Tradition Innovation & Development

The theme of the dissertation is to research the sociocultural changes of Hui People in early 20th century (before 1949). The basic point of view in the dissertation is that, the sociocultural changes of Hui People of the early period of 20th century could not be unscrambled from micro historical perspective of Hui People. In the context of Chinese society which is not only a unity of pluralistic society but also with a long history of centralization, understanding historical cultures of ethnic minorities with neglecting the influence of "state" is absolutely ineffective. Because the historical context of ethnic minorities is completely embedded in the system and "discourse" of the "state", therefore, the sociocultural changes of Hui People must be studied in the macroscopically background of the great changes of Chinese society, if only analyzed within the society of Hui People, the historical truth can not be found. From the 1940s to the early 20th century, the whole Chinese society was in the "Periodic Cycle" and forced into the metabolic historical process of world capitalist system. From "Barbarians Technology","Westernization Movement"," Reform Political Reform","The New Deal" to "Revolution Founding", survival and salvation was not only Chinese cross-century theme and ideal, but also the tremendous power to propel the social transformation. On the other hand, in the dominated context of Western nationalism, during the regime was falling down form "Celestial Empire" to "Nations Edge", the modern nation-state was constructed on the ruins of the empire. The social transformation of Hui Nationality just took place in this macroscopic context, and was also closely related to the bloody situation of Hui People during Qing dynasty. As a result, the drastic changes of modern Chinese society prepared stage and impetus for the sociocultural changes of Hui nationality. Meanwhile, modern China was forced into the world capitalist system and began to have close contact with whole world. Especially, Hui People in China began to have more communications with Muslim societies of the Middle East and South Asia which had become colonial or semi-colonial countries in the past. At that time, the Muslim societies of the Middle East and South Asia were filling with Islamic reform trends and movements. Because of the similar situations and understanding based on the cultural identity, the religious reform thought resources from the "Islamic cultural center" directly provided thought armory and enlightenment for the sociocultural changes of Hui People. Therefore, social transformation of Hui People in modern China was both a part of Chinese social transformation, and a window through which we could observe the great changes of the whole society. The dissertation explains the sociocultural changes of Hui People from five aspects:economy, politics, ideology and culture; social organization structure and education.