Autoethnography of the Hui People in China

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Autoethnography of the Hui People in China
Living in Shanghai, China, I have encountered many ethnic minorities with their particular lifestyles in my country. Based on my deep interest in the diversity of ethnicity increasing in China at a quick pace, I attempt to explore the third largest ethnic minority in my country, Hui People. I want to unveil their lifestyle, customs, beliefs, culture, and interrelation with the audience of all other civilizations to all different cultures and religions worldwide.
Hui people in China are Muslims, spread throughout the country, approaching 13 million in number. These Muslims have a unique understanding of theology, sources of Islamic knowledge, religious practices, and life patterns compared with other Muslim groups in the country like Uyghurs. Although all Muslim minorities share the same ideology regarding god, prophets, and the holy book, Hui people have their exceptional interpretation of the religion and assimilation into other cultures. Both men and women usually keep their heads covered, particularly during prayer. They all eat 'halal' meals, catering to the Islamic instructions for meals. Besides, they have especially built buildings known for their worship, like mosques and green-domed buildings. To talk about their religious customs and faith, all the Hui Muslims are not the same. Besides, they are not equal in their regular Islamic practices, like offering five prayers per day and fasting for all thirty days of Ramadan. In their behavior, all of them are not equally kind and pious. Nevertheless, most Hui people show a sympathetic and benevolent attitude towards others as a part of their theological instructions.
Hui entered China through Silk Road during the Muslim trade in the seventeenth century. They converted many Chinese girls' religions for marriage, which allowed them to assimilate into Chinese culture. In the beginning, they suffered from several federal policies that restricted their equal civil rights. For example, the government banned interethnic marriages in the past. Similarly, they were officially prohibited from performing their religious activities many times. However, these people have the freedom to claim equal citizenship in the People's Republic of China. They are free to construct their mosques, offer prayers, and establish their private Islamic schools for the coming generation (Deason). They are a respected Muslim minority in China in the twenty-first century. The government shows excellent tolerance towards their theological and cultural views and practices. For example, the broadcasting of pig meat in public advertisements is not allowed because it may hurt Muslim sentiments who consider it a 'Haram' meat.
Hui People are a unique nation in China and are debated worldwide for their distinctive assimilation into the culture. The historians have dissimilar findings regarding the impact of other Islamic schools of thought on making them a distinct Muslim minority in the present. A few scholars relate their tendency to an exclusive sacred belief to that of Sufi people in the past. Many others trace the faith interaction between Ikhwani and the Hui Muslims to discover the reasons behind their private assimilation into Chinese culture. Also, the historians explore and discuss the transportation of Arabic and Persian idealism to China through trade from Silk Road in the past (Dillon 22). The cultural distinctiveness of the Hui people is at the heart of discussion among various historians and religious scholars worldwide. To comprehend their lifestyle, the researchers begin their entry into the country with whatever Islamic trends and impacts they carried.
Hui people in China are discussed in a massive array of outlooks. Specifically, many scholars debate the conflict between this ethnic group and the government as a neglected minority in the country. With their distinctive Islamic perspective, these Muslims have faced ignorance and segregation by the government policies of citizenship, education, and jobs. They have had to continue their theological practices under strict administrative Ethno-religious guidelines in China. For example, the Chinese government launched the 'Xinjiang' policy in 1949, which targeted society's wholeness and accentuated the law of 'togetherness' for all. Hui people had to detain this policy for their rejection of original Chinese social, cultural and religious patterns. This disagreement led to an even worsened minority crisis for this ethnicity in China (Gui Rong and Xiaoyan 47). Although today's Hui people have the freedom to worship and live life in their particular Islamic way, their history of social injustice is still a matter of discussion among secular and non-secular scholars world...