The Imam In Wawu:The Opinion Leader In Multiple Social Relations

Ethnic issues are complicated because they are often intertwined with religion, race, social stability, and class interests. China is a unified multi-ethnic country, and different ethnic minorities have their own unique languages, religions, culture, and customs. The conflicts and contradictions caused by the differences of languages, religions, culture, and customs may further lead to estrangement between ethnic groups and negatively influence national solidarity and social stability. Therefore, Minority issues have always been very sensitive in social governance in contemporary China.In recent years, a number of mass incidents involving ethnic issues occur frequently, and these problems are often the overlapping areas between ethnic issues and living issues. The Hui minority village in Nangang is located at the edge of the city of Hefei, so it is significantly affected by Hefei’s major infrastructure construction projects. Furthermore, in the past few years, the village has encountered such problems as accelerating industrialization and urbanization, demolition and relocation of residences, and expropriation of land. Therefore, the village is an epitome of Chinese society in terms of ethnic and living issues.From April,2014 to April,2015, the author of the present study made multiple visits to Nangang, Feixi County in Anhui province, and conducted an investigation on local minority villages and ethnic and religious leaders of the villages-Muslim Imams. Liangdun and Wawu are the two largest and populated Hui minority villages in Hefei. Because of the high density of Hui population and the mixture of Hui and Han residents, the daily management of this village is different from that of other villages and the governance of this village is somewhat unique. The author of the present study interviewed and had participating observations on the local Muslim Imam and minority people and followed the Muslim Imam to resolve disputes. The author of the present study found that Imam acted as a connection of different social contacts and played a unique role as an opinion leader in the management and governance of the rural community.The Imam is not only a religious leader, but also a member of the Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Shushan District and the city of Hefei. In addition, by taking the advantage of his reputation among the villagers, Imam was also a local squire. Accordingly, he had a voice on multiple occasions such as religion, dispute mediation and rural governance. Therefore, he was a comprehensive opinion leader who could have a multi-faceted impact in different groups. He helped fellow Muslims complete religion lessons, inherit ethnic and religious culture, discipline their social behavior, reunite the dispersed Muslims, and forged their common recognition of the religious community.The identity of a CPPCC member enabled the Imam to take the advantage of the platform of the Political Consultative Conference and report the problems and difficulties of people to the authorities。Meanwhile, he could merge the nation’s policies with the doctrines, reprocess them, and form a two-step flow of information. By doing so, he managed to better disseminate the nation’s policies and let the ethnic minorities be more willing to accept such policies. On the other hand, since the Imam livesd at the grassroots level and had direct contact with minority people, by utilizing his prestige in the Muslim community, he was able to capture the discontent of people in time, mediate conflicts, appease anxiety, and prevent the expansion of conflicts.In the process of social operation, the government’s macroscopic plans will inevitably have conflicts with the individuals’ short-term interest. In my research site, whenever issues concerning ethnic minorities arose, the government often turned to the Imam to participate in the mediation. When the government confronted the public, the public often treated themselves as the weak side, had resistance toward the local officials, and disobeyed their governance. In this situation, both parties tended to treat the Imam as their "own person" and communicate with him. The Imam functioned as a channel of communication and mediator of conflicts that bridged both the government and the public. The Imam was regarded as a fair and prestigious figure, so his mediation was more likely to be accepted and facilitate the resolution of conflicts. He became the lubricant in the operation of the state machine and greatly reduced the cost of the management of the society.