The Relationship Between Hui And Han Nationalities In Gansu Province During The Republic Of China

Gansu Province is a multiminority community, thus had a complex minority ralation. The Hui-Han relation has been an important aspect in Gansu modern and contemporary histories.Hui-Han minority relations involve two respects. Firstly, political relations. As a reault of rise and fall, transformation of a series of political powers and readjustment and coordination of several Hui and Han powers from the end of Qing Dynasty to the beginning of the Republic of China, Gansu Hui-Han political relations take on a complex form from the Northern Warlords to the Revolutionary Army of Kuomintang and then to the domination period of Nanjin Revolutionary Government of Kuomintang. During the period of the Northern Warlords Government, the power of the Hui warlords expanded and status of the Huis was slightly raised. Meanwhile the struggle of contradiction between the Hui and the Han rulers in Gansu Province shows the group features. Hui-Han Relation became a sign frequently used by the Han rulers in political struggles. The relation between the Hui and the Han powers was readjusted. During the period of the domination by the Revolutionary Army of Kuomintang, the upper warlords of the Huis had been competing in struggling with the Revolutionary Army leadersof Kuomintang (Feng yuxiang and the Gansu ruler Liu yufen) at every moment. At the same time, in Gansu the Huis under the rule of the Revolutionary Army of Kuomintang, due to the fault and failure of the ruling policy of the Han rulers, the build-up of minority and class contradictions, finally caused the famous Hehuang Incident and Liangzhou Incident, which made the Gansu Hui-Han relations even worse for a time. During the ruling period of the Nanjin Revolutionary Government of Kuomintang, some upper members(such as the power holders of the Mas) got on relatively well with the Central Government, thus controlled over Ningxia and Qinhai Provinces and influenced from time to time the politics and the Huis of Gansu Province. However, they were just a small part of the Huis after all, the main part of the Huis never obtained the real minority equality, who were still under exploitation of the Hans minority policy, which contributed to the Huis Uprising in Haigu in this period. The mainstream of the Hui-Han relation of the folks centrered around friendliness all the time.Secondly, the cultural relations. At the beginning of the Republic of China, though, denomination and Menhuan were deeply influenced by the Hans in the development, barriers and antagonism still existed in the Hui-Han relations. But till the end of the domination by the Revolutionary Government of Kuomintang, with increasingly much attention and investment to the education of the Huis in Gansu by the Revolutionary Government of Kuomintang, the mutual assistance in education in minority community and the great influence of the Han culture on the Hui culture and the customs, the cultural coordination of the Huis and the Hans minorities in Gansu revealed a tendency of expansion. The deep reseach into this relation assists in comprehending the features of the Northwestern minority and sociaol structure during the period of the Republic of China.