A Place under the Sun

Chinese Muslim (Hui) Identity and the Constitutional Movement in Republican China

Bibliographic Data

ID6007752
AuthorsZ Hale Eroglu Sager (Boğaziçi University, Bebek, Istanbul, Turkey, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume47
Issue6
Pages825-858
Publication date2021-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern China (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0097-7004 • E-ISSN: 1552-6836
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0097700420915430
OpenAlexW3025522157
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited15

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) granted Sinophone Muslims minzu 民族 (ethnicity/nationality) status, finally settling a debate on the nature of Chinese Muslim identity. This article argues that the CCP’s decision should be contextualized within Nationalist-era politics. Sinophone Muslim intellectuals strategically employed their historical, cultural, and political resources to negotiate with the Nationalist Party (GMD) to secure autonomous rights for all Muslims of China. The secular state, however, denied autonomy to religious groups. As such, a cohort of influential Sinophone Muslim intellectuals wrapped their demands in the minzu discourse. Negotiations with the GMD finally reached a compromise, which granted a representative quota in the National Assembly exclusively to Sinophone Muslims, recognizing their distinct status on the grounds of their “special ways of living and habits.” When the CCP confirmed Sinophone Muslims’ minzu identity, it also legalized their de facto status already recognized by the GMD

China · Communism · Compromise · Identity (music · Nationalism · Negotiation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · Gender Studies · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Law

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