Huis Research Articles

Forensic molecular genetic diversity analysis of Chinese Hui ethnic group based on a novel STR panel.

In present study, the genetic polymorphisms of 22 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci were analyzed in 496 unrelated Chinese Xinjiang Hui individuals. These autosomal STR loci were multiplex amplified and genotyped based on a novel STR panel. There were 246 observed alleles with the allele frequencies ranging from 0.0010 to 0.3609. All polymorphic information content values were higher than 0.7. The combined power of discrimination and the combined probability of exclusion were 0.999999999999999999999999999426766 and 0.999999999860491, respectively. Based on analysis of molecular variance method, genetic differentiation analysis between the Xinjiang Hui and other reported groups were conducted at these 22 loci. The results indicated that there were no significant differences in statistics between Hui group and Northern Han group (including Han groups from Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi provinces), and significant deviations with Southern Han group (including those from Guangdong, Guangxi provinces) at 7 loci, and Uygur group at 10 loci. To sum up, these 22 autosomal STR loci were high genetic polymorphic in Xinjiang Hui group.

Entangled Mobility: Hui Migration, Religious Identity and Cultural Capital in Malaysia

In recent years, there is an increasing number of Hui migrants in Malaysia. This paper examines the accumulation of various forms of capital (cultural, social and economic) and the intersection of capitalization of “Chineseness” and “Muslimness” among overseas Hui. It begins with a discussion on the mobility capital — in which Hui Muslims enjoy relative freedom to move around in China and beyond China, compared to their Uyghur counterparts who have limited mobility. It is followed by analyzing how aspirations such as “cultural affinity,” “religious authenticity,” “educational mobility” and “business opportunity” drive contemporary Hui mobility to Malaysia. By describing the religious, cultural and business activities of Hui migrants, it explores how the accumulation and circulation of different forms of capital take place in mosques, in restaurants and on social media platforms. It proposes a concept of “entangled mobility” to examine the intersection between their cultural and religious identity, the interconnection between spatial and social mobility, the combination of religious and economic aspiration, as well as how their capital circulations are entangled with broader economic, social and political processes. However, instead of reifying cultural capital as given one, Hui migrants re-enact their cultural capital depending on the Malaysian contexts. Such enactment of cultural capital plays an important role in Hui mobility and enables them to navigate their life in multi-ethnic and multi-religious Malaysia.

Ethnic differences in spirometry measurements in China: Results from a large community-based epidemiological study.

No previous studies have examined differences in spirometry measurements among ethnic populations in China, and factors which may influence ethnic differences are unclear. Our study aimed to investigate whether forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1 ) and forced vital capacity (FVC) differ among Han Chinese and other ethnic minorities in China. We recruited 7137 individuals aged 35-70 years from four areas of China inhabited by ethnic minority groups between 2007 and 2009. We conducted spirometry tests for all available participants, and compared FEV1 and FVC among Uygur, Hui, Mongolian, Dai and Han Chinese ethnicities, using nonlinear multiplicative regression models. A total of 2005 healthy never-smokers were enrolled in the analysis. For all ethnicities, spirometry values increased with height and decreased with age; FEV1 and FVC were consistently higher in males than in females. Compared with Han Chinese, FEV1 was 4.42% (95% CI: 2.11-6.78%) higher in Mongolians, 4.08% (95% CI: 1.33-6.76%) lower in Uygurs, 4.39% (95% CI: 1.33-7.35%) lower in Hui people and 4.72% (95% CI: 1.80-7.55%) lower in Dai people, after adjusted for potential confounders including height, age, sex and place of residence. We observed similar differences for FVC. We detected significant differences in spirometry measurements among ethnic populations in China. Such differences cannot be fully explained by demographic, anthropometric or socioeconomic factors, but may also be attributed to genetic background as well as indoor and outdoor environmental exposures that need further investigation.

Discussion on New Educational Thoughts of the Hui Minority in Journal of Tian Fang Xue Li

This paper aims to summarize in the Journal of Tian Fang Xue Li, the intellectuals of Hui minority in Guangzhou had already had an insightful understanding of the importance of education of Hui minority in a new era

The Role of Islam in the Development of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative

Historically, the interaction between the religion and trade has not only promoted the expansion of Islam along the Land and Maritime Silk Road, but also developed a close relationship between China and the Islamic world. Now Islam is one of the most influential and widely distributed religions in the world. Being in the core sections of Land and Maritime Silk Road, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia are the areas where Islam is a dominant religion. Therefore, for China, good relations with Islamic countries are very critical for the successful implementation of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative. China’s over 23 million Muslims (especially the Hui People) know two cultures (Chinese and Islamic), have two identities (Chinese and Muslims), and are the natural bridge between China and Islamic countries. Chinese Muslims are playing an important role in the development of Islamic finance and production of Muslim licit (halal) food products which are two potential cooperation areas between China and Islamic countries. For China and Islamic countries, it is necessary to expand cultural exchanges to eliminate some misunderstandings of each other.

Clinical evaluation of a substitute of HLA-B*58:01 in different Chinese ethnic groups.

The goal of this research was to investigate the linkage disequilibrium between rs9263726 and HLA-B*58:01 in different Chinese ethnic groups (Han, Tibet, and Hui) and to study the feasibility of rs9263726 replacing HLA-B*58:01 as an efficient indicator of potential allopurinol hypersensitivity syndrome. In this study, rs9263726 and HLA-B*58:01 were detected in all samples. For samples of individuals whose rs9263726 genotypes were not consistent with HLA-B*58:01, we did high-resolution typing of HLA-B gene to further confirm the correlation of rs9263726 genotype and special HLA-B alleles. We confirmed that the linkage disequilibrium between rs9263726 and HLA-B*58:01 was more significant in the Han ethnic group (r2=0.886, D’=1.0) than in the Tibet and Hui ethnic groups (for Tibetan, r2=0.606, D’=0.866; for Hui, r2=0.622, D’=0.924). For Han Chinese, samples with the GG genotype of rs9263726 did not carry HLA-B*58:01, while AA genotype samples were homozygous carriers of HLA-B*58:01. However, GA genotype samples of rs9263726 required a more sophisticated HLA-B genotyping assay before it was possible to identify whether they were HLA-B*58:01 carriers or not. For Tibetan and Hui, the linkage disequilibrium between rs9263726 and HLA-B*58:01 was not significant. Therefore, rs9263726 cannot replace HLA-B*58:01 in these two groups.

Permitted and pure: Packaged halal snack food from Southwest China

Abstract China is home to ten groups of Muslims comprising at least twenty million people. The largest of these groups, the Chinese Muslim Hui people, have benefitted from China’s rapid economic growth in the past three decades just like their non-Muslim fellow citizens. Along with the highly visible new mosques being built in Hui communities across China, Hui economic vitality is noticeable in the burgeoning halal food industry, from five-star restaurants to street kiosks, special sections in supermarkets devoted to halal products and most recently in the e-commerce market. This article examines the packaging of halal beef jerky produced and marketed specifically for that e-commerce market, as an example of the religious, social and economic vitality of Hui in Yunnan Province in southwestern China in the post-Mao era. The packages adhere to successful strategies employed by marketing designers, and they purposefully combine faith-based and traditional Chinese cultural themes and motifs with the kind of detailed product information and quality certification demanded by consumers in China and around the world who want quality food products that might also bring a sense of nostalgia, and have the disposable income to buy those products in online shopping venues.

The Policy and Practice on the Conservation of Hui (Muslim) Folk Sports Culture in China: A Historical Review

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), governments at all levels, central and local, have made and implemented a series of policies and laws to conserve Hui (Muslim) sports culture, support and promote Hui sports, as well as protect and guarantee their sports rights. However, at the first stage of the PRC (1949–1979), the Chinese government utilized the conservation and development of Hui sports culture to enhance national cohesion and establish a united front, thus making Hui sports a means of realizing political objectives. In the post-1980s, Hui folk sports culture has been restored and conservation policies have been regularized and legalized in the context of building a socialist harmonious society. However, the legalization and standardization process is incomplete and requires further study and action.

The Tragic Love of the Cultural Collision--Take The Muslim’s Funeral as an Example

The Muslim’s Funeral is the first successful book in contemporary Chinese minority literature which shows traditional culture and real life of Hui people. It describes a Muslim family’s sixty-year ups and downs and the two crisscrossed love tragedies occurs in different eras, in different forms This novel, with its real and special view, reveals the Muslim’s spiritual journey under the cultural collision of Huaxia and Islam This paper aims to show the tragic love in The Muslim’s Funeral, and then further analyzes and discusses the exchange and the collision between different culture hidden in love story. A staged scene of life dram in the book not only deduces the fragile life and love in cultural collision, but also reflects the confusion and pain in the process of cultural integration.

Genomic Reconstruction of the History of Native Sheep Reveals the Peopling Patterns of Nomads and the Expansion of Early Pastoralism in East Asia.

China has a rich resource of native sheep (Ovis aries) breeds associated with historical movements of several nomadic societies. However, the history of sheep and the associated nomadic societies in ancient China remains poorly understood. Here, we studied the genomic diversity of Chinese sheep using genome-wide SNPs, mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal variations in > 1,000 modern samples. Population genomic analyses combined with archeological records and historical ethnic demographics data revealed genetic signatures of the origins, secondary expansions and admixtures, of Chinese sheep thereby revealing the peopling patterns of nomads and the expansion of early pastoralism in East Asia. Originating from the Mongolian Plateau ∼5,000‒5,700 years ago, Chinese sheep were inferred to spread in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River ∼3,000‒5,000 years ago following the expansions of the Di-Qiang people. Afterwards, sheep were then inferred to reach the Qinghai-Tibetan and Yunnan-Kweichow plateaus ∼2,000‒2,600 years ago by following the north-to-southwest routes of the Di-Qiang migration. We also unveiled two subsequent waves of migrations of fat-tailed sheep into northern China, which were largely commensurate with the migrations of ancestors of Hui Muslims eastward and Mongols southward during the 12th‒13th centuries. Furthermore, we revealed signs of argali introgression into domestic sheep, extensive historical mixtures among domestic populations and strong artificial selection for tail type and other traits, reflecting various breeding strategies by nomadic societies in ancient China.

The Silent Hat: Islam, Female Labor, and the Political Economy of the Headscarf Debate

What is the point of revisiting Muslim women’s head wears when such a topic has already been extensively discussed in recent years? What can we do with the spectres of class and labour that often appear, however fleetingly, in these discussions that nonetheless take secularism and the public sphere as the organizing concepts? Based upon fourteen months of fieldwork in northwest China, this article examines the intricate connection between rural Hui Muslim women’s “hats (maozi)” and the history of female labour in its multiple shifts from the socialist to the neoliberal periods. In making this connection, it attempts to return the “headscarf debate” back into its transnational politico-economic conditioning, and explore the hidden link between the transnational articulation of difference and the global organization of ethical practices on the one hand, and the transnational distribution of materialities and politico-economic values on the other. This link, as I show in the article, impacts the specific terms and discourses that frame the narration of maozi among the rural Muslim women I work with: rather than expressing “attitude” or “opinion” on veiling, their narrative focuses heavily on the concrete stylistic shifts of maozi, which closely trace women’s transformed relationship to labour. By drawing attention to how the global differential distribution of ethical practices needs to be seen in tandem with the global (unequal) distribution of materialities, this article hopes to re-orient our contemporary discussion about the Muslim “veil” in light of an analysis of transnational political economy.

Sino-Muslim Relations: The Han, the Hui, and the Uyghurs

Sino-Muslim relations rest upon an informal socio-spatial hierarchy according to which some Muslim groups are more of an asset and others more of a liability. In this informal hierarchy, Hui Muslims are closer to the center than any other Muslim group because they are Sinicized, seen as religiously moderate, and mostly live in proximity to non-Muslim Chinese neighbors. Central Asian Muslims, most notably Xinjiang’s Uyghurs, are more distant from China’s notional center and seen as culturally more alien and prone to religious extremism. This article discusses the historical roots of this socio-spatial hierarchy and systematically examines Sino-Muslim relations in political, economic, and societal terms. It concludes that, despite problematic features from a western-liberal perspective, the hierarchy continues to enable the Chinese majority to manage a set of otherwise challenging relationships.

The lifestyle transformation of Hui Muslim women in China: a comparison of modern and Islamic education

ABSTRACTThe goal of this article is to study how modernization and globalization after the 1980s changed the career options, life course, and lifestyle of Hui Muslim women. I discuss Hui Muslim women who graduated from modern schools and became teachers, and compare them with graduates of Arabic schools who work in Yiwu as interpreters. The results suggest that the fate of Hui women teachers has changed drastically as a result of education. They are living in a secular world that is mostly unrelated to religious practices. There is a need to investigate how their identities will change in the future as marriages to the Han Chinese increase. Several Arabic schools were established after the 1980s in Ningxia. There are many students in Arabic schools who are not able to go on to public high school due to economic constraints. After graduating from Arabic school, many Hui women work as Arabic interpreters in Yiwu. Studying at Arabic schools expands the opportunities of young Muslim women and they are satisfied with both family life and work. They demand a sense of fulfillment from religion and their spirituality is high. Today, in an era of globalization, alternative education with new opportunities is developing through Arabic schools in China.

Genetic evidence for an East Asian origin of Chinese Muslim populations Dongxiang and Hui.

There is a long-going debate on the genetic origin of Chinese Muslim populations, such as Uygur, Dongxiang, and Hui. However, genetic information for those Muslim populations except Uygur is extremely limited. In this study, we investigated the genetic structure and ancestry of Chinese Muslims by analyzing 15 autosomal short tandem repeats in 652 individuals from Dongxiang, Hui, and Han Chinese populations in Gansu province. Both genetic distance and Bayesian-clustering methods showed significant genetic homogeneity between the two Muslim populations and East Asian populations, suggesting a common genetic ancestry. Our analysis found no evidence of substantial gene flow from Middle East or Europe into Dongxiang and Hui people during their Islamization. The dataset generated in present study are also valuable for forensic identification and paternity tests in China.

Boundaries of belief: religious practices and the construction of ethnic identity in Hui Muslim communities

ABSTRACTThough scholars of ethnicity remark that religion is an important qualifying attribute for membership in an ethnic group, the nature of the relationship between religious faith and ethnic identity requires further exploration. An approach that emphasizes the importance of religious practices in forming and maintaining ethnic boundaries may offer a more complete explanation of the relationship between religion and ethnicity. This article proposes a framework for understanding how religious practices influence ethnic boundary formation and maintenance processes. I propose that religious practices may play a universalizing, negotiating, or differentiating role in influencing the formation and maintenance of ethnic boundaries. To illustrate these various roles played by religious processes, the article presents a heuristic case study of Islamic faith in boundary setting processes in Hui Muslim communities in China.

Using Religion to Resist Rural Dispossession: A Case Study of a Hui Muslim Community in North-west China

AbstractIn this paper, we examine the role played by religion in a struggle waged by Hui Muslim villagers against land expropriation. Religion can provide powerful resources for protest movements, especially for religious minorities, but it can also be dangerous. This is particularly true in China where the state has had little toleration of autonomous organization and has long been suspicious of religious organization, especially among ethnic minorities. Scholarly literature about collective action by religious minorities in China has focused on protests about cultural and political issues – and the repression of such protests – but there has been relatively little scholarship about protests by religious minorities over economic issues. The number of protests over economic conflicts has increased in recent years, and the state has been more tolerant of economic than of political protests. These conditions have shaped the following questions: what happens when villagers employ religious ideas and use religious organization to advance economic demands? How effective are religious ideas and organization as tools of mobilization? How do government authorities respond?

Determining trace metal elements in the tooth enamel from Hui and Han Ethnic groups in China using microwave digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)

The content of trace elements in teeth can provide information on oral health, environmental factors and diet habits. A method for human dental enamel digestion using microwave system with concentrated nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide is described for further determination trace elements of Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni, Sr, Cd, and Pb by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The reference materials of bone ash (NIST SRM 1400) and bone meal (NIST SRM 1486) were used to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed method. The data were assessed statistically using t-tests. The results showed a significant difference (P < 0.05) in the trace element Fe as well as the trace elements Al, Mn, Cu, Zn, Ni, Sr, Cd, and Pb (P < 0.01). In healthy tooth enamel, the contents of the trace elements Cd, Ni, Mn, and Pb, which may promote or accelerate caries and its development, are higher in the Han than the Hui ethnic group. However, for healthy tooth enamel, the contents of the trace elements Cu, Fe, Zn, and Sr, which may prevent caries, are lower in the Han than the Hui ethnic group. Different tooth structure and diet habits for the Hui and Han ethnic groups in Xi'an, China may be the primary basis for the distinction in trace element content.

Micro-Macro Interactions in Ethno-Religious Homogamy among Hui Muslims in Contemporary China: The Roles of Residential Concentration and Aging

Chinese Muslims have actively maintained religious endogamy. However, no research has assessed the role of local residential context in individual Muslims’ marital choices, nor have sociologists examined the heterogeneity in individual Muslims’ responses to such contextual influences. Using Chinese census data between 2000 and 2005, this paper offers a first investigation of such micro–macro interactions among the Hui, the largest Muslim ethnic group in China. Specifically, we test the effect of the Hui's residential concentration (at the prefecture level) on individual Hui's marital choices (exogamy/endogamy/singleness) and how this effect varies by gender and age. Several major findings emerge from our multilevel discrete-time competing-risk models, highlighting the impact of contextual factors, but also a level of individual resilience against aggregate-level cultural forces. While at younger ages, Hui can still afford to wait to contract an endogamous marriage; with aging, they started to choose exogamy to fulfill the expectation of universal marriage.

Comparison of Genetic Variants in Cancer-Related Genes between Chinese Hui and Han Populations

BackgroundThe Chinese Hui population, as the second largest minority ethnic group in China, may have a different genetic background from Han people because of its unique demographic history. In this study, we aimed to identify genetic differences between Han and Hui Chinese from the Ningxia region of China by comparing eighteen single nucleotide polymorphisms in cancer-related genes.MethodsDNA samples were collected from 99 Hui and 145 Han people from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China, and SNPs were detected using an improved multiplex ligase detection reaction method. Genotyping data from six 1000 Genomes Project population samples (99 Utah residents with northern and western European ancestry (CEU), 107 Toscani in Italy (TSI), 108 Yoruba in Ibadan (YRI), 61 of African ancestry in the southwestern US (ASW), 103 Han Chinese in Beijing (CHB), and 104 Japanese in Tokyo (JPT)) were also included in this study. Differences in the distribution of alleles among the populations were assessed using χ2 tests, and FST was used to measure the degree of population differentiation.ResultsWe found that the genetic diversity of many SNPs in cancer-related genes in the Hui Chinese in Ningxia was different from that in the Han Chinese in Ningxia. For example, the allele frequencies of four SNPs (rs13361707, rs2274223, rs465498, and rs753955) showed different genetic distributions (p<0.05) between Chinese Ningxia Han and Chinese Ningxia Hui. Five SNPs (rs730506, rs13361707, rs2274223, rs465498 and rs753955) had different FST values (FST >0.000) between the Hui and Han populations.ConclusionsThese results suggest that some SNPs associated with cancer-related genes vary among different Chinese ethnic groups. We suggest that population differences should be carefully considered in evaluating cancer risk and prognosis as well as the efficacy of cancer therapy.

Prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use in ethnic Hui and Han residents in Ningxia

To understand the prevalence of tobacco and alcohol use in ethnic Hui and Han residents in Ningxia Hui autonomous region and provide evidence for the smoking cessation and alcohol use reduction in minority area. Face to face interview was performed in 6 476 subjects aged ≥ 18 years who were selected through systematic sampling in Ningxia. The tobacco use and alcohol use related disorders were evaluated with Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 (CIDI 3.0 ) according to International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10 ). A total of 5 811 subjects completed the survey, the prevalence of current smoking was 19.15%, which was significantly higher in males than in females (44.73% vs. 1.51%, χ² =1 693.25, P<0.001). The prevalence of current smoking was lower in Hui males than in Han males (33.19% vs. 51.95%, χ² =79.99, P<0.001). The prevalence of tobacco dependence was 1.75% in males, the difference between Hui ethnic group and Han ethnic group had no statistical significance (χ² = 0.02, P=0.958). The prevalence of alcohol use was 5.78%, and it was significantly higher in males than in females (12.48% vs. 1.16%), the difference had statistical significance (χ² =329.94, P<0.001). The prevalence of alcohol use was lower in Hui males than in Han males (4.71% vs. 17.34%), the difference had statistical significance (χ² =82.03, P<0.001). The prevalence of alcohol use related disorders was 6.03% in males, and it was higher in Han ethnic group than in Hui ethnic group (3.50% vs. 7.61% ), the difference had statistical significance (χ² =16.68, P<0.001). The prevalence of tobacco use and alcohol use were lower in Hui ethnic group than in Han ethnic group in Ningxia, which might be explained by the influence of the tradition of Hui ethnic group.