Muslim or Chinese

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I found the Islam in Asia workshop mind opening

I never thought of Asia being a large Muslim society, but it indeed is.

I enjoyed all of the presenters and felt i learned much.

I found the idea of identity to be the most interesting to me. I teach a unit on Identity with my students. We discuss what identity is and what makes identity and if your identity can change or be different for different people and places. But now I have a new questions for them, what happens when two of your identities conflicts?

This was the most evident when learning about the 5 pillars of Islam.
Chinese culture tends to be based on a polytheistic belief but Islam is only Allah
Also they are to not eat pork (which is believed to be unclean) and pork is a main staple of the Chinese diet.

Also in the Muslim group, Ugyhur, there is even more identity crisis. Here is a group of people that were not always Chinese and now they are. They were originally East TUrkistan and they have some resentment towards the Chinese, which makes a lot of sense. How would you feel if everything you knew became wrong? Would you fight back? Or be assimilated peacefully? That would be such a hard decision for me, especially because of poverty stricken areas. Not to mention they don't speak Chinese.

On a different note, I enjoyed the Virtual Village. I found that it would be interesting for kids to see how another world lives. Especially because so many of my students only know where they live and that's all. It could really open their eyes to the world.

L. Monie-Peralta

[Anonymous]

You are right in what you say. I also would like to point out that Hui people also have to cope with their identities. Unlike Uyghurs who have indoerupean features, the Hui or say Muslims of Central China or Beijing, look more like your common Han. Throughout history they have not been trusted by both Han Chinese and Uyghurs.
While traveling through Xinjiang I remember sitting across a Uyghur college student and he asked me whether the bread I was eating was Hui or Uyghur. He went on to tell me that Hui food was not as "pure" or "hallal" as their food.
More about this topic can be found in Hodong Kim's book, Holy War in China. In my opinion this might have been one of the reasons why the Qing court treated the Hui in a harsh way. You could never know if they would side with the Qing or other Muslim rebels (people who refused to be ruled by the Qing).

[Anonymous]

I found the whole day fascinating, however there was not enough time to interact with others. At times I forgot my original question because we were moving so fast through the material. It never occured to me that China had minorities. I believe the percentage of minorities was 8% of the total population. I am sure there are more groups but the government ceased the application process. For example, the Chinese government did not accept the applications from Chinese Jews or the other numerous applicants. What percentage of the whole population are minorities if all applicants were accepted?
I wonder why they initiated an affimative action policy where some groups could have more children. China is busy building a nation/state and does that conflict with recognizing the different sub groups in the country? What was the impetus or motive to have a national policy on minorities. I am sure Tibetans are not recognized as a national minority.
JC Smyth

[Anonymous]

Technically Tibetans are recognized as a minority, and the province of XiZang is seen as an Autonoums region. They make up one of the 56 minority groups that are "officially" recognized.
Minority groups are allowed to have more than one child because it really does not affect the over all population of China. About 92% of the China population is considered Han, which makes the a group that is about 700-800 million people. China does have an over population problem and the only way to deal with this problem is by having a one child policy.
Minority groups, or atleast those recognized by the CCP live on the borderlands of China, like Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Yunnan, and Guizhou. These places are less populated in comparison to places where the "Han" make up the population.
I have heard that there are restriction placed on minority groups too. I think they cannot have more than three children or something along those lines.
In my personal experience I have seen the one child policy promoted in areas where minority peoples make up the majority. Two years ago while traveling through Linxia, Gansu I saw signs on posted on the side of the highway promoting the one child policy.

[Anonymous]

I remember when I first learned of Muslims being in China, I found that hard to believe.
As when I think of China, I see them being Buddist or Christian.
It would be interesting to visit China and actually see the interaction of the Arabs and the Chinese as they are two distinct cultures as well as personalities.
With so much chaos in the Musliim world, I wonder as China progesses in the global economy how much of a threat will the clash of these cultures become an issue?
Just a thought. As what has been happening in Lebanon. Is there some groups that still are in hiding and just waiting for the right time?

[Anonymous]

Firghtening thought!

I think we to all practice a need for tolerantce

I think cultures in general are going to become more different than more a like. I felt very informed by this day of knowledge and couldn't help but become more postive. I always felt that it was only a few places that dealt with such diversity. It gives me hope to know that other places are diverse as well.

I also don't understand why they would be allowed to have more children it is mind boggling to think that the govt. can have that much control over a group. I understand why, but it is still upsetting. Maybe it is just my western thought, but I think all families should practice restraint for our whole world's sake. It shouldn't be govt. mandated.

Lisa

[Anonymous]

Attendees from the Seminar: From the Journal that all of us received --Education About ASIA, here are some trivia pursuit facts that may not be so trivial: Indonesia is the world's longest island nation, Indonesia is a very young nation. Independence was achieved only in 1945. Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation .I ndonesia is the most urbanized country in Southest Asia. Indonesia is the largest Islamic country in the world. I think most of our children and the U.S. population as a whole would respond Iraq or another Middle Eastern country. Indonesia is one of few countries to sucessfully create a new language, Indonesian. Indonesia contains, despite its majority-Muslim population ,certain ethnic groups have exerted a disproportionately large influence on the the country. Indonesia's enduring challenge is to find "unity in diversity". I just found this all very enlightnening and worthy of sharing.

[Anonymous]

I very much enjoyed the Muslims in Asia workshop. Obviously with current political events, I have a greater desire than ever to learn about Islam and how it affects the world. What I found to be one of the most interesting points was that regarding Muslims in China. I found it very interesting that while Muslims in China only make up about two to three percent of the population there they did not openly celebrate the year of the pig, in that pigs are seen as unclean among the Muslim population, and cleanliness being an important virtue in Islam.
After hearing this information at the seminar I went online to read up on it, to see if it could really be true. According to the China Economic Review website, “State broadcaster China Central TV (CCTV) will ban all images of pigs in its broadcasts to avoid offending Muslims:
“China is a multi-ethnic country,” the network’s ad department said in a notice sent to ad agencies late Tuesday. “To show respect to Islam, and upon guidance from higher levels of the government, CCTV will keep any ‘pig’ images off the TV screen.”
Sounds odd - at least at first. Isn’t the pig China’s favorite animal to eat, not to mention a traditional symbol of prosperity, luck and fertility? And since when has the government been especially cautious about offending Muslims? “

As I read on, I learned this political action came in the wake of 18 Muslims being killed by Chinese police. Clearly this is an unjust tragedy, but it does seem a little odd to me that they would ban a national symbol during this symbolic year.
It left me wondering how in multiethinic communities can we support religious and civil rights to all groups. Is it possible? Are people just too sensitive and unwilling to be understanding of others beliefs and perceptions?

On a final note I wanted to add that I absolutely loved the virtual village. This is something that not only I can learn a lot from, but can use with my students in the classroom in both History and English classes.

[Anonymous]

The national mascot of china is the panda. The pig although being a sign of luck is also a zodiac sign. There have been cases where riots have happened because some one was trying to be funny. Like putting up a sign that said, Hallal Pig. Stuff like that will cause problems here in American jewish or muslim communities.
There are many famous muslims in China. The major of Harbin, Heilongjiang is muslim. There are many atheletes that are muslim, including people in the military. Most Han and Muslim unrest happens in poor areas where jobs are scarce. One thing though, most Hans control almost all of the economy, so by default they will be doing business in communities where they are the minority.
China isnt as bad as it seems. Ah, yes....european christianity was introduced in the 18th century, while Islam entered China in the 4th century. They have a long history of living and intermingling together.
On a side note....muslims in china are not Arabs. They are ethnic Hui, which means they look exactly like Han people, except for their religion. There are some ethnic turks also living in North West china, but there arent any Arabs.

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