Listen to this articleHui is the most widely distributed ethnic minority in China, where mosques, also known as worship temples, are built. In the middle of the 7th century, a large number of Persian and Arab merchants came to China’s coastal cities such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou by sea and land, as well as inland cities such as Chang’an and Kaifeng to settle down. In the 13th century, the Mongolian army marched to the west, the people of western regions moved to China in batches, absorbed the Han, Mongolian, Uighur, and other ethnic elements, and gradually formed a unified nation, Hui.
Children brocade
Xiaoerjin is a common Chinese word created independently by the Hui nationality. Because it contains a lot of Arabic and Persian, it belongs to the language form of both the scripture language and the daily language of the Hui nationality. It’s not too much to say that it’s a language. The basic alphabet of children’s brocade is based on the “Koran” alphabet. Hui people are scattered in all parts of the motherland, and create four unique alphabets according to their own language area! The Hui people in Central Asia (Dongguan) inherited this language and developed it into the mother tongue of the Hui people in Central Asia. Later, they used the “Slavic” alphabet for spelling in the Soviet Union, which is still in use. It belongs to a branch of the world language branch.
Eating habits
Hui people are widely distributed, and their food customs are not completely consistent. For example, Ningxia Hui prefers pasta, like noodles, noodles, but also likes to eat mixed rice. The Hui people in Gansu and Qinghai take wheat, corn, highland barley, and potato as their staple food. Youxiang and Sanzi are the favorite special foods of Hui people in different places, and they are indispensable gifts for relatives and friends at festivals. Folk food features include fermented skin, ramen, stewed noodles, fried noodles with meat, bean curd, ox head, Saozi noodles, etc. Most people have fermented noodles at home every year for use at any time. Hui people in the city are used to drinking milk tea for breakfast all year round. Beef is mainly beef and mutton, some also eat camel meat, and eat all kinds of scaly fish, such as black carp, silver carp, and minnow from the north. Pigeons are considered sacred birds among Hui people in Gansu Province. They can be raised, but they are not easy to eat. If there are critically ill patients, they can be used as supplements with the consent of Imam (religious occupation).
The favorite traditional drink of the Hui people is tea. Tea is not only the daily drink of the Hui nationality but also the most precious drink for guests. Tea is an important part of the Hui people’s diet. No matter in the northwest, northeast, or southwest, cities, towns, or rural areas, as long as you visit the Hui people’s home, the enthusiastic host will first serve a bowl of hot and strong tea. Hui people are very particular about tea sets. Many Hui families have complete sets of all kinds of tea sets. In the past, the teapots used to make tea were usually made of silver and copper, with various forms and unique styles, such as long-mouthed copper teapots, Silver Duck teapots, copper fire teapots, etc. Nowadays, porcelain pots, covered bowls, or covered porcelain cups are generally used for tea making. Tin iron pots are often used for tea making, and purple clay pots are preferred in summer.
National festivals
The festivals of the Hui nationality are the three traditional Islamic festivals: Eid al Fitr, Guerbang Festiva,l and the holy Ji Festival. These festivals and Anniversaries are based on the Islamic calendar. According to the Islamic calendar, the profit and loss of the moon are taken as the criterion. The whole year has 12 months, 354 days in the normal year, and 355 days in the leap year. There is a leap year in 30 years, and there is no leap month. There is an annual difference of 11 days between the Islamic calendar and the Gregorian calendar. On average, every 32.6 years is one more year than the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, the above-mentioned three major festivals of Hui people are generally advanced one month every three years.
Back to service features
Hui costumes have distinctive national characteristics. In the Hui settlement area, the Hui people still maintain the traditional dress and dressing of the Central Asian people. The most remarkable feature is the Muslim dress of the Hui nationality – men mostly wear small white hats and women wear various kinds of flower turbans. The main symbol of the Hui costume is in the head. Men all like to wear round caps made of white. There are two kinds of round caps, one is a flat top and the other is hexagonal. The exquisite people also stab the round cap with exquisite patterns. Hui women often wear caps.
The cover also has the stress, the old women wear white, appear white and generous; middle-aged women wear black, appear solemn and elegant; women wear black, appear solemn and elegant; unmarried women wear green, appear fresh and beautiful. Many married women also wear white or black round hats. There are two kinds of round hats, one is made of white drift cloth, the other is made of white or black silk, and often it is also woven into beautiful geometric patterns. In terms of clothing, Hui old men love to wear white shirts and black Canshoulds (the hometown called “horse clips”). The Hui elderly women wear black or brown headscarves in winter, white gauze in summer, and wear trousers to fade. Young women wear red, green, or blue headscarves in winter, and tulle towels in red, green, yellow, and other colors in summer.
