The Inlfuence Of Ethnic Identity And Intergroup Contact On Working Location Choice Among Hui Youth From Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Hui nationality, as an ethnic minority group, boosts a population of over12million inChina. According to the latest2010national census, in Ningxia Hui AutonomousRegion (known as the home of Chinese Muslims), Hui population alone takes up34.77%of its total6.3million population.The situated identity of Hui college students can partly reflect the modern Muslimgeneration’s values. Therefore, this research focuses on how ethnic identity,interethnic contact and other possible ethnic-related factors influence Hui collegestudents when they choose where to live and work upon graduation. Questionnaires(modifications of MEIM-The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure) were distributedamong senior Hui students recruited from North University of Nationalities. Theresults show that strong ethnic identity exists among most Hui students, coherentlymirrored by a relatively abiding belief and ethnic behavior. For most of them, ethnicfactors (religion, ingroup marriage and ethnic customs) still raise the biggest concern.Thus most respondents prefer a more homogeneous environment where their owngroup members live compactly rather than in a place where they feel marginalized.However, the in-depth interviews with Hui youngsters who left Ningxia at an earlyage for college education show quite differently: subtle changes might occur to one’sethnic identity in a global setting where members of ethnic minority groups aresocialized. The interviewees are quite different from their peers in Ningxia in terms ofvalues and behaviors. They are exposed to much more diverse cultural experiences,thus are able to internalize what they have learned to come up with a new set ofworldviews and opinions based on the former understanding of their ethnic identity.