China's Mongolian Muslim Studies

Mongolian Muslim is a unique ethnic group in China, who mainly live in the northeast of Alasha Left Banner, and number about2,000. They are known as "Mongol Qotung" or "Chantou Hui". Their language and basic way of life are more or less same as the local Mongolian nomads, but they believe in Islam.One of the pioneering research works on the Mongolian Muslim in Inner Mongolia is the book written by An Mengke Mongolian Muslim in Alasha Steppe (2005). An Mengke is a local Mongolian Muslim. Upon retirement from the Court of Alasha Left Banner, he published this book. Describing the daily life of Mongolian Muslims generally, this book is the first hand material for studying "Mongol Qotung". Another important publication is a book entitled Study on the Marginal Chinese Muslim in perspective of Anthropology by Ding Mingjun (2006), a professor at the Second Northwest University for Nationalities in Yinchuan. This book documents a few marginal Muslim groups in China such as Zanghui (Tibetan Muslim) and Yihui (Yi Muslim) from the perspective of anthropology. It contains one substantial chapter on Mongolian Muslim in Alasha. There are many papers related to this topic beside these two books.These works generally analyse what role the religious factors play in the living of Mongolian Muslims, and they explore the ethnogenesis of the group. Largely descriptive in nature, there is little study on the group’s social formation or ethnic identity. I am particularly interested in what Islam means for the Mongols, and how they practice the religion among Buddhist Mongols but also live adjacent to the Chinese Muslims-the Hui.The Mongolian Muslims are a unique cultural group among the Mongols. A study of this group will help us understand the Mongolian cultural diversity-an issue that is crucially important, but has never been studied in depth. Moreover, it allows us to understand the ways by which different religious groups interact with one another.