An Anthropological Research On The Phenomenon Of "Returing To Ethnic Origins" By Ma Family In Ma Lou Village

By means of literature investigation and anthropological fieldwork,this paper studies the phenomenon of "returning to ethnic origin" by The Ma Family of Malou Village,Chenpo Township,Yuncheng County,Heze City,Shandong Province.The first main part 0f this study is about how the villagers of Malou Village identify themselves after recognizing their ethnic origin and returning to Islamic beliefs,the religion of their historical ancestors.Their ways of self-identification are mainly manifested in two aspects: ethnic identity and religious identity.The second part of the study is about a unique cultural phenomenon which appeared after the returning of the religious beliefs of the Ma Clan-the integration of Hui and Han cultures.It is the unique geographical location and cultural events that created this unique cultural phenomenon.This unique fusion of Hui and Han cultures is mainly reflected in the festival customs and funeral customs of Malou Village.Ma's ancestors were Hui people in Shanxi Province.In the early Ming Dynasty,they migrated from Hongtong in Shanxi Province to Wangjiaying Village in Nancheng County,Yuncheng County,Shandong Province.They were forced to go abandon their religious belief because of extraordinary historical events.Hundreds of years later,in 1999,most of the Ma's in Malou Village returned to Islam and insisted on holding to it.So far.It is a phenomenon worthy of academic study that they being fewer in number,surrounded by villages populated by the Han nationality,and could be able to persist to this day,even after having adhered to the customs of the Han nationality for hundreds of years.Due to various objective reasons,their style of lives are not completely as strong as the traditional Hui villages in ethnic and religious characteristics,but they have gradually internalized some Hui customs and Chinese Islamic traditions since the returning,but also retained a part of Han cultural customs,and this has produced a unique cultural phenomenon that combines the customs of Hui and Han.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows: the phenomenon of returning of religious beliefs of the majority of the Ma's clan to the Hui Islamic believes and traditions,seems to be a kind of returning of religious belief on the surface,but the most important factor behind this change is actually the recognition of ethnic origin,rather than purely returning of religious believes.This has convinced the author to conclude that,anthropologically speaking,their phenomenon of returning is in fact a kind of return to ancestral roots and ethnic identity.