Ambivalent Choices of Hui Muslim Intellectuals under the Mengjiang Regime

Abstract

The Mengjiang (蒙疆) regime was a puppet regime in Inner Mongolia established by the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Many historians only examine the Mongols in Mengjiang. Few studies focus on the Hui Muslim group under the Mengjiang regime. Wu Yaocheng (吳耀成, 1908-1991) was a prominent post-war minority educator in Inner Mongolia. However, as a Hui intellectual under Japanese colonial rule, Wu became the dean of the Baotou Branch of the Islamic Association of the Northwest (Xibei huijiao lianhehui Baotou fenzhibu 西北回教聯合會包頭支部) in Mengjiang and spoke up on behalf of the Mengjiang Hui Muslims when they were compelled to accept “help” from the Japanese. This study examines the way in which Hui intellectuals developed a modern Islamic education system under the Mongolian regime, the education Wu Yaocheng received at Beiping Normal University (Beipinig shifan daxue 北平師範大學) before the war, the manner by which he expressed his ethnic identity in Mengjiang, and his educational activities after the war.