China's Muslim Hui Community (Review of Dilon)

China's Muslim Hui Community: Migration, Settlement and Sects by Michael Dillon. Pub: Curzon Press, Richmond, UK, 1999. Pp: 208. Hbk: UK40.00.

Twenty years ago, few Muslims realised that they were huge Muslim communities in what was then Russia. On western-drawn maps, the Muslim areas of Central Asia - which have gained 'independence' by default after the collapse of the Soviet Union - were all shown as part of communist Russia and effectively divorced from the 'Muslim world'. A few better-read Muslims knew that Russia had a 'Muslim minority', but that was about the extent of our understanding.

Far greater awareness of Muslim populations around the world has been one of the benefits of 'Islamic revival' since the Islamic Revolution in Iran. There remains, however, a general ignorance about the Muslim community in China which is similar to that of the Muslims under Russian rule 20 years ago. People have become aware that the Muslims of north-western China are in fact Central Asian Muslim peoples living under Chinese occupation - as Muslims of other parts of Central Asia lived under Russian occupation for most of this century - and that there is a growing jihad against Chinese rule in these areas.

What is not generally realised is that there is also a far larger community of indigenous Chinese Muslims living in China proper, the descendants of both Central Asian settlers in China, and of Chinese people who converted to Islam centuries ago, under the influence of Muslim settlers, traders, ulama, teachers and others who travelled through the country or settled there during the period when Muslim countries represented the leading edge of world civilization. It is these Muslims, ethnically indistinguishable from the rest of the Chinese but with a very distinct cultural and religious tradition that has developed over centuries, which has been studiously maintained despite the aggressive atheism of the communist period, that are known as the Hui, while the non-Muslim Chinese are known as the Han.

Michael Dillon, a lecturer at Durham University in Britain, is an established student of the Hui Muslims. His 1996 book China's Muslims, part of the Oxford University Press 'Images of Asia' series, is an excellent short book on the subject. (The pictures with this review are taken from it.) His new book China's Muslim Hui Community, pulls together much of what other writer's have discovered about the Hui, with his own research.

The main section of the book traces the history of the Hui from the earliest days of Islam in China, to the present day. Unlike some writers on the subject, Dillon emphasises the importance of settlement in the origins of the Hui ahead of the conversion. He links the migration of early Muslims from Persia and Central Asia to earlier migrations by pre-Islamic peoples, which seems tenuous. He emphasises also the importance of the Ming period (1368-1644) for the emergence of the Hui as a permanent community rather than an immigrant one, and traces the stories of key early Muslim leaders, many of them warriors who helped the rise of Ming rule.

Dillon also continues his survey through Manchu rule and into the present century, tracing the changing role of the Hui in society and, in particular, the emergence of Sufism. He has a detailed chapter on the Hui 'insurrections' in the nineteenth century, through which Muslims tried to establish Islamic rule in key areas. These jihad movements, which lasted for decades and established functioning states in parts of China, were brutally suppressed, with the Muslims virtually exterminated in many areas. However, Dillon does not elaborate on the impact this had on the Hui, focusing instead on individual experiences and episodes rather than the larger picture. The same is true of his discussion of the present century.

The second main section focuses on Sufi orders in China, and is informative and detailed; however, Dillon's knowledge of China is not matched by his knowledge of Islam; hence errors such the statement that the word 'Salafiyya' derives from the Arabic 'sharif'. Despite the obvious breadth of Dillon's research, such errors raise doubts.

This book is a useful survey on a subject which few people know very much about. This compensates for its shortcomings. Muslim readers will find much of it informative and fascinating, but it should not be taken as authoritative. However, t he sad and unavoidable fact is that Muslims have no place else to go for such knowledge at this time.

Alamo-girl & Hopalong: Read this and weep. You have just eaten crow!

Alamo-girl, there is no confusion over where Peter Lee worked, you may be confused but I am not and the USG is not confused where Peter Lee worked. Peter Lee first worked at Lawrence Livermore Labs (LLNL) at the time he first gave the neutron bomb tech to the Chinese. Peter Lee then went to work at Los Alamos Labs. Peter Lee spoke with Wen Ho Lee on the phone when Peter Lee was at Lawrence Livermore Labs. Peter Lee worked at BOTH labs, Los Alamos and LLNL

You arrogantly assume that you know everything about his case and act like someone like me is wrong when you claim you cannot find what I claim. Well, there a few things I do know that you do not know that are in the public domain and there some things I know that you do not know that are not in the public domain.

Yet you still do not get it do you? I have told you that I worked for Admiral Rickover as project engineer for the nuclear reactor for the Trident sub. I have done PHD work on nuclear fusion ( similar physics involved in the neutron bomb) and I also have several patent disclosures for fusion devices and I was invited to work near Los Alamos on the SDI project by the Reagan administration in early 1983. I also have posted articles before on these subjects which you say you cannot find and seem to doubt. That is your problem, not mine especially as I am honest, correct and have provided the info.

First of all here is something that you could not find (that you doubted me on) that refers to Peter Lee giving the neutron bomb tech to the Chinese and to the phone call made to Peter Lee by Wen Ho Lee (you and Hopalong owe me a huge apology which I wonder if I will ever get from you):

http://www.polyconomics.com/searchbase/12-14-99.html

Here, briefly, is what I have pieced together from the Cox Report itself, corrected by the Rudman Report, the Thompson Report, and columns by Walter Pincus of The Washington Post.

[1] CIA's George Carver [a protégé of George Herbert Walker Bush?] made a speech at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) circa 1980 wherein he "revealed" that the PRC had "stolen" the secret of the "neutron bomb." The leaked "suspect" was apparently Peter Lee (a TRW employee working under contract at Livermore's inertial confinement facility [ICF]).

[2] Enter Los Alamos National Lab's [LANL] Wen Ho Lee. Circa 1982 HE MADE A PHONE CALL TO PETER LEE AT LLNL -- intercepted by the FBI -- regarding Peter Lee's dismissal by LLNL as a TRW contract employee. After first investigating Wen Ho, himself, the FBI then made Wen Ho their agent against Peter. (The FBI investigation of the Lees -- both of whom the FBI previously had cleared for access to secret information and would clear again in future years -- came to nothing). Notra Trulock was then, or became soon thereafter, a counterintelligence agent and employee of the University of California, which runs LANL. Although the FBI had cleared Wen Ho Lee, Trulock apparently decided that Wen Ho was a fiendishly clever bigtime PRC spy and continued to focus his attention on him for more than a decade, during which time Wen Ho Lee's "clearance" was twice renewed by the FBI.

I also claimed that Peter Lee was given a suspended, weak sentence for his crimes not commensurate with the seriousness of the crimes. Well Senator Spector agrees with me that their was something wrong about the sentence (I once spoke to his office about it). Read this if you still arrogantly doubt me because you still say you cannot find it:

BACK CHANNELS: The Intelligence Community

Questions About Another Chinese Spy Case

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=politics/fedpage/columns/backchannels&contentId=A5720-2000Apr3

By Vernon Loeb

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 4, 2000; Page A27

"Specter asked last week at a hearing why prosecutors hadn't used a death penalty section of the espionage statute in prosecuting Lee, a laser scientist at TRW Inc. who has admitted passing nuclear secrets to Beijing but spent only 12 months in a halfway house."

But if you want more smoking gun evidence about Peter Lee's questionable light sentence read on :

http://www.frontpagemag.com/columnists/horowitz/1999/dh06-22-99.htm

"But Wen Ho Lee today is a free man. Peter Lee, who gave Communist China our warhead testing techniques, [neutron bomb technology], and the radar technology to locate our submarines—until then the most secure element of our nuclear deterrent—is also free, having served only a year in a halfway house for his treason."

Now why is it Mr Peter Lee got such a light sentence considering the magnitude of his crimes? I strongly recommend you ask the CIA, George Hebert Walker Bush, and Arlen Specter. And I am confident Sam Cohen would agree with my recommendation.

Peter Lee passed neutron bomb tech to the Chinese and he got off because in my opinion he did Bush Senior’s work . BTW, the CIA agent Mr Carver who said Peter Lee gave the neutron bomb tech to the Chinese, is said to be known by Bush Senior very well from CIA days (but hey do not take my word for it, ask Bush and Carver yourself).

If you still wonder about what Peter Lee was working on and if it really was related to neutron bomb tech read this:

PERSPECTIVE

Uncertain Damage

by Jeffrey T. Richelson

September/October 1999

Vol. 55, No. 5, pp. 17-19

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1999/so99/so99richelson.html

“And although Peter Lee, a former employee of Lawrence Livermore contractor TRW, confessed to providing Chinese scientists with oral information on submarine detection technology and techniques for creating miniature nuclear fusion explosions, the FBI is not sure it has gotten the whole story from Lee.”

Miniature nuclear fusion explosions occur in neutron bombs, especially ones that have been miniaturized like the ones China has (baseball sized suitcase nukes).

But here is even more detail on Peter Lee’s work involving thermonuclear fusion (14 MEV neutrons produced by a neutron bomb:

http://www.china.org.cn/e-fabuhui/download/news/English/PressConferences/990715/990715_10.htm

"At Livermore that meant using the National Ignition Facility [NIF], a successor to ICF facility that Peter Lee worked on, to simulate thermonuclear implosions and on 'negative alpha' hydro experiments."

Knowledge from the alpha experiments can also relate to the red mercury that is now being used by China and Iraq to miniaturize neutron bombs

As for the time frame, Peter Lee probably gave the neutron bomb tech to the Chinese sometime between 1980 ( as stated by CIA agent Carver in the above article) and 1985 as stated in the following article:

“Physicist jailed …” from the New York Times 1999-Mar-13 via the Houston Chronicle, by James Brooke of the New York Times:

Link : http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/china/j125.html

"Peter Lee's involvement with China dates back to 1981, federal prosecutors say, when he began a correspondence with Chinese scientists that mounted to more than 600 letters and e-mail messages by 1997, the year of his arrest."

"After his arrest, he pleaded guilty to passing classified national defense information to Chinese scientists on a visit to Beijing in 1985. He also pleaded guilty to lying to a government agency after he described on a security form a May 1997 visit to China as a pleasure trip."

BTW I just proved that Sylvia Lee, Wen’s wife worked for the CIA and FBI at the time Wen was on the phone talking to Peter Lee and when Peter helped give neutron bomb tech to the Chinese. Did you miss the proof? Well, it is on this thread if you cannot find it. But oh well, will you still arrogantly claim that it is not true if you do not find it or do not know it? Or will you arrogantly claim that it is not enough of a smoking gun? This is not funny.

Alamo-girl, do you have the moral courage and character to apologize to me now?

Hopalong, do you have the moral courage and character to apologize to me now?

I have no intention of weeping or eating crow. I do not "arrogantly assume that I know everything about this case." I’m not being rude or defensive on this thread. You obviously have a prestigious background and contacts which I do not have. I however do have considerable experience in research and deductive reasoning.

I actually saw the polyconomics.com item when researching and dismissed it out-of-hand. In the first place, it was obviously in error. Also, it was in the format of a memo to Henry Tang from Jude Wanniski, and there were no end notes to authenticate his allegations.

But even that article at http://www.polyconomics.com/searchbase/12-14-99.html were not in error, it would still actually support the point I’ve been trying to present without being painfully obvious (so as to not be arrogant.)

Since you accuse me of that anyway, let me be direct.

You excerpted this: CIA's George Carver made a speech at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) circa 1980 wherein he "revealed" that the PRC had "stolen" the secret of the "neutron bomb." The leaked "suspect" was apparently Peter Lee (a TRW employee working under contract at Livermore's inertial confinement facility [ICF]).

The reasoning is simple - if the CIA revealed that the PRC had obtained the secret of the neutron bomb in 1980 – then it happened, not on the Reagan watch which began in 1981 - as you aver – but rather, on the Carter watch.

Even if the polyconomics article had Gwo-Bao Min confused with Peter Lee – it still happened, not on Reagan’s watch – but on Carter’s watch.

I did overlook in the following Senate hearing that Peter Lee worked at both Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos; however, my reply at #100 noted that possibility - I was not searching for where he worked or when!

Please notice the dates and events in the following – which discredit the memo on polyconomics.com. I’ve highlighted the rebuttals.

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2000_hr/

The Dr. Peter Lee Case
29 March 2000
Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2000_hr/leahy-pl.html

Statement of Ranking Member Patrick Leahy
Senate Judiciary Committee
At Hearing of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
On "The Dr. Peter Lee Case"
April 5, 2000

… To put these questions in broader context, we should look at the scope and intensity of the investigation into Peter Lee's activities. Peter Lee is a naturalized United States citizen, who worked from October 1976 until 1991, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ("LLNL") as a research physicist. He was cleared to have access to classified information and his work involved research relating to nuclear weapons detonation simulations. From 1991 to 1997, Lee worked at TRW, and was involved in a joint United States/United Kingdom Radar Ocean Imaging Project, which had applications in the area of anti-submarine warfare. While at TRW, Lee maintained a Secret clearance.

The FBI has been investigating Lee since 1991. In February 1994, the FBI, sought and obtained permission to conduct secret electronic surveillance of Lee under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This secret surveillance continued for over three years – until September 1997. During the time of this surveillance, Lee, with the knowledge of the FBI, traveled to China and maintained his Secret-level clearance at TRW, which allowed him access to classified materials.

In June 1997, Lee was interviewed by the FBI about a trip he had taken to China a month earlier. Lee falsely told the FBI that he had not engaged in technical scientific discussions in the PRC and that he had paid for his trip. During subsequent interviews, Lee admitted that he had participated in scientific discussions, but maintained that he had paid for his trip and provided the FBI false documentation as "proof." In October, 1997, Lee was given a polygraph examination and his answers were found to be deceptive.

Following the failed polygraph, Lee was interviewed at length by the FBI over the course of two days. During this time, Lee confessed to providing confidential information to the PRC on two separate occasions. First, he admitted that twelve years earlier, in January 1985, he had passed information relating to hohlraums (devices used in the simulation of nuclear detonations) to PRC scientists. Second, Lee admitted that during his May 1997 trip, he had relayed information about the radar ocean imaging project he worked on at TRW and its application to anti-submarine warfare.

Now, compare that to the excerpt from the polyconomics memo. I’ve boldfaced the inconsistencies.

[1] CIA's George Carver made a speech at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) circa 1980 wherein he "revealed" that the PRC had "stolen" the secret of the "neutron bomb." The leaked "suspect" was apparently Peter Lee (a TRW employee working under contract at Livermore's inertial confinement facility [ICF]).

[2] Enter Los Alamos National Lab's [LANL] Wen Ho Lee. Circa 1982 HE MADE A PHONE CALL TO PETER LEE AT LLNL -- intercepted by the FBI -- regarding Peter Lee's dismissal by LLNL as a TRW contract employee. After first investigating Wen Ho, himself, the FBI then made Wen Ho their agent against Peter.

They obviously cannot both be true.

As a point of clarification for lurkers, when you quoted Horowitz’s article on http://www.frontpagemag.com/columnists/horowitz/1999/dh06-22-99.htm you inserted in brackets [neutron bomb technology] between "warhead testing techniques" and "radar technology to locate our submarines." The exact sentence Horowitz wrote is: "But Wen Ho Lee today is a free man. Peter Lee, who gave Communist China our warhead testing techniques and the radar technology to locate our submarines—until then the most secure element of our nuclear deterrent—is also free, having served only a year in a halfway house for his treason."

Continuing with the scientific nature of what Peter Lee revealed to the Chinese, here is the testimony before the Senate:

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2000_hr/cook.html

TESTIMONY OF THOMAS L. COOK
NONPROLIFERATION AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY DIVISION
NIS-9/WEAPON DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES
LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY

BEFORE THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE OVERSIGHT AND THE COURTS

March 29, 2000

Declaration of Technical Damage to United States National Security
Assessed in Support of United States v. Peter Hoong-Yee Lee

…2. Information contained in the classified DOE document that Peter Hoong-Yee Lee admits to having transferred to the PRC presents a scheme for interpreting temperature measurements made with x-ray detectors on radiation emerging from a plasma in a hollow cavity. References in the paper document Lee's formal participation in broad classified inertial confinement fusion (ICF) diagnostic development programs. These programs had specific classified objectives; including the measurement of material properties necessary for benchmarking classified computer code simulations, calibration of' underground nuclear test (UGT) data in fusion laboratories, and adaptation of ICF diagnostic techniques for use in UGT's. Some technologies with which Peter Hoong-Yee Lee was associated are now unclassified because of academic developments in ICF research; others remain classified nuclear weapon science.

C. Significance

1. The measurement of radiation-matter interactions and time-resolved and timeintegrated laser-plasma diagnostics represent exactly the critical technologies important to a developing nuclear weapon state that has an active nuclear testing program. The capability to measure the performance of various parts of the nuclear weapon facilitates the evolution from rudimentary nuclear devices to intermediate and advanced designs. These characteristics of the warhead determine the deployment options and the appropriateness of mission. Possession of only rudimentary and/or intermediate class warheads limit these military options. Advanced nuclear warheads could be important to the Chinese for use on cruise missiles, on road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), and on submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and as multiple re-entry vehicles (MRV) and multiple independent re-entry vehicles (MIRVs).

And finally, here’s why I strongly suspect a lot of people – including Jude Wanniski – may have quite innocently confused the Peter Lee case with the Gwo-Bao Min case:

http://www.gertzfile.com/excerpt2.html
November 14, 2000
Clinton critic says he was targeted Uncovered spying on nukes by China
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

"…The story actually began 18 years ago when the telephone rang at the home of Gwo Bao Min, a former nuclear weapons engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It was Dec. 2, 1982.

The caller was Wen Ho Lee, another scientist who designed nuclear weapons at a second Department of Energy laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M.

The FBI, which was investigating Mr. Min, intercepted the conversation.

Mr. Min was in trouble. He had been fired from his job at Livermore under suspicion of passing nuclear weapons secrets to China. Mr. Lee guessed it must have been someone in China who revealed Mr. Min's identity to the FBI, and he promised to uncover the informant.

Mr. Min never was prosecuted and today lives in Northern California. But the exchange between the two men would be at the heart of the most damaging espionage case in U.S. history."

Lurkers can compare the above Bill Gertz 11/2000 article to the Jude Wanniski 12/1999 memo and the 3/2000 Senate hearing testimony to see for themselves whether Jude Wanniski had the two stories comingled:

[1] CIA's George Carver made a speech at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) circa 1980 wherein he "revealed" that the PRC had "stolen" the secret of the "neutron bomb." The leaked "suspect" was apparently Peter Lee (a TRW employee working under contract at Livermore's inertial confinement facility [ICF]).

[2] Enter Los Alamos National Lab's [LANL] Wen Ho Lee. Circa 1982 HE MADE A PHONE CALL TO PETER LEE AT LLNL -- intercepted by the FBI -- regarding Peter Lee's dismissal by LLNL as a TRW contract employee. After first investigating Wen Ho, himself, the FBI then made Wen Ho their agent against Peter.

OKCSubmariner, I absolutely loathe contentious debates and thus will no longer be replying to you on this thread. We see things differently and everyone has a right to their own opinions!

Thanks much for the comments and the link, color_tear.

Hui Muslims in China: Mizan Khan (103), 10/20/94

Mizan Khan (103), 10/20/94

Update

Deepa Khosla (116), 02/05/96

Michelle C. Boomgaard, 4/26/00

Hui Muslims in China

Total Area of China: 9,596,960 sq. km

Capital: Beijing

Country Population: 1,237 million (1998 estimate, U.S. Census Bureau)

Group Population: 8.7 million ( 0.7%)

Overview

There are, officially, over 8 million people living in the People's Republic of China who are of Hui ethnicity. Culturally and linguistically, these people are very closely assimilated with the majority Han Chinese population. What continues to separate them as a group is their adherence to the Muslim religion and/or the practices associated with that religion, such as the refusal to eat pork. The Hui are the descendants of Arab and Persian traders and artisans who immigrated to the area around the beginning of the current millennium or who were "transferred" to China during the period of Mongol dominance. Substantial intermixture over the centuries has "sinicized" their physical appearance, although many claim to be able to distinguish a Hui from a Han. The economic roles of the Hui do not appear to be significantly distinct from those of the majority. Although there is an Autonomous Region (the Ningxia Hui or NHAR) established for the Hui in north central China, this must be viewed as a symbolic gesture by the state as the Hui in this region account for only about 13% of the population.

There is a strong tradition of social ostracism of the Hui and a historical precedent of periodic violent conflicts between Hui groups and the Chinese state resulting from discriminatory treatment reaching into the 20th century. The latest episode of social conflict occurred during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) when Han groups, under the auspices of the central authorities, made systematic and violent attacks on the practice of minority cultures and, especially, on religious practices and institutions. Since 1979, there has been a liberalization of the government's attitude toward the minority cultures in China and, at least, a formalization of religious toleration. This policy has gone a long way toward assuaging Hui resentments, but it is too early to tell whether these policies will overcome the cultural barriers to the full social integration of the Hui.

While there is very limited information available, it appears that the Hui continue to be economically disadvantaged in relation to the majority Han community. Their ability to improve their economic status has suffered due to severe environmental degradation in the NHAR. As a result, some Huis have begun to leave their region of residence in order to earn a livelihood.

Chronology

1990

April: A Chinese Muslim scholar visited Morocco and gave a talk at the Royal Palace on Muslim activities in China. He was also received by King Hassan II.

Chinese Muslims celebrate the breaking of the Fast during the month of Ramadan. Bai Lichen, Chairman of the regional government and other leaders of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR) extended festival greetings to the Muslims in the regional capital of Yinchuan.

July: Five Chinese Muslim pilgrims have been confirmed dead and four others are missing from the Mecca tunnel disaster in Saudi Arabia early this month. One of them is of Hui nationality, China Daily reports.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen visits Saudi Arabia to finalize the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Replying to a reporter's question on the status of Muslims in the PRC, the Minister explained that some 16 million Muslims currently living in China enjoy religious freedom and the right to practice their religious rites. He also mentioned that there were more than 20,000 mosques in China for conducting religious activities (BBC World Report, 7/24/90).

1991

January: A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman says that Chinese Muslims support the government position on the Gulf war.

February: A magazine dedicated to studies of the Hui nationality commenced publication on February 4. The "Studies of Hui Nationality" is sponsored and published by the NHAR Academy of Social Sciences. The first edition advanced the view that China's Hui nationality was formed by the long-term assimilation of Arabs, Persians and the Chinese Han nationality. China has over 8 million Hui people who live mainly in Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang, all in northwest China. Bai Shouyi, a well-known Chinese historian, is a major editor of the magazine.

July: The Los Angeles Times (07/02/91) reports that restrictions on the training of future Imams (religious leaders) are still severe and the regional government of the NHAR restricts the construction of new mosques, because they are alleged to be "centers' of disturbance and secessionist movements.

October: A 65-member special Muslim Committee has been set up to monitor the quality of factory-made Muslim food nationwide. The Committee will also take measures to initiate technical cooperation and expand the export of Chinese Muslim foods. Haji Hossin Hie Bo Li, former Chairman of NHAR, will lead the organization.

November: The overseas edition of Renmin Ribao (11/28/91) carried a report of an interview with Shen Xiaxi and Ma Xian, the President and Vice President of the Islamic Association of China (IAC). The report noted that there are 17 million Muslims throughout China, 1.5% of the total population, but that 59 members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are Muslims, 2.84% of the total. In the CPPCC Standing Committee, 13 are Muslims, 4.2% of the total.

December: A Chinese Muslim Delegation led by Mohammad Hannafy Yaobin, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs under the State Council, left for Saudi Arabia on a friendly visit at the invitation of the Saudi government. This is the first visit of its kind to Saudi Arabia after the two countries established diplomatic relations in September.

1992

February: A delegation from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR) visited Singapore to promote bilateral cooperation. NHAR is a largely Muslim region with an area of 66,400 sq.km. and a population of 4.7 million. Bai Lichen, Chairman of the Region and head of the delegation, expressed hopes that the trip would promote understanding and friendship between Singapore and Ningxia, including between Singapore Malays and Hui Muslims. During their 7-day visit, the delegation also met with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Trade and Industry in Singapore.

July: A 45-member Chinese cultural troupe composed of Muslims of different ethnicity visited Malaysia as part of cultural exchanges between Chinese and Malay Muslims.

September: Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani met a group of Chinese Muslims in Tehran and expressed the hope that Muslims in China would have more contacts with Iran.

1993

March: Ma Changqing, a Chinese Muslim leader and Vice-Chairman of the Qinghai Province Islamic Association, put forward proposals to the on-going Eighth CPPCC for non-discrimination toward practicing Muslims (Japan Economic Newswire, 03/21/93). Ma is a member of the CPPCC. Although the Chinese Constitution defends peoples' right to religious belief, it does not protect religious activity; all such activities must accord with state laws.

April: A ceremony marking the graduation of Muslim students from the School of Islamic Theories was held at the largest Chinese mosque in Xian. It was the first such ceremony in China since they were suspended over three decades ago by the Mao authorities. Such ceremonies date back to the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and were very popular throughout the country.

A newly-published dictionary of Chinese Hui nationality puts forward a new theory on the origins of the Huis. It says that the Huis originated from dozens of ancient ethnic groups, not from the Arabs or Persians, as is commonly believed. The theory asserts that the Hui people arose from Central, South and Southeast Asia, as well as from Africa. Prof. Qiu Shusen, Editor-in-Chief of the dictionary, says that the multiple ancestries of the Hui people are unique in the world. The ancient marine and land silk roads facilitated the entrance of peoples from different parts of the world.

July: A six-episode TV series titled "Chinese Muslims" in Gansu province was recently completed in Ianzhou, capital of the province. The TV program reflects changes in life, customs, folklore and businesses of Muslim peoples of the Hui, Dongxiang, Salar and Kazakh nationalities in Gansu.

September: Muslims demonstrated through several cities in China protesting against a published cartoon that they say insults them. The Sichuan Art Publishing House copied the cartoon from a Taiwan comic book. The angry demonstrators also recalled several instances when the print media published offending items, including an essay "Wheat and Ningxia" by Chongqing Ribao (10/31/92) that stated: "The Hui Nationality worships the God of Pig." In response, the communist authorities dismissed the top publishers from their posts and ordered all copies of the book destroyed. The Taiwanese firm also apologized to China's Muslims and promised the book's withdrawal from the market.

1994

February: In a rare confirmation of unrest among China's Muslims, official sources said that 49 people were killed when paramilitary police units moved in to suppress fighting between rival religious groups outside a Ningxia province mosque last May. The New China News Agency says 22 people, including a prominent local politician, Ma Liesun, and two Muslim academics, were sentenced to long prison terms this month. They were convicted on charges that included murder and "unlawfully buying guns and ammunition" in connection with the incident. Liesun served on the national committee in Beijing representing China's minority populations.

Southern Ningxia province, where the incident took place, has long been a stronghold of Sufism, the mystical school of Islam that has often played a role in revolts against authority in China. According to sources, the fighting in May was the result of a succession battle in the Sufi Zheherenye sect following the death of the sect's Imam, Ma Tenghai in June 1991. The sect is reported to have 100,000 followers in Ningxia. Police were called in when the contest to replace Ma Tenghai turned violent as rival factions were battling outside the Xiji mosque (The Dallas Morning News, 02/21/94).

July: NHAR issued regulations forbidding religious bodies from interfering in administrative affairs, including education, marriage, and family planning. (U.S. Department of State Dispatch 3/96)

August: A nationwide exhibition of calligraphic works and paintings of the Hui nationality will be held from September 23 to 28 in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Artistic works by over 400 Hui calligraphers and painters from some 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions as well as from Hong Kong and Taiwan will be on display.

Update 02/05/96

August 15: A Hui Nationality Society has been set up in Xining, the capital of northwest China's Qinghai province. Over 600,000 Hui live in Qinghai. The Society will focus on training people to promote cultural and economic development in Hui populated areas (BBC, 05/15/94).

1995

February: China is in the midst of the "Great Age of Religious Revival", according to the President of Northwest Minorities University. Ma Qi Lin was the first Hui Muslim elected as president of the university. He states that China's open door policy and its decision to allow religious activities to be practiced openly have promoted solidarity among Chinese Islamic minority groups (New Straits Times, 02/06/95).

March: China's government has publicly acknowledged that ethnic minorities in the country don't have enough to eat or wear and that the gap between the minorities and prosperous Chinese is widening. Fearful of unrest because of poverty, China is embarking on a program to ensure that by the year 2000, all ethnic peoples will be provided with enough food and clothes (UPI, 03/01/95).

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is expanding economic and trade cooperation with various Arab countries. Last year alone, the region exported $10 million (US) worth of goods to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Iran, Jordan, and Egypt (Xinhua News Agency, 03/29/95).

June: The NHAR is conducting the largest population shift in its history and the second largest ever to occur in China. By the end of the century, almost 750,000 residents will be moved from arid mountainous areas in the south to newly-built irrigated zones along the Yellow River. The southern area of Ningxia is the poorest in the country due to droughts, overpopulation, and dwindling resources such as firewood. The move would involve 15% of the NHAR's population, half of which are expected to be Muslims. Since 1982, more than 250,000 inhabitants have chosen to move to the resettlement areas, where some 200 mosques have been built. Some government officials have expressed concerns that the new settlements might become hotbeds of Islamic fervor (BBC, 06/13/95; LA Times, 07/16/95).

June 16: Western experts indicate that the Hui have become deeply involved in the drug trade and criminal activity in Yunnan province and that this has deepened the gulf between the government and the Muslim minority. No further details were provided (Inter Press Service, 06/16/95).

Update April 2000

1996 January: The government in Peking required all places of religious worship - including mosques - to register. (London Independent 4/14/96)

February: Hui protestors demonstrated in several cities in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR) against the publication of a book on sexual practices, which the Muslims deemed offensive. The book was subsequently banned. (UPI 2/13/96)

July: China's first-ever official magazine dealing exclusively with religion hit the newsstands. Religious Affairs Bureau director Zhang Shengzuo wrote in the first issue of "China Religion" that Beijing has no intention of easing restrictions imposed at the begining of last year, prohibiting foreigners from setting up religious groups or offices in China or recruiting Chinese followers. These prohibitions also severely limited the hajj, or Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. (Agence France Presse 7/20/95)

August: In Hotan, Xinjiang, 19 Muslims were convicted of possessing arms and belonging to a "counter-revolutionary" group, and sentenced to jail terms of up to 15 years. (London Independent 4/14/96)

1997:

February: China set up its first non-governmental organization to help girls who have dropped out of school finish their schooling in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. a large portion of the region's residents are Hui. According to local authorities,they are sometimes too poor to send their children to school, in spite of the fact that the rate of enrollment in the region was 96% last year. More than 70% of China's school drop-outs are girls, government figures show. (Xinhua News Agency 2/19/97)

December: China has executed 16 people in the restive northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang for crimes committed during a wave of anti- Chinese violence by separatists. The official said the 16 defendants were put to death Dec. 29 after a court in Urumqi convicted them of murder, robbery and drug peddling. Fewer than half of the defendants were Muslims from the Uighur and Hui ethnic minorities. (Washington Post 1/13/98)

1998:

April: The director of Ningxia Academy of Social Sciences announced it would host an international symposium the history, culture, trade, religion, and education of the Hui. (Xinhua News Agence 4/1/98)

Leading party and government officials of the NHAR met with 360 Muslim representatives of the Hui and Uygur ethnic groups to mark their traditional Corban festival. (Xinhua News Agency 4/7/98)

December: On election day in Beijing, three of the four official candidates at the Niujie Mosque polling station in Beijing were Hui. The fourth is Han. Niujie had the largest concentration of Hui in Beijing. (China Daily 12/16/98)

1999:

August: The World Bank publicly reconsidered its funding of a Chinese project after an American visiting the project area was seized by police and broke his back under mysterious circumstances while in custody. The project involved the resettlement of approximately 60,000 Hui peasants in Qinghai to Tibet. Critics said that the project violated World Bank rules about protecting the way of life of indigenous people, and that the money would probably finance some of the region=s many prisons or forced-labor camps. Previously, Harry Wu, a Chinese campaigner against labour camps, complained that World Bank loans were helping the Xinjiang Construction and Production Brigade, the ABing Tuan,@ a paramilitary organization which operated prison farms and encouraged ethnic Han migration, including that of peasants displaced from the Three Gorges project. The World Bank decided Mr Wu's criticisms could not be proved and has continued to lend money to the Bing Tuan. (South China Morning Post 8/29/99)

Risk Assessment

It appears that Chinese Islam is flourishing in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR) under the policy of "opening" which began in the late 1970s. Hui Muslim communities have rebounded from earlier repression, reasserting their identity by reopening mosques and religious schools, often with government funding. "Opening" to the outside world has also allowed greater contact with the Middle East and other Muslim countries through increased trade and business ventures, participation in the Hajj, and cultural exchanges.

But Islam and communism seem to have an uneasy coexistence in China today. Contradictory government policies seek to stimulate ethnic identity on one hand, while applying pressure for national unity and cultural assimilation on the other. In addition, there are indications that some Hui activity is not picked up by the Western English-language media, and may be suppressed by the Chinese government. While those interviewed by Western reporters - under Chinese escort - are universally quick to praise the Chinese for allowing Islam to flourish in the NHAR, their actual sentiments may be very different.

American writer Lillian Craig who has written a book on China's Middle East policy, asserts that among the Hui, there is no apparent popular pressure to choose jihad (holy war) or hijra (migration) when a believer finds himself living under non-Muslim rule. The Hui are Chinese in appearance, culture and language, and differ from the majority Han Chinese only in religion. Both the central and regional governments' support for the Hui Muslims tend to emphasize the "Chinese" character of their Islam. According to Craig, the Hui consider themselves as Chinese first, then Muslims. That situation is entirely different among the Uighur, Uzbek, Kazakh and other minority nationalities who are concentrated in Xinjiang, in Chinese Central Asia. Beijing continues to retain religious restrictions in this area as it fears that these groups harbour secessionist sentiments (Al-Ahram, 5/28/92).

Greater economic contacts with other Muslim countries could provide the NHAR with a much needed economic boost. China has committed itself to providing all minorities with the basic necessities by the year 2000. However, for many Hui who reside in the NHAR, obtaining these necessities will require them to move from their traditional areas of residence. The acute nature of environmental problems such as continual droughts and dwindling natural resources mean that the Muslims are no longer able to earn a livelihood. So far, the Hui have voluntarily agreed to move to new settlements along with Yellow River. Greater trade and a potential infusion of funds from Middle Eastern states could help slow the tide of Hui migration.

References

1. The Europa Yearbook, Far East and Australasia 1993.

2. Far Eastern Economic Review, 1990-93.

3. Keesings Record of World Events, 1990-93.

4. Lexis/Nexis Library News, 1990-2000.

5. Phase I, Minorities at Risk, overview compiled by Monty G. Marshall, 07/89.

Best regards. S&W R.I.P.

Islam in China Under the Communists :

THE UNREACHED PEOPLES PRAYER PROFILES
China - Land of Diversity

Part 6
Islam in China Under the Communists [GRAPHIC]

The Communists, on assuming power, followed a very cautious policy towards the Muslims. Islam was not a discredited religion, unlike Christianity, which was closely associated with Western imperialism. At the same time Islam was not an officially 'dead' religion like Chinese Buddhism or Taoism, to be praised for its contributions to popular revolts of the past and now relegated to the museum shelf. Rather Islam was a living, 'foreign' religion in the heart of China.

Furthermore the Communist government was anxious to establish good relations with the Muslim governments of the Middle East, South Asia and Africa. The Communists took careful notice of their Muslim minority from their first days of power. The Agrarian Reform Law of the People's Republic of China, promulgated on June 30th 1950, specifically protects the rights of Muslims to mosque land, but also states that Ahungs (and other religious leaders) should be given land to work, unless they have other means of making a living. Communist troops destined for Muslim areas were given specific instructions to respect mosques, refrain from eating pork, and to show respect to Muslim women. Special hospitals serving halal food were established in Beijing and Tianjin. In May 1953 the Chinese Islamic Association was formed, and a Chinese Islamic Seminary was constructed in Beijing. For the first time a translation of the Qu'ran was prepared in the vernacular speech, so that it might be available to the masses of Hui people who spoke no Arabic and could not understand classical Chinese. This translation, by Muhammad Ma Chien, stressed the compatibility between Islam and Marxism. The Chinese Association for the Promotion of the Hui People's Culture was also set up in these early years. Muslim delegations were permitted to go on The Haj (a pilgrimage to Mecca) starting in 1952, but were prevented from entering the Hedjaz by the Saudi Arabian Government.

China's two major Muslim nationalities were given autonomous government in their own national regions, the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Cultural diversity is recognised and even promoted, but the position of the autonomous regions in China resembles that of the Soviet Central Asian Republics, and secession from the People's Republic remains unthinkable. Relations between the Hui and the Central government have not always run smoothly. Periods of discord occurred during land reform in the early 1950's, and also during the anti-rightist campaigns of 1958. Many Muslim religious leaders were criticised, and the Chinese Association for the Promotion of the Hui People's Culture was closed down. There have even been cases of armed risings by Muslims, but these have remained small-scale local affairs, and bear no resemblance to the great rebellions which swept the Northwest under the Qing and the Republic. One continued cause of Han-Hui friction has been the massive emigration of non-Muslims from Central China to the Northwest. Communist policy towards Muslim religious freedom is tolerant of individual rights of worship, but frowns on prosyletisation. The important consideration for the Communists is that the Muslim's loyalty to Peking should not be in question. Thus: 'Like all religious people in New China, the Moslems love their free motherland ardently. Only when they have done their best to safeguard their country can they have their own beliefs and practice their religion without discrimination'.

The position of Islam during the Cutural Revolution remains unclear. Information from China during these years was limited to short reports of Muslims celebrating Corban and Bairam. It seems certain that Chinese Muslims did suffer from Red Guard excesses during this period, with an association being formed under the name of 'The Revolutionary Struggle Group for the Abolition of Islam'. The study of Arabic was attacked as being anti-Chinese, and even circumcision was criticised. It is improbable that the Central government initiated these excesses, and they seem to have ceased with the running-down of the Red Guard movement. The Muslims survived the Cultural Revolution better than any other religious group, and at all times some mosques remained open. Since the Cultural Revolution little information has been forthcoming, but it is fair to assume that the position of Chinese Muslims has again improved.

Despite the restricted environment in which Chinese Islam now functions, the government of Deng Xiaoping is more tolerant toward Islam than any in two decades. Institutions concerned with religion in general and Islam in particular were revived as well. In April 1980, the China Islamic Association held its first meeting in 17 years. The more liberal policies of this post-Mao leadership have, however, engendered a good deal of resentment from many quarters. Several areas have reported with obvious distaste the re-emergence of "feudal superstitious practices" associated with religion and, despite massive government efforts to discredit Lin Biao and the Gang of Four's repression of religion, there must be many Chinese who believe that Lin and the Gang were right to do so.

Thus, it is highly unlikely that a change in regime would result in greater freedom of religion. The odds are that any new government would be less, rather than more, tolerant. Any sharp changes away from tolerance of Islam would be tempered by China's need to maintain friendly relations with the Middle East. A Muslim rebellion could also pay into the hands of the former Soviet Union, as had happened in Xinjiang in 1962. Still, as the PRC's behaviour during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution shows, pragmatic policies may under certain circumstances be abandoned in favour of more ideologically pure policies.

© Copyright 1997
Bethany World Prayer Center
This article (which first appeared in "Frontiers Focus" Vol 4 #3 and 5 #2, and is used by permission)
may be copied and distributed without obtaining permission
as long as it is not altered, bound, published
or used for profit purposes.

Best regards. S&W R.I.P.

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