It is often stated that Hui can be found in every county across China. It is debatable whether or not that is true, but Hui do stretch all the way across China from the far northwest of Xinjiang to the far southeast on the beautiful island of Hainan. China is not known for its beaches, but Hainan Island has beautiful vacation spots and a few Hui. About ten thousand Hui call Sanya, the southern city on the island, their home year around, and during the winter months when temperatures drop below freezing in the northwest another 50,000+ Hui travel to Sanya to escape the cold winters of their hometowns.
“What minzu (people group) are you?” As he stood in the identification card office, he was a taken back by the question. Normally you don’t choose your people group, this is determined at birth. This was the question asked to my friend’s parents back in the Cultural Revolution. They were part of the population who were sent to western provinces to learn from the farmers. “Hui,” he answered with a smile. Finally, he fully identified with his new found religion. Their Han heritage was no longer what they clung to. They were now Hui.
On his blog at TGC, Kevin DeYoung posted the following prayer by Samuel M. Zwemer (1867-1952), who is known as “The Apostle to Islam”:
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, who hast made of one blood all nations and hast promised that many shall come from the East and sit down with Abraham in thy kingdom: We pray for thy prodigal children in Muslim lands who are still afar off, that they may be brought nigh by the blood of Christ. Look upon them in pity, because they are ignorant of thy truth.
Most Hui came to China along the Silk Road and huge clusters still live along the old trade routes. Shannon Harris Castelo in a TEDEd video offers a short history of the Silk Road and how it connected societies around the world and facilitated the exchange of ideas...
Youtube has a few videos that provide a helpful introduction to Chinese Muslims. In this post we will highlight an episode of Rediscovering China that aired on CCTV9 called “Unveiling the Hui Life.” The whole episode can be watched at this link, or you can watch most of the episode in the embedded videos below.
From 1946-1951, Raymond H. Joyce and his wife Mona Miller Joyce lived in Yunnan among the Hui. In 1996, Mona Miller Joyce was interviewed about her life and work. What follows are two quotations from the transcripts regarding their work among the Hui. There were a few...
