Local Hui Society In The East Of China

As a member of Chinese nation, Hui nationality has a large population and is widespread across China. Since Tang dynasty, people of Hui nationality have rushed into China following the Silk Road both at sea and on the land, and then formed the Jamaat around the Mosque in the eastern seaside area and the western inland area. Through the unusual hardships of more than a thousand years, they have formed a national community which has preserved not only Arabic Islamic but also Chinese characteristics. In contemporary times, the people of Hui nationality have actively taken part in the building of socialism with great enthusiasm. In particular, after the implementation of open-up and reform, the people of our country have enjoyed the prosperity of material and spititual civilization, gradually entering the times of information. Faced with both tradition and modernity, the Hui community in eastern and western areas, which share the same origin, have parted company with each other and distinctive difference has emerged in national culture.As a place of dispersive people of Hui nationality in eastern area, Hui community in Pingyi county is quite representative. This county is merely a little more than 100km to Qufu, the origin of Confucian culture. It belongs to the ancient Lu and has been heavily influenced by the Confucian culture. Meanwhile, except Limin village of Difang township, Hui community there includes people of Hui nationality as well as people of Han nationality, which has well reflected the living situation of Hui nationality in eastern area. Besides, Hui community in Pingyi county has also undergone similar developmental stages with other communities in the east. It has experienced roughly the same hard ages with thousands of Hui communities in the eastern area, especially its development in contemporary and modern times. At last, Hui community in Pingyi county is the virgin soil in current academic research. Despite its representation in terms of historical and national culture, it has not been explored by the academia by means of ethonology and anthropology.In combination with historical documentation, this paper has employed fieldwork as its chief research method to conduct a deep description and analysis of the economic life, religion, culture, folk education, customs, marriage and national relations, etc. Through ethonological analysis of fieldwork, it has also gone beyond fieldwork to have a restricted view of the national community in the east and unscramble the cultural phenomenon of"du wa". Then, it has explored the devemental difference between Hui communities in western and eastern areas. After that, some suggestions have been offered concerning the modernization of Hui nationality in the east. In the end, through systematical ethonological description and anthropological unscrambling, the author holds the belief that in adapting to natural and social environment, experiencing the impact of modern culture, Hui community has undergone conflict, reconciliation and reconstruction, and has formed locally distinctive and introversive national culture.