Xining Dongguan Hui Community Change Research

The paper aims at the exploration of transition occurred in Dongguan Hui Community in Xining, the capital city of West Qinghai Province, through the case study on a loal Hui community. When reviewing the studies on Hui People in Northwest China, they are mainly focused on cultural transition happened on urban Hui communities' in province-leveled places like Ningxia, Gansu or Shanxi, and concluded that Hui communities are confronted with disassembly while its culture is declining through their case studies or comprehensive studies, ignoring the existence of an urban Hui community with distinct Islamic characteristics located in Qinghai Tibetan Plateau, which showed self-consciousness of its culture and ethnic identity inspired in the process of urbanization.In this paper, it holds the idea that it is the inevitable trend for the urban Hui community, as the integral part of Chinese society, to face up with cultural transition along with challenges from other culture. Will the urban Hui community be disassembled and lose, without any exception, its ethnic culture in the process of contact with other culture? Where will Dongguan Hui Community head for? These concerns are the starting points of this study as well as the questions needing to be answered in the paper. The paper deeply described both of the history and current situation of Dongguan Hui Community, the interactive relationship between main elements of Hui ethnic culture and Hui people in Dongguan, and the cultural recoveries implemented by its people when confronting with impacts from other culture in an ethnographic way. It put forward that the development of urban Hui community brings about different consequences resulted from diversity of regional culture, religion and ethnic identity.The paper consists of three parts including the introduction, main part and conclusion. The introduction is composed of reasons for the study, the strong Islamic culture in Dongguan of Xining, document reviews, study perspectives, methods adopted in the study and the academic meaning of the study. The main part includes five parts which illustrate the formation and transition of Dongguan Hui Community and implement theoretical exploration concerned.Chapter One, the Historical Formation and Evolution of Dongguan, introduces the geographical environment and historical background of Dongguan.Chapter Two, the Dongguan Great Mosque in Xining, shows the formation and transition of both civil power and authority in community centered by the Dongguan Great Mosque in Xining.Chapter Three, Entering into Dongguan, illustrates both traditional and modern economic modes owned by Hui people in Dongguan as well as their community culture represented with food, marriage, funeral and fast, etc., analyzing their impacts on psychological formation, ethnic identity, and religious ascription to Hui people in Dongguan.Chapter Four, Changes Taken Place in Local Humanity Ecology, explores the impact on humanity ecology in Dongguan occurred in the process of the urbanization and consequently its effects on marriage, family, routine life and religion of local Hui people.Chapter Five, Social Adjustment and Adaption, lists the cultural phenomena like opening and development of both male and female Islamic classes in Dongguan, and the establishment of NGO oriented with educational supports for local Muslim students, which are the reactions taken by the Hui people in Dongguan to keep their traditional culture of and enhance the unity of the Community in facing with the powerful impacts of other culture. The Hui people constantly strengthen boundaries of both community and ethnic group through such actions to keep their tradition against the other culture.The last part, the Conclusion, presents the idea that Dongguan Hui Community will be increasingly opener and more tolerate, while experiencing the change from a traditional closed community to an open one along with the increasing commercialization and interactive development between culture and economic. Not only is it the objective need for Dongguan to live when confronting the strong impacts from other culture, but it is the necessary tendency for its community development. Meanwhile, Dongguan Hui Community, being an community with long religious history and strong ethnic environment cored by Islam, is playing the role as the center of culture, religious education and daily life for the local Muslim residents, and attracting the Muslims beyond Qinghai with its distinct culture to come to Xining City reviewing their cultural memories.