hui) or "Chán Huí" (Turban-wearing Hui).
The people of Xinjiang also followed Huìjiào and had a custom of wrapping their heads in turbans, so they were called Chán Huí. This is why Xinjiang was also called Huíjiāng (the Hui Frontier) or Huíbù (the Hui Region). The followers of Huìjiào in the Han lands, on the other hand, were no different from ordinary Han people except for their religion. They didn't wear turbans but wore the queue hairstyle, they didn't speak Uyghur but spoke Chinese, and so they were called Hàn Huí.
Huíhuí refers to a follower of Huìjiào. Anyone who believes in Huìjiào can be called a Huíhuí. Besides the Hàn Huí, Dai people who became Muslim were called "Dǎi Huí," Tibetans who became Muslim were called "Zàng Huí," Mongols who became Muslim were called "Méng Huí," and Bai people who became Muslim were called "Bái Huí."
When Buddhism came to China, it influenced three main areas, forming what we know as Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Southern (Theravada) Buddhism. When Islam came to China, it influenced at least two main areas: the Turkic lands and the Han lands. The believers in the Turkic lands were Turkic Muslims, and the believers in the Han lands were Han Muslims. Using the historical terms, one group was the Chán Huí, and the other was the Hàn Huí. The Chán Huí are the Turkic Muslims, and the Hàn Huí are the Han Muslims.
The term Huíhuí at first meant people from Khwarazm, but later it came to refer to all followers of Huìjiào. Whether they were Turkic followers or Han followers, Chán Huí or Hàn Huí, they were all Huíhuí (followers of the Hui Religion), or Huímín (people of the Hui Religion).
A Huíhuí is a follower of Huìjiào, and these followers come from many ethnic backgrounds. Anyone who embraces Huìjiào (Islam) is a Huíhuí (Muslim). But embracing Huìjiào and becoming a Huímín doesn't mean your ethnicity changes. You can't say that believing in Huìjiào makes you a Khwarazmian, or an Iranian, or a Dashi person; that’s impossible. Just as believing in Christianity doesn't make you an Italian or a Roman, and believing in Buddhism doesn't make you an Indian or a Nepalese. As a Han person, if you embrace Huìjiào, you are still a Han person. But because Islam was called Huìjiào, if you believe in it, you are called a Huímín. But even as a Huímín, you are a Han Huímín. The term Huímín shows they are people of the Huìjiào faith; it doesn't mean they've changed their ethnicity and become foreigners. They are still Han people, just the Huímín among the Han. So even if they are Huíhuí, they are Hàn Huíhuí.
So what is a Hàn Huíhuí? To put it simply, it's a Han person who believes in Huìjiào. Who are the Hàn Huíhuí? The Muslims in the Han lands are basically all Hàn Huíhuí. As Han people migrated to Xinjiang, a large number of Hàn Huí went there too, and their customs are completely different from those of the local Muslims.
Even if someone's research shows that a certain family's ancestors were Persian, or Jewish, or Uyghur, we don't deny that. But what I want to say is this: ancestors are ancestors, and they are who they are today. Their ancestors may have been Arabs or Persians, but they are Han people now. Their ancestors were Sinicized and became Han within a few generations, so of course they are Han people too.
So why do people usually just say they are Huíhuí and not put "Hàn" in front of it? It's because in the past, China was a Han country. Everyone was Han, so was there really a need to specifically point out your Han identity? Take Christians, for example. Do they need to call themselves "Han Christians"? Do Buddhists need to emphasize that they are "Han Buddhists"? Even during the Qing Dynasty, after Xinjiang became part of the country, the interior was still a Han region, filled with Han people. When everyone is in the Han lands, do you need to go out of your way to stress your Han identity? It’s like if your surname is Li and my surname is also Li. When the Li brothers are together, do they need to spell out which member of the Li family each one is?
A Han Christian only needs to specify that they are a Han Christian when they meet a Naxi Christian, a Dai Christian, or a Jingpo Christian. A Buddhist only needs to specify they follow Han Buddhism when they meet a Tibetan Buddhist or a Southern Buddhist. The term Hàn Huí is really only useful when you put it next to Chán Huí, to show the difference between the two.
Huíhuí means a follower of the Huìjiào religion. A Hàn Huí is a Han follower of Huìjiào, or to put it plainly, a Han person who believes in Islam. Apart from their religious practices, they are no different from ordinary Han people. But some people think Huíhuí is a separate ethnicity, the Hui ethnicity. This is as absurd as saying Buddhists are an ethnicity—the "Buddhist ethnicity." The Hàn Huí of the Han lands and ordinary Han people only have a religious difference, not an ethnic one. And having a different religion doesn't mean you belong to a different ethnicity. For example, a Lebanese Arab doesn't stop being an Arab just because he converts to Christianity. In the same way, a Han person doesn't stop being Han just because he believes in Huìjiào.
The Four Common Characteristics
The standard for defining ethnicities in China is often based on the four commonalities proposed by Stalin: a common language, a common territory, a common economic life, and a common psychological make-up. If you measure the Huímín of the Han lands by these four points, you’ll find they share the exact same four characteristics as ordinary Han people, which is enough to prove that they are, in fact, the same people.
First, let's look at common language. The inland Huíhuí have spoken Chinese since ancient times; they share a common mother tongue with ordinary Han people. Some people claim their mother tongue is Arabic, but that's nonsense. Which group of Huíhuí has Arabic as their mother tongue? The Huíhuí of Hainan? The Huíhuí of the Northwest? None of them. Even the first Muslims who came to China—be they Arabs, Persians, or Jews—all started speaking Chinese after they arrived. They had no single, unified language other than Chinese. Their descendants all speak Chinese. Chinese is the common language they share with ordinary Han people.
Some might say that while they speak Chinese, it's mixed with a lot of foreign words, a dialect called "Jingtangyu" (scripture hall language). But Jingtangyu isn't a separate language. It's just Chinese with some religious vocabulary mixed in; it's still Chinese. It's like Buddhists, who might use some Sanskrit loanwords in their daily speech, like "Fótuó" (Buddha), "Pútí" (Bodhi), "Fútú" (Stupa), "Chànà" (instant), or "Jiénàn" (calamity). You wouldn't say they aren't speaking Chinese because of that.
Others claim that "Xiao'erjing" is the common language of the Chinese Huímín. That’s also nonsense. Xiao'erjing is just a way of writing Chinese sounds using the Arabic script, used by some Muslims in the Northwest. They are still writing Chinese. At most, Xiao'erjing is a phonetic system for Chinese, not a language in itself.
The Huíhuí and ordinary Han people share a common territory: the Han lands, the areas of the Han people. All Hàn Huíhuí live in the Han lands and wherever Han migrants have settled. Take Xinjiang, for instance. When Han migrants moved there, Huíhuí appeared there too, because the Huíhuí among the Han people also moved there. Or the Northeast; during the great migration period, Han people went to the Northeast, and the Huíhuí among them went as well. In minority regions, where there are fewer Han people, there are fewer Huíhuí among them. Tibet is a Tibetan region, so very few Huíhuí went there. Why? Because there were few Han migrants, and so the number of Huíhuí among them was also small. Where there are Han people, there are Huíhuí; where there are no Han people, there are no Huíhuí. Therefore, the Huíhuí and ordinary Han people share a common territory: the Han lands and the places where Han migrants have gone.
The inland Hàn Huíhuí and ordinary Han people share a common economic life. For example, in an agrarian society, everyone farms. In the cities, they do business. In pastoral areas, they herd livestock. In Xinjiang, they are part of the production and construction corps.
They also share a common psychological make-up with ordinary Han people. They have the same sense of national identity and belonging as ordinary Han people. They are unwavering in their support for one China, which is different from their Uyghur compatriots. The Huímín who moved to Xinjiang deeply despise separatists. They are of one heart with the Han people and staunchly support the Han government, seeing the Han rulers as their own people. This is enough to prove that their psychological make-up is the same as that of the Han. Because they share a common ethnic foundation with the Han, the Uyghur people call this group of Huíhuí people "Dungan."
In the eyes of the Uyghurs, a Dungan is a Han person who believes in Islam. Some say the word means "East Bank," because the Huímín came from the east. Others say it means "Eastern Han," and still others say "Tong Han" (connected with the Han). The term "Tong Han" is very fitting. "Huí rén tōng Hàn" (Hui people connected with the Han) seems to capture both the sound and the meaning well. Their hearts are truly connected with the ordinary Han people, which is why they hope the Han will govern Xinjiang and do not want to see it split away.
More Than Just Four Common Points
They share common surnames with the Han people: "Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li, Zhou, Wu, Zheng, Wang..." Their surnames are Zhang, Liu, Han, Wei, Huang, Sun, Kong, and so on. These are all Han surnames; they rarely have other kinds of surnames. For example, the late scholar Jian Bozan had the surname "Jian," which is a Uyghur surname and has been identified as such. The surnames of the Huíhuí are no different from those of the Han. Although a few of these surnames came from Arabic or Persian, they have been Sinicized to fit the pattern of Han surnames. The given names of the Huíhuí are even more filled with Han character. For instance, women often have names like "Fengxian," "Shuxian," "Xiulan," and "Yulan," while men have names like "Ma Hualong," "Ma Rulong," "Du Wenxiu," "Ma Wanfu," "Ma Fuxiang," "Ma Qi," and "Ma Lin," all of which are typically Han in style.
They share a common architectural style with the Han people. Their mosques have decorative roof ridges (wǔjǐ liùshòu), coiling dragons and phoenixes, inscribed plaques, couplets, and stone tortoise pedestals (bìxì)—all of these are the same. Many mosques have a treasure vase ornament instead of a crescent moon. The only difference is that there are no idols inside the main prayer hall. Han people like to place an idol in the center of an alcove. Han people who believe in Islam often feel that something should be placed there, so they put winding Arabic calligraphy in the center, feeling that praying towards that spot gives them more peace of mind. Strictly speaking, this is not appropriate.
They share common eating habits with ordinary Han people. The Huíhuí in the north love noodles, while those in the south prefer rice. In the Central Plains, the Huíhuí enjoy "zhēngwǎn" (steamed bowls of meat), where meat is first fried and then steamed. The steamed bowl is a classic Han dish; Arabs, Persians, and Central Asians don't have this custom. This is all part of the culture of Islam in the Han lands. Just as there is an Arab Islamic culture, a Persian Islamic culture, a Turkic Islamic culture, and a Malay Islamic culture, there is also a Han Islamic culture. When Islam came to the Han lands, the great Han nation embraced it and created a great Han Islamic culture with its own unique Han characteristics.
In matters of marriage and funerals, the Huíhuí are also similar to other Han people. They place great importance on continuing the family line and still keep family genealogies. At funerals, the eldest son leads the mourning rituals. At weddings, they have the custom of teasing the newlyweds (nàodòngfáng). In Xi'an, the custom of testing a bride's virginity still exists; they spread a white handkerchief on the bed on the wedding night. When a baby is born, they cook red-dyed eggs. In the past, their women also practiced foot-binding. After a person passes away, they observe anniversaries, the day of death, the fortieth day, and the one-hundredth day. After a death, scriptures are recited for dozens of days. Han people hire Buddhist monks to recite scriptures; the Hàn Huí hire an Ahong (Imam) to recite scriptures. In both cases, money is given after the recitation is done. Christians, not having been Sinicized in this way, do not have this custom. When there is a death, the Huímín of Xi'an perform a ritual of balancing the Qur'an on their head (dǐng jīng), which is almost identical to the Han custom of balancing a basin on the head (dǐng pén), except that other Han people have to smash the basin afterwards, while the Huímín balance a plate and circle with the scripture, pretending to give charity. Historically, the bodies of the Huíhuí were carried in a sedan chair. On the sedan chair, there was a dragon. If the deceased was a man, the dragon had a beard; if it was a woman, it was a beardless female dragon. Their folk beliefs include a belief in dragons, in possession by spirits, and in the idea that those who commit suicide cannot report to Allah but instead wander with the stars and moon. These are all Han folk beliefs.
They have a common cultural and recreational life. The Huíhuí in the eastern regions enjoy traditional operas like Henan opera, Qinqiang, and Peking opera. Those in the western regions enjoy "Hua'er" folk songs. Whether it's Peking opera, Qinqiang, or Hua'er, these are all forms of Han entertainment. The Huíhuí also practice martial arts, or gongfu, which is a traditional Han way of strengthening the body. The founder of Tai Chi came from Chenjiagou village, and Muslims with the surname Chen consider themselves part of that lineage. The techniques of Xinyi Liuhe Quan were also created and passed down by the Han. Some martial arts styles were modified by Muslims, such as Chaquan and Tangping Qishi, but the forms are still Han-style. All of these characteristics are no different from those of ordinary Han people. The only difference is that they believe in Huìjiào. After converting, they were influenced by the religion, and some of their customs changed. In their diet, although they no longer eat forbidden foods, their cooking methods are still Chinese. The inland Huímín do not make pilaf or roasted baozi.
From Huíhuí to the Huí Ethnicity
The religion of Islam was called Huìjiào, and its followers were the Huíhuí. So, what should we call the Han Chinese who convert to Islam today (new Muslims)? Can they still be called Huíhuí? If Huíhuí means Muslim, then anyone who believes in Islam is a Huíhuí. The Han Chinese who are converting to Islam now are, of course, also Huíhuí. They are new Huíhuí, new Hàn Huí. After some Han people accept Islam, their mindset becomes even more "Huíhuí" than the old Huíhuí.
Now that we've talked about the Huímín, let's discuss the Huí ethnicity (Huízú). The idea of a "Hui ethnicity" is linked to the Japanese. The Japanese wanted to divide China. First, they split off Manchuria. Manchuria was the homeland of the Manchu people, and the Japanese manipulated Puyi to establish the state of Manchukuo. They also supported Mongolian independence. The Mongols were never Han people, and they had been occupied by the Qing state. Since the Qing had fallen, they sought their independence. Beyond this, the Japanese came up with a new idea: to establish a Huíhuí state. The theory behind this was that the Huíhuí people were not Chinese and should separate from China. This Huíhuí state they imagined was not Xinjiang, because the plan for Xinjiang at the time was to establish a Turkic state. They were referring to the Huímín of the Han lands. These people had always called themselves Huíhuí, so the Japanese seized on this, saying that the Huíhuí were not Han but a foreign people who should therefore form their own independent country. The Japanese promoted this idea of a Huíhuí state and spread a lot of propaganda, but it didn't work. Later, this viewpoint was adopted by the authorities in Yan'an. They said that the followers of Huìjiào in inland China were not Han people, but the Huíhuí ethnicity, and that the Huíhuí ethnicity did not belong to the Chinese nation, so they shouldn't be part of the Republic of China but should establish a Huíhuí Republic instead. The Party at one point encouraged all Huíhuí to break away from China and form another country. But the Huíhuí themselves didn't think this way; they had always considered themselves Chinese. But the Party didn't see them as Han. It stripped them of their Han identity and treated them as a separate ethnicity, the Huíhuí ethnicity, or Huízú for short.
It's worth noting that the term Huízú had appeared before. In Qing Dynasty historical books, the term Huízú shows up occasionally, but it didn't mean an ethnicity in the modern sense. It basically referred to the community of Huìjiào followers, similar to how we might say the "car-owning crowd" today; they were the "Huìjiào crowd." Dr. Sun Yat-sen once proposed the concept of a "Republic of Five Races," which included the Han, Hui, Manchu, Tibetan, and Mongol peoples. But the "Hui" he was talking about did not refer to the followers of Huìjiào in the interior; it referred to the Turkic people of Xinjiang. Since the Turkic people of Xinjiang followed Huìjiào, Xinjiang was also called Huíjiāng, and the Turkic people were also called the Huízú. The Huízú Dr. Sun mentioned were them. So, to be precise, the five races were the Han, Turkic, Manchu, Tibetan, and Mongol, while the followers of Huìjiào in the interior were considered Han people at that time.
Later, the government classified the Turkic and Tajik peoples into six separate ethnic groups, and the Hui ethnicity had nothing to do with them. The government designated the Hàn Huíhuí of the interior as the Hui ethnicity. This required two conditions: first, you had to be a follower of Huìjiào, and second, you had to be a Chinese-speaking Han person. Those who believed in Huìjiào but didn't speak Chinese, like the Dongxiang people who speak the Dongxiang language, or the Salar people of Xunhua who speak the Salar language, were classified as the Dongxiang and Salar ethnicities, not as Hui. And you couldn't be Hui if you spoke Chinese but didn't believe in Islam. For example, the descendants of Muslims in Chendai (in Jinjiang) and Baiqi (in Hui'an) were not classified as Hui because, although their ancestors were Muslims, they themselves were not. It wasn't until after 1979 that their classification was changed to Hui. That happened much later. Even today, that part of the Hui ethnicity does not practice Islam and is no different from ordinary Han people.
The Hui ethnicity was created by separating the Han followers of Huìjiào from the rest of the Han people. When this was done, the Hui ethnicity was made up of followers of Huìjiào; they all believed in Islam. But after seventy years of atheistic education, many no longer believe in Islam. As a result, there is now a portion of non-Muslims within the Hui ethnicity. Adding to that the descendants of non-practicing Muslims on the southeast coast who were later classified as Hui, you have a situation like in Quanzhou, where there are two hundred thousand ethnic Hui, almost none of whom practice Islam. So, to be precise, the Hui is not an ethnicity that universally believes in Islam.
The original Hui ethnicity came from Han people who believed in Islam. As for the Hui ethnicity today, you can only say that a part of them believes in Islam, a part believes in Christianity, a part believes in Buddhism, and another part believes in atheism. The Hui are descendants of Muslims, but they are not all Muslims. If you want an accurate definition, the Hui ethnicity is composed of the descendants of Chinese-speaking Muslims.
The Hui people are, in fact, Han people. They speak Chinese, write Chinese characters, have Han surnames, and are no different from ordinary Han people. Their ancestors were either originally Han, or they were Sinicized Han. A portion of the Hui people's ancestors were foreigners, but after coming to China, they were quickly Sinicized and became Han. It’s just like how after the Arabs conquered North Africa, the original Berber, Sudanese, and Somali peoples were quickly assimilated by the Arabs and became new Arabs.
Let's review the difference between these three terms: Huìjiào, Huímín, and Huízú. Huìjiào is the old Chinese name for Islam; it refers to the religion of Islam. In China, there are two large groups of people who follow Huìjiào. There are twenty million followers of Huìjiào (Muslims) in China. Of these, ten million are Han people, and the other ten million are Turkic peoples. The Turkic peoples are divided into six ethnic groups. The Han Muslims were designated as the Huíhuí ethnicity. In addition, there is a very small number from the Mongol, Tibetan, Manchu, Dai, and Bai ethnic groups.
Huímín means the people of the Huìjiào faith; it refers to people who believe in Islam. Who are the Huímín? If Huímín means Muslim, then all Muslims are Huímín. By that logic, Saudi Muslims are Huímín, Malay Muslims are Huímín, Indian Muslims are Huímín, and Turkish Muslims are Huímín. All these countries would be Huímín countries.
And the Huízú is a group of people that the Chinese government separated from the Han population. The difference between them and ordinary Han people is their belief in Islam. But since a portion of the Hui people no longer believe in Islam, it is more accurate to say that the Hui ethnicity consists of the descendants of Han Muslims, rather than Han Muslims themselves.
Islam is a religion for all people, not just for the Hui people. Even if all Hui people were practicing Muslims, they would only be one part of the global Muslim community. This is not to mention that a significant number of people in the Hui ethnicity do not practice Islam. Therefore, we should not equate the Hui ethnicity with Muslims.
The Hui ethnicity comes from the Han people, but these ten million Han people are not considered Han; their Han identity has been taken from them, even though they speak Chinese, write Chinese characters, and have Han surnames. They are no different from ordinary Han people. The only difference is their belief in Islam. If they were to leave Islam, there would be no difference at all between them and ordinary Han people. Of course, once an ordinary Han person accepts Islam, they become no different from a Han follower of Huìjiào. This is because they are originally the same people. The tragedy is that after this group of people was stripped of their Han identity, they started to believe they really weren't Han. They forgot their own compatriots, stopped interacting with their relatives, and stopped spreading the message of Islam to ordinary Han people. The authorities' policy of catering to them was warmly embraced by this group. They legitimately took on the identity of a foreign population, contentedly became second-class citizens, and stopped seeing themselves as descendants of the Chinese people, as children of the legendary ancestors Yan and Huang. They really began to think of themselves as sojourners, as Arabs or Persians.
In the beginning, a few Italian missionaries came to China to spread Catholicism. If Catholics today naively believed they were Italian, that would be absurd. In the beginning, some Arabs and Persians did come to China, but they were quickly Sinicized and became Han, and their descendants were all Han. Yet now, the descendants of this group are shouting that they are Arabs or Persians and denying that they are Han. This is just as absurd and laughable as Catholics claiming they are Italian.
This group displays strong nationalistic tendencies. At every turn, they emphasize how different they are from others, that they are a separate category, not ordinary Chinese, not ordinary Han. They oppose the Han in every respect and deliberately avoid anything that seems similar to Han culture. Things that have already become habit, they don't mention. For example, terms like "sì" (temple), "wúcháng" (impermanence), "jiàomén" (religious community), and "qīngjìng" (pure and clean) were originally Buddhist terms. Terms like "Tiānjīng" (heavenly scripture), "Tiānfáng" (house of heaven/Ka'bah), "Tiānkè" (heavenly tax/zakat), "Tiānmìng" (mandate of heaven), and "Tiānqǐ" (heavenly revelation) also have a Han cultural flavor. They use these words without a second thought, assuming they were always Huíhuí terms. But if a word wasn't used in the past and hasn't become a habit, they will fiercely oppose it. For example, if a Muslim refers to Allah as "Tiān" (Heaven) or "Shàngdì" (Lord on High), they will say it is a great heresy, an act of apostasy, and an imitation of the Han. Yet they turn a blind eye to the fact that their own speech is entirely in the Han language. We are originally Han people, so how can we be "imitating"? We are simply carrying on the customs of our own nation.
Nearly all the mosques in the Han lands are built in a temple-like style, no different from the religious architecture of ordinary Han people. But now, mosques must be built in a Byzantine style to distinguish them from ordinary Han architecture. Also, it’s fine for a mosque to hang couplets—even though this is a Han custom, they have come to see it as their own. But if a family hangs couplets at home, that's not acceptable; that's imitating the Han. Then there are those who nitpick over words. For instance, you can't say "féi" (fat), you must say "zhuàng" (stout); you can't say "tián" (sweet), you must say "xián" (savory); you can't say "sǐ" (die), you must say "mò" (pass away); you can't say "shā" (kill), you must say "zǎi" (slaughter for consumption). The truth is, even if you say "mò," it's still a Chinese word. But even so, they must be different from the habits of ordinary Han people. Deliberately drawing lines and creating differences—this is a classic feature of nationalism.
Our non-Muslim compatriots are part of the same nation; we are all Han people. If you must divide the Han people into two types, you could divide them by region into southern Han and northern Han, because there are indeed significant differences between southerners and northerners. If you divide them by faith, you can also split them into two types: ordinary Han and Muslim Han. Ordinary Han people do not follow a single religion, while Muslim Han people believe in Islam. Other than that, there is no difference between us.
Common Slips of the Tongue
Ordinary Han people are our compatriots, and we are Han people too. That being the case, we should correct some mistakes we often make in our speech. Many people say that the development of Islam depends on the Hui ethnicity, that the Hui ethnicity is the vehicle for the development of Islam in China. This is nonsense. The history of the Hui ethnicity is only sixty or seventy years long. Before that, Islam had been spreading in the Han lands of China for over a thousand years. Who was responsible for spreading Islam then? It was the Huímín, not the Huízú. And the Huímín were the Han people who had embraced Islam, the Hàn Huímín, the Hàn Huíhuí. In other words, it was the Han people who carried Islam in China.
Others say that to develop Islam, we must first improve the character of the Hui ethnicity, because, after all, developing Islam in China relies on the Hui. This is also nonsense. To develop Islam, you just need Muslims. In the Han lands, you need Han Muslims. Rely on the Hui ethnicity? Are all Hui people Muslims? The two hundred thousand Hui in Quanzhou no longer practice Islam—can you rely on them? A Han person who has embraced Islam is just as reliable. So, who do we rely on to develop Islam? On Muslims, that's enough. And if you must ask which ethnicity's Muslims, then of course it must be Han Muslims. You might say we rely on the Hui ethnicity, but the Hui ethnicity is, in fact, Han people who believe in Islam.
Someone once introduced a seeker to me and said, "You should teach him more about Islam; he is Han." I replied, "Does being Han mean he must learn about Islam? Who here isn't Han? I am also Han. We speak the Chinese language, have Han surnames, have Han faces, wear Han clothes, and write Chinese characters. In what way am I not Han? You tell me." Am I not of the Hui ethnicity? Yes! But that is because others have stripped you of your ethnic identity, so you became "Hui," and you are no longer seen as Han. But in reality, you are still Han.
I've never seen a Christian introduce a friend by saying, "Here, this person is Han, tell him about Christianity!" Never. Everyone is Han, so why the need to emphasize it?
When we approach religion with a preconceived ethnic bias, we fall into a trap. When you deliberately emphasize a non-Muslim's Han identity, it shows that you have already accepted the stripping of your own identity and agreed with the way others have classified you. The implication is that you are not Han, which means you consent to this classification—and this classification is wrong. We have been Han people since ancient times, for generations, descendants of Yan and Huang. When others take away your Han identity, do you really start to believe you are not Han? If you're not Han, then what are you? An Arab? A Persian? Do you believe that yourself? A member of the Hui ethnicity? By that logic, if you believe in Buddhism, are you of the "Buddhist ethnicity"? If you believe in Taoism, do you become of the "Taoist ethnicity"?
Someone once asked me, "Teacher, our school doesn't have halal meals. Can we eat 'Hàn cān' (Han food)?" We are all Han people. Isn't all the food we eat 'Hàn cān'? What does he mean by 'Hàn cān'? He means non-halal food. But isn't a meal cooked by a Han Muslim a halal meal? It is wrong to use an ethnic concept to define what is halal and what is not. A meal cooked by a Han person is Hàn cān. If he believes in Islam, the meal he cooks is naturally a halal meal—a halal Hàn cān. If a member of the Hui ethnicity eats pork, then even if he cooks a "Huí cān" (Hui meal), you cannot eat it, because it is a non-halal Huí cān.
We cannot let the term "Hui ethnicity" be used to bind Muslims, to bind Islam, because Islam is not just for the Hui; Islam is for all of humanity. To whom should we spread the message of Islam? Not to "the Han people." I have never emphasized preaching to the Han people. I emphasize preaching to those outside the faith, meaning to non-Muslims. There are many non-Muslims, and quite a few of them are within the Hui ethnicity. Are all Han people non-Muslims? No, there are Muslims among the Han. How many? Ten million. And those who are now called the Hui ethnicity—are they not all Han Muslims? To whom do we preach? To all non-Muslims, to the sons and daughters of Huaxia, to the one-point-three billion Chinese people—not just to "the Han ethnicity." The Han people already include many Muslims; they cannot be seen as a group of non-Muslims. These are the common mistakes we must be mindful of.
We must be especially careful with our words. Some people are quick to say, "we Hui people do this," and "you Han people do that," or "we can't intermarry with you Han people," and so on. When they talk like this, they have already put a label on Islam, unconsciously treating it as the exclusive property of a certain ethnicity. For example, someone might say, "Muslims cannot intermarry with other ethnicities." This statement is completely wrong. What is an "other ethnicity"? Is the Han ethnicity an "other ethnicity" and the Hui an "inner ethnicity"? Ten million Han people in China have embraced Islam; are they still an "other ethnicity"? Islam makes no distinction between inner and outer ethnicities; anyone can believe in Islam. Islam is a world religion; you will find it among all peoples. Therefore, statements like "we must preach to the Han ethnicity," "we need to develop Han Muslims," "we cannot marry Han people," or "we must not imitate the Han"—all of these are driven by a nationalistic mindset, and these are the things we must be careful about.
