Friday, August 08, 2008

Minority Hui of China

Hui people (回族) are a minority ethnic in China. Most of them live in the northern part of the Middle Kingdom.

Several years ago, I was on a business trip to Shandong Province in Northern China. A colleague of mine was a Pakistani. I accompanied him to dine at Muslim restaurants. That was the first time I came into contact with the Huis.

Physically, Hui people look similar to the majority Han. Being Muslims, they don’t eat pork. But like most northern Chinese, they eat noodle and mantou. My favorite Hui cuisine was deep-fried mutton with onion (葱爆羊肉).

Once I left my bag in a Hui restaurant. The next day, when I returned to that place, the restaurant owner had already sent my belonging to police station. The cash inside the bag had not been removed. Just as we thought Chinese were materialistic and cunning, the kindness and honesty of the Hui people touched me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera to Shandong, so there are no pictures to show you. The following image was ‘stolen’ from a website.

8 comments:

  1. their traditional costumes are pretty.

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  2. Its such simple honesty and innocence that keeps us drawn and attracted to people. ^_^

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  3. xin
    Eh... I haven't seen their traditional costumes...

    shingo
    Many people think that when they go for travel, they will see scenary and monuments. But to me, people are big draw too. Especially kids and pretty women ;P

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  4. Very touching, if we just can understand each other better!

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  5. Their honesty shows there is still goodness in the world. Great positive post. Thanks.

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  6. kai, happysurfer
    Thanks for your views.

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  7. I have Hui friends studying in the same faculty as me, and yeah, they really look Chinese, speak Chinese, and very patriotic to China.

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  8. kyh
    Oh... I never know they come to study in USM. I do know that there are many Chinese students in International Islamic University.

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