The Han Chinese: A Fusion of Confucianism and Communism
Nationalities and their Religious Traditions
Buddhism as Ethnicity
The Muslims of Central Asia
Korea
Japan
Appendices
About the Author
The Guides to Religion and Culture at present include Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. The purpose of this series is to provide education and understanding of the religious traditions in our increasingly linked world.
These volumes are written as an anthropology of religion, and I have attempted to state the beliefs, practices, and histories in words that are consistent with each religious tradition. I have provided historical, social, and cultural information to define the context within which each religion has come into being and developed as a living society today. To the extent possible, I have discussed and reviewed these materials with religious scholars and believers from each tradition although I recognize that there are internal differences in belief and practice within religions, and I have tried to reflect those in a correct manner.
Belief and behavior are at the heart of our self-definition as human individuals and the emotional core of our identity. Our religious and/or ideological identity is so important that it shapes major life decisions. This series is published recognizing the powerful importance of religious belief and practice among us as humans, respecting and honoring the uniqueness
of the spiritual nature that defines us.
Religions are associated with ethnic groups in East Asia, and each group is at least partially identified with the religion it holds. China, a Confucian/Daoist country of 1.3 billion people, is the largest while Japan is a Buddhism/Shintoist country one-tenth its size. Continental China is an empire with fifty-four different people groups in the nation, while the insular Japan is homogeneous with few non-Japanese living in the country. China's cities are sprawling and can seem chaotic, while Japan's cities are tightly organized and efficient as so many people are crowded into a few small islands. Although China and Japan dominate East Asia, Korea and Mongolia are also important. The disparate countries share values ranging from Buddhism and Confucianism to the importance of the family, similar writing systems, and common interests in the fine arts.
Confucianism is the traditional religion of the Han people, and the ones most Westerners think of as the Chinese, and, in fact, they are the group primarily responsible for building the great Chinese civilization.1 Following Confucian norms, one should not criticize or embarrass one's parents, teachers, or political leaders in public. This creates a uniquely Confucian style of relationships with people in authority in which respect is politically correct. When a Chinese leader comes to the United States on a state visit, the potential clash with the American propensity for criticism of political leaders is very real. The solution has been to move protestors outside of the view of the Chinese dignitary, so that he will not have to confront the criticism of the protestors. Culturally the Han are among the most formal and polite people in the world in interpersonal relationships. They value correctness and respect for other people, and they tend to be polite in conversations, listening as well as talking. One expression of that respect extends to their use of physical space. Han people rarely touch another person in public, nor stand close to
them. These guidelines for respect also extend to not criticizing another in public or making them lose face (respect) in front of others.
Family values are very important to the Han, and they are known for avoiding conflict and maintaining social harmony. For much of China’s history, these Confucian based values have also affected the way the government works. Although they have been the largest and most important military power in Asia for most of the last two thousand years, they have rarely invaded the countries surrounding them (Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, or Laos). The Han have been invaded by the Mongols, Manchus, and Japanese and have absorbed terrible losses without having struck back in a similar way at their invaders. In contrast to the more aggressive Mongols, who with far fewer people and resources, did invade the rest of the world, the Han Chinese have concentrated on focusing their efforts toward their own society.
The Han are the people who come from the heartland of China who speak Mandarin, and they are the largest group (93 percent, more than 1.1 billion people) in the country. They are the single largest ethnic group in the world, and they have been for the last 2,000 years. During that time this one group has constituted between 15 to 25 percent of the total world population, and today they are almost 20 percent of all the people in the world. They have traditionally been farmers and herders, but many have been merchants who made up the urban population. Han merchants migrated out to set up trading posts and restaurants in other Asian countries and eventually on to virtually every country in the world.
China is a religiously and ethnically diverse country, but most of the diversity is a result of peoples from border areas being incorporated into the Han Chinese state. The minority nationalities are located basically around the borders of China from the Zhuang (sixteen million practitioners of tribal religions) on the extreme southeast to the Miao (eight million and practitioners of tribal religions) on the south, the Tibetans (five million Buddhists) on the southwest, the Uygurs (seven million Muslims) in the far west, the Mongols (five million Buddhists) along the north, and the Manchus (nine million people who traditionally practiced shamanism) and Koreans (one million Buddhists and Christians) in the northeast and dozens of smaller groups that make up this vast nation. There are fifty-four nationalities in all.2 China is a quiltwork of languages and dialects, and the different religious groups tend to have their own language and script. Most Han speak Mandarin, as do the professional elites of the various nationalities, but Mandarin even is divided into many dialects. The Buddhists in Tibet speak Tibetan, the Uygurs and Kazakh Muslims speak their respective languages, and the Buddhist Mongols their language. In the southeast of the country, people speak Wu, Min, Cantonese, Gan, Xiany, Kejia, and Thai languages. Most of the nationalities also speak their local languages,
such as Tibetan, Uygur, Mongol, and Korean. The political centralization of the Chinese government in part is to offset the centripetal forces of language, religion, and ethnicity around the borders of the country.
The policy of the People's Republic of China toward minority nationalities has been to give them certain autonomy in political affairs, to support traditional culture and religion.
During the early decades under the leadership of Mao Tse-Tung local expressions of religion were repressed, but much of that changed with the ascendency of the moderate group with Deng Xaiopeng in the 1970's. The central government has shown more tolerance toward local customs, traditions, and religious practices. One of the most important special considerations given to the minority nationalities was the exemption from the policies on birth control which limit Han families to one child. Minority families are permitted to have more children, partly because their total numbers only constitute 7 percent of the Chinese population.
Zhuang. Zhuang religion is rooted in nature, and people believe that certain mountains, rock formations, old trees, snakes, or birds have supernatural powers that can help them. Some believe that dragons and ancestors can affect life. Daoism has long been important among the Zhuang, and it is consistent with their interest in the supernatural and nature. Zhuang culture has been influenced by the Han, but it still retains its distinctiveness. They have a distinct language, and after using the Han script for centuries they now use European script. The Zhuang are famous for the beautiful brocades that they have made historically, and in recent decades they have even improved. Music and dance are highly valued by the Zhuang, and the lyrics of songs are known for their metaphors and riddles. The Zhuang Opera combines folk literature, music, and dance into one of the favorite avenues of performance.
Most live in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which is in the extreme southeast corner of China, bordering Vietnam. Others live in the neighboring provinces in southeastern China. Although this is a large group, it has been marginal to most of Chinese history. The heartland of Chinese political and cultural history has been in the Huang Ho river valley in northeastern China. The southern part of China where the Zhuang live has traditionally been a poor farming area with little impact on national politics. The Zhuang live in one of the most beautiful landscapes in China and in the world, the area of Guilin. Dome shaped hills rise precipitously from the ground, and waterways snake between them. This is an area of limestone, and grottoes and subterranean rivers have been carved of the stone.3 The copious rainfall and tropical climate mean that this area is always green, and the growing season is all year long. The Zhuang are farmers, and historically this area has been one of the important rice growing areas of China. In addition they also grow yams, corn, sugar cane, bananas, pineapple, and mangos among other crops. The Zhuang area became a part of China when Qin Shi Huangdi conquered the area in 221 B.C.E. The Zhuang played a central role in the Taiping Rebellion that broke out in 1851, starting in Guangxi, and the Zhuang formed the nucleus of the Taiping army.
Miao. The Miao are an example of the small national groups that live in southern China primarily in the Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, and Sichuan provinces and to the west of the Zhuang. Their traditional religious practice evolved from a practice of totemism over a thousand years ago to a more nature based belief in many gods and spirits. Animal sacrifices and feasts were important rituals for the gods and also for healing ceremonies. Much like indigenous people in other parts of the world, Miao individuals are sometimes hesitant and tentative in their interactions with people in the world outside their homeland. Coming from poor hill country in the borderlands of China's south, they do not have a proud heritage like the Uygurs, for example, to give them a boldness and confidence in social interactions. Their language is part of the Chinese-Tibetan language family.
The Miao tend to live in hilly or mountainous regions where the climate is mild and the rainfall is plentiful. Many of the Miao live in remote areas, and historically they were one of the poorest of the minority groups. Since the Revolution of 1949, railroads have been built into Miao territory, health conditions have improved, and their economy has developed considerably. Since they tend to live in hilly forested zones, their houses are usually built of wood. They are frequently built up on stilts, and the farm animals are kept under the house. The Miao are farmers and grow warm weather crops such as rice, sugar cane, sorghum, peanuts, and others.
They had a history of communal farming villages which were reinvented after the introduction of communal farms by the Communists in the 1950's.
Miao families tend to be small and patrilineal, and a son is expected to stay with the parents and care for them in their old age. The Miao are also known for special courting practices between young people. Although marriages are ideally arranged by the parents, young people are free to look for their own partners. One occasion for meeting others is during the special holidays when people visit from one village to another. Young women from a host village sing love songs with visiting young men, and if two people discover that they like each other, they exchange tokens of their love. Both sets of parents would have to approve of their relationship before it could go forward. In certain areas some very un-Chinese local customs were practiced, such as "bride capture" in which a girl would be kidnapped by her intended beau as a kind of marriage proposal. If she accepted his offer of marriage, the wedding ceremony and feast would be organized. If she did not accept, the marriage was off, and she returned home. In other areas Miaos actually set up "courting houses" where young men and women gathered at night to sing and dance. If love took root between two people, the courting house gave them the opportunity to get to know each other before presenting themselves to their parents for approval.
Manchu. The traditional Manchu religion was shamanism which is the common folk religion of many East Asian peoples. Shamans were thought to have a special line of communication with the supernatural, and both nobility and commoners employed them to recite special prayers or scriptures and do religious dances. There were village shamans who knew
certain dance rituals that could be used to exorcize evil spirits that might be causing illness, crop failures, or other disasters. Most sick people went first to the shaman and only later might consult other medical practitioners. There were also clan shamans who supervised sacrificial ceremonies to guarantee the well-being of the family group, but they did not do healing ceremonies. The practice of shamanism continued actively until the establishment of the People's Republic of China. After almost 400 years of sharing life with the Han many Manchus have adopted Confucianist and Daoist practices also. The Manchu live in the northeastern branch of China that wraps around Mongolia reaching up to Russia.4 They have their own language and script but also speak Mandarin.
Although the common East Asian custom is to simultaneously practice Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism or Shintoism, the Tibetans and Mongols tend to devote themselves exclusively to Buddhism which has become fused with their ethnic identity.
Tibetans. The Tibetans practice Lamaist Buddhism based on the leadership of spiritually endowed holy men, the Lamas. Tibetans are probably the most widely known of the minority populations in China, partly because of the success of the Dalai Lama in making known to the world his opposition to the Chinese re-occupation of Tibet in 1950. During the turmoil of the weakness and downfall of the Qing Dynasty and the subsequent civil war and Japanese occupation, the Tibetans had established their independence from China. Sometime after China occupied Tibet, the Dalai Lama and a group of followers went into exile in India in protest to Chinese interference in their religious life. Although the vast majority of Tibetans continue to live in Tibet, the conflict between the People's Republic of China and Tibetan Buddhism continues to be a problem.
Lamaism is in the tradition of Theraveda Buddhism, the more restrictive version of Buddhism close to Gautama's original teachings.5 It teaches that entering Nirvana is difficult, and the individual must spend a considerable effort in this lifetime to reach spiritual balance and gain Nirvana. It was introduced into Tibet in the seventh century C.E., and it assimilated beliefs and rituals from the local religion, called "Bon". In remote regions of Tibet some elements of Bon continue to be practiced today. Tibetan Buddhism is organized around monasteries, and monks dedicate their lives to prayer and the life of the monastery. True to the origin of Buddhism in India, Buddhists abhor violence. Killing other humans is forbidden, and the protection of life is extended to nature, so that many plants and animals are also protected.
Religious practice includes the wearing of amulets for protection and the turning of prayer wheels. These wheels have prayers imprinted on them, and it is believed that as one spins a prayer wheel, the prayer or prayers printed on it will go that many times to be heard by the
Buddhas who help humans. The religion is divided into various branches, the Yellow sect being the most important. It forbids monks to marry, but monks in all of the other orders can marry.
Since the life of the monk is spent in prayer and contemplation to reach Nirvana, it is not consistent with the socially oriented political and economic ideals of the People's Republic of China. While people are expected to be productive and work for social well-being in Communist ideology, the life of the monk focuses on his individual spiritual well-being. As a result the life of monks is seen as a waste to many in China.
Learning and scholarship are important, and historically education was conducted in the monasteries. Especially learned people could recite long passages of the Buddhist sacred writings by memory and also analyze the texts for their meanings. The traditional Tibetan social and economic system was feudal, and some elements of that are said to remain in the organization of the monasteries today. Similar to monks in other parts of the world, the Buddhist monks of Tibet value contemplative lives which is expressed in the joy of music or the quiet concentration of making a colorful sand painted mandala. Pilgrimages and public celebrations can be loud and colorful events as music is played, prayer wheels spun, and richly polychromed banners extended to honor a Lama. Tibetan Buddhism has a rich artistic tradition, as does most of Buddhism. Sculptural portraits of important Buddhists and painting are both well developed. Their cloth weaving and jewelry making are also excellent. Both are ornate and elaborated with ingenious detail. To understand Tibet is to understand Lamaism and also to understand pastoral life in the arid grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau.
The Tibetan language is part of the Chinese-Tibetan language family, and the Tibetans have their own script.6 The rigidity of the social class system is demonstrated in the language itself which has three different forms of expression depending on the status of the person being addressed. The most respectful tone is used with those who have higher status, either in the family, religion, or larger society. A moderately respectful tone is to be used with one's colleagues and peers, and the everyday tone is to be used with those of lower status, such as children or workers. Tibetans occupy the southwestern corner of China, a mountainous area bordering the Himilayas, known as the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau which rises over 12,000 feet above sea level.7 It is known as the Xizang Autonomous Region. It includes some of the highest mountains in the world. The Tibetans are primarily pastoralists, taking advantage of the grasslands of the Plateau. They herd yaks, a strong long haired ox-like animal that can carry heavy loads, as well as sheep, goats, and a small breed of cattle. There is also some farming in Tibet, particularly in river valleys that have a somewhat more temperate climate.
Mongols. The Mongols are Lamaist Buddhists, much like the Tibetans. Although they practiced shamanism originally, they became Buddhists in the thirteenth century giving them a developed religion with sophisticated traditions of art and literature. After the downfall of the Mongol Empire many young Mongols in succeeding centuries retreated to monasteries as
Mongols became among the most devoted Buddhists. Although Buddhism is commonly practiced among Mongols today, few devote their lives to being a monk. Mongol medicine is based on Lamaist practice which is reputed to be especially good in healing traumatic injuries, using surgery and the setting of broken bones. Along with the Tibetans in the south, the Mongols are the stalwarts of Buddhist practice in China today.
Mongols live not only in Mongolia, but also in the Nei Mongol Autonomous Region in China.8 Mongols have invaded, conquered, and lived in China for so many centuries that it is natural for many to live there today. They have their own language and script, and they have a rich literature of historical and literary works. The country of Mongolia has fewer than three million people, and its small economy make it less important than any one of China's provinces. For centuries, the Mongols were important partners in the Silk Route trade between China and Europe, and at that moment historically their geographical location gave them importance. But, today Mongolia is a land-locked country that has little to offer to international markets, and it is inaccessible to the sea routes that are critical for foreign trade.
What most stands out about the Mongols is their imperial legacy from the time when they ruled much of the known world. In the thirteenth century the leader of the Mongol tribe succeeded in uniting all of the tribes of the Mongolian steppes under his leadership, and he took the title of Genghis Khan. After consolidating Mongolian society he led invasions of China, Central Asia, and Russia. The power of the Khans continued after his death, and they invaded the Middle East and moved deeper into Russia. In 1260 his grandson, Kublai Khan, completed the defeat of the Song Dynasty in China and established the Yuan Dynasty under Mongol control. They incorporated many Central Asian people, especially Uygurs, in the civil service.
The Mongols created the empire that was the largest in land extension that ever existed in the Euroasian landmass. Today Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan are important heroes to the Mongols and to many Central Asian peoples. Their portraits are popular icons produced in tapestries and other art forms in that part of the world. Mongols have not had an empire for centuries, but they remember their heritage with pride. They have become woven into the fabric of Chinese society and form a real part of it today.
The West of China borders with the Muslim Central Asia republics, and the Chinese have been in contact with them for at least the last 2,000 years. In Xinjiang, the far northwestern province of China, the majority population is Muslim, and there are notable Muslim populations as far east as the city of Kaifeng. Historically, the Chinese were in regular contact with the peoples of Central Asia because of the Silk Route, and Central Asians have had important roles in China. Li Po, the Tang poet and perhaps the most loved of Chinese poets, was from Central
Asia, as was China's greatest admiral, Zheng He, who led the voyages to the West during the Ming Dynasty. The people of Central Asia have been a central part of Chinese history, and they still are.
Chinese Muslims: Uygurs, Kazakhs, Huis and Others. About one-half of the Chinese Muslims are of Han descent (known as the Hui), and the others (Uygurs, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgiz, Sala, Tartars, Tajiks, Tungxiang, and Paoan) are of Central Asian descent. The Uygurs are the largest (fifteen million) of the Turkic speaking Central Asian peoples which also include Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Sala, Kyrgiz, and Tartars. The Tajiks are a Persian speaking group. The Tungxiang and Paoan are Muslims of Mongol descent who live in the Province of Gansu. The Uygurs are the majority population in the Province of Xinjiang in the northwest of China which is the largest province in land area in China.9 The Muslim groups are politically important in China because they occupy much of the western half of the nation which contains important oil and other mineral deposits. They also occupy the borders stretching from Mongolia and Russia through the Central Asian Republics to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. China is quite aware that the restiveness of the Islamic Central Asian peoples was a major contributing factor to the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1990, and they fear the potential strength of an Islamic separatist movement in Xinjiang. The western border is most vulnerable area of China, its achilles heel.
The ethnic origin of Muslim men is indicated by the colors and designs on the skull caps
that they wear daily. Hui men wear white caps, but the men of Central Asian groups wear caps of colors, and the particular color and pattern varies according to the oasis or town and group of origin. Urumqi is the capital of Xinjiang Province, and it is a modern city of 1.6 million people completely in contact with the larger Han society in China. Kashgar (also known as Kashi) is the cultural heartland of the Uygurs, and the Han presence is hardly felt here. Kashgar is a traditional Muslim city where people maintain the rich heritage of culture ranging from hand made crafts to music. Kashgar's largest mosque can hold 10,000 people far overshadowing the mosques of Urumqi.
Uygurs are firm in their ethnic identity as Muslims, but they are on the margins of the Muslim world, far from the orthodox Arab heartland. Although Muslims are not supposed to have alcoholic drinks, Uygurs drink, sometimes heavily, at weddings and other social events. Uygurs tell a joke on themselves, which is "It takes three Uygurs to make a Muslim," which is a comment on their casual observance of Islam. Mosques are ever present in the towns and cities of Xinjiang, and they are filled for the noon prayers on Friday, the most holy day of the week. Uygur mosques have an architecture reminiscent of Central Asia with blue facades (fine ones) or packed earthen walls (poor ones), but those of the Hui (Han Muslims) look like traditional Han architecture with up turned corners on the roofs and red exteriors. Most Uygur women dress in brightly colored dresses, and they do not wear scarves or cover their heads with one exception:
women who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca wear a total veil over their heads to indicate their special status. As they walk along the streets or in the markets, they can quickly be distinguished from other women.
In contrast to austere Arab Muslims, Uygurs love music and dance which are central to their ethnic identity. The Uygurs share a musical tradition with other Central Asians peoples known as the muqham, and it uses a variety of stringed instruments and percussion. Not only is the muqham a style of music, but it is also a specific cycle of music that lasts over twelve hours. Musicians are honored among the Uygurs, and those who maintain the tradition of the muqham have a special status in the society. When there is music at a Uygur gathering, inevitably people will dance.
The ancestors of the Uygurs migrated from Mongolia into Central Asia over 1,500 years ago. After the rise of Islam, Arab and Persian traders took the new religion into Central Asia, and by the tenth century C.E. many Uygurs had converted to Islam. For 1,000 years from the Tang to the Ming Dynasties (seventh to seventeenth centuries) the Uygurs played an important role in Chinese imperial politics and culture. The Silk Route was the major avenue for contact with the rest of the world, and it ran through the Uygur lands. The Uygurs were excellent animal handlers, and they were in charge of the horses and camels that made up the caravans carrying trade across the deserts and grasslands of Central Asia. The Uygurs had their own independent kingdom and became quite wealthy with the trade of the Silk Route, and they built oasis cities, the ruins of which can still be visited today. The Uygurs were strong and proud, and that history infuses their approach to life today. Uygurs are proud of their heritage and approach life with a jest and confidence that is infectious.
The Uygurs had contacts with the Han Chinese on the East and the Persians and Arabs on the West which gave them a richness of cultural influences. The music, dance, and poetry coming out of Central Asia through the Uygurs had a major impact on the Tang Dynasty and later periods. Uygur scribes could translate documents from Mandarin with its particular script to Arabic with its script, and they knew the philosophy and literature of both traditions. Perhaps the most popular poet in the history of China is Li Po who came from this area during the Tang Dynasty, and his poetry is still quoted widely in China today. During the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty Uygurs held important positions as translators, administrators, and finance managers.
The Mongols probably could not have ruled China during this period without the skills of the Uygurs. During the Ming Dynasty the greatest Chinese admiral was Zheng He who led the voyages of exploration to the west, and he was from Xinjiang.
Although some Uygurs continue the nomadic lifestyle of their Central Asian ancestors, the Kazakhs are the true heirs to that tradition today. The Kazakhs migrate each season by kinship groups looking for pasturage for their sheep, goats, horses, and cattle. Today, well-to-do Kazakhs are more likely to travel in a Toyota pickup truck than on a horse when possible. The
truck can carry the yurt or other family belongings when they migrate. Among the Central Asian people skilled in horsemanship like the Kazakhs, Mongols, and others, the truck is taking on the emotional significance of the horse. It is the new means of transportation that makes the Kazakh or Mongol as free as the wind. Bus and truck drivers from these groups drive their mechanical steeds with a jest and relish almost as great as when they ride horses. The Kazakh horses are small, nimble, and fast. Both men and women are expert equestrians, and they race at great speed even through crowded throngs of people and seemingly never have an accident. They enjoy the abilities of their horses and are pleased to show them off.
The Kazakhs tend to live in the Tian Shan Mountains of Xinjiang, and during the summer months they move to the grassy slopes higher up the mountain. This is a region of cool air, forests of fir trees, mountain streams, and cascades that is a sharp contrast to the desert areas which make up most of Xinjiang. During the summer months, nomadic Kazakhs live in yurts, the dome-shaped felt tents for which they are so well known. The outside walls of the yurts are a greyish beige color which is broken by the brightly painted door. As one goes through the door the yurt opens into one room where the floor is completely covered with beautiful rugs from the region. Cushions and bed rolls are moved to the edges of the yurt and form sitting areas. The wooden frame runs along the walls and supports the roof, and it is painted and decorated, a popular color being red. There is usually a stove in the middle of the yurt with a smokestack venting through a hole in the roof. In the winter they move their livestock down to the more protected valleys, and they live in log houses which are faced with mud to keep out the cold.
The Kazakhs are one of the last representatives of the nomadic, herding lifestyle of the steppes of Central Asia. Of course, they are also changing. Today some Kazakh families cluster in the summer around Heavenly Lake and waterfalls that are popular with urban visitors from Urumqi where they make money renting horses and even providing traditional meals in their yurts.
During the week they are busy with their livestock, but on the weekends they earn additional money from tourism. That might be the face of the future.
The Uygurs10 have watched as their Central Asian cousins gained freedom from the Soviet Union and established their own countries. Uygurs have an ambiguous relationship with China. Being citizens of China has given talented Uygurs the opportunity for significant roles in Chinese society and government, but many feel that they have little future within China and would like to establish their own independent country. That has led to a conflict with the Mandarin speaking Han majority in China that is being played out quietly under the mantle of the state control of the press. China quickly allied with the United States in its attacks on the radical Muslim government of the Taliban in Afghanistan because of their own fears of the spread of Muslim fundamentalism in Xinjiang. Accounts of Uyghurs being retained in concentration camps for re-education have been widely reported although denied by the Chinese
government.
The plethora of peoples, religious, ideologies, customs, and languages in China seem to border on chaos at times, but a strong central government keeps the country functioning.
Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Islam, and secular Communist ideology are practiced side by side in a swirl of beliefs and practices that characterizes the multiplicity of Chinese life. In contrast, in Japan the impression everywhere is of cleanliness and order. Shinto shrines and Zen Buddhist Temples are immaculately clean and the latter have carefully raked patterns in undisturbed rock gardens. School children march uniformed in orderly lines to their classes, and the streets are swept by spotless sanitation workers wearing white gloves. The homogeneity of Japan is about precision as 130 million people fit into the constraints of four small islands. The Japanese are insular, and the Chinese are continental. The Muslims of Central Asia draw from their rich traditions of music and dance to create a kind of Islam not seen in other parts of the world. Each of these peoples live side by side but have very different religious and cultural different values and practices.
Mongols as Equestrians
Mongols, like the Central Asian peoples, are expert equestrians. Men and women grow up riding horses, and men are also expected to be good at archery and wrestling. At every opportunity a Mongolian friend will show his adroitness with horses, riding them to show their speed or using his control over the horse to show his mastery of the animal. As among the Central Asian Muslim populations, the horsemen of the new world of highways and vehicles are the bus and truck drivers, and many Mongolian men have become drivers. Roads across rural China can be very bumpy and uneven, and the driver's seat is frequently placed on springs so that it bounces with the bumps. One Mongolian driver with whom we rode across the Province of Xinjiang rode the driver's seat of his bus as if it were a horse with the bouncing being similar to the gait of a horse. One of the favorite recreational activities for drivers when they stop to rest is wrestling. As they sit around resting after hours of driving it is not at all unusual for an impromtu wrestling match to begin. Men struggle and heave to better the other one giving rise to laughter and good stories later.
Turpan: a Muslim Oasis in the Desert
The Uygurs are famous for the fruits that are grown in the oases that are scattered throughout the deserts of western China. Many kinds of grapes are dehydrated to make raisins,
and some oases are famous for their melons. We had visited the oasis town of Turpan where grape arbors turn the desert heat into a haven of cool shade. Some streets of the town are completely covered by grape arbors, and walking down the street clusters of grapes hang above. Even though these grapes grow along public streets, they have owners, and no one picks them. Turpan is also known for its donkey cart taxis. If you want to travel from one part of the town to another, you hitch a ride on a flat bed donkey cart, and for a fee the driver will take you to your destination. That would never be seen in the city of Urumqi where the streets are choked with cars and buses.
The five countries along China's western border are all Muslim. The Central Asian peoples are mostly Turkic speaking Muslim groups that extend from Afghanistan into western China. These countries include Kazakhstan (the largest and northernmost country), Krygystan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. Afghanistan and Pakistan form the southwestern border of this region, and it is a transition zone that includes culturally different and conflicting tribal groups.11 All of these countries, except Afghanistan, were formerly part of the Soviet Union, and today they still have significant Russian minority populations. They became independent in 1990 with the break-up of the Soviet Union, so they are very new countries still organizing their national institutions, schools, and economies.
Although these Central Asian countries are among the newest in the world, their cultural heritage is deep. They experienced periods of relative wealth and power during the height of trade along the Silk Route, especially during the time of the Mongol Empire. Toward the end of the Mongol period, Tamerlane carved out a smaller empire in the south around modern day Uzbekistan and made his capital of Samarkand one of the most beautiful cities in the world. At the present Central Asian peoples are building nation-states for the first time, and tribal loyalties are being transformed into national loyalties. It requires people to move from a tribal cosmovision to a more global one.
The peoples of the Central Asia Muslim republics were a part of the Soviet Union until its disintegration in 1991 when they received independence.12 Each is predominantly Muslim although the practice of Islam in Central Asia is less strict than in core Middle Eastern countries. The route of contact between the Middle East and Central Asia has traditionally been through Afghanistan, a country slightly smaller than Texas with a population of just under thirty million. Afghanistan had a prolonged civil war for twenty-five years starting in the late 1970's, and it has continued with lower intensity until recently. The Soviet Union intervened from 1979 to 1989 but eventually withdrew, and the Taliban came into power with a radically conservative brand of
Islam. The United States intervened in 2001, driving out the Taliban. Afghanistan has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world, forty-seven years for men and forty-six for women, and there is a high birth rate with almost six children born per woman. Eighty-four percent of the population is Sunni Muslim, and 15 percent are Shi'ites. The population is divided between various ethnic groups with the Pakhtuns being the largest (44 percent) and the Tajiks next at 25 percent. People from the various Central Asia groups (Uzbeks, Turkmens, and others) make up the remainder of the population. Each of the ethnic groups speaks its own language with English being used as a common language by the educated elite. Literacy rates are low with 51 percent of the men being literate but only 21 percent of the women. Social pressure is strong on Afghani women to wear the burkah, a tent like garment that covers the woman completely from head to foot. Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, largely because of the long civil war.
The peoples of the Central Asian republics have in common their Turkic/Mongol background, being Muslim, and having been controlled by the Soviet Union, but ethnically each is somewhat different. The largest of these countries is Kazakhstan which is almost four times the size of Texas, but it is sparsely populated with only sixteen million people. It is the site of Russia's Baykonur Cosmodome, a carry over from being part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was also the site of nuclear testing for the former Soviet Union and has problems of nuclear contamination. Rivers emptying into the Aral Sea have been diverted over the years for irrigation which has led to the drying up of that landmark. The people are 54 percent Kazakhs and 34 percent Russians and Ukrainians with the remaining people of various smaller groups, largely Central Asian. Kazakh is the official language, but Russian is used as the language of business and communication between groups. Forty-seven percent of the people are Muslim, and 44 percent of Russian Orthodox, indicating the influence of that population.
Of the other countries of Central Asia, Uzbekistan has 25 million people. It had less immigration from Russian, so that 80 percent of the people are Uzbeks and 88 percent are Sunni Muslims.13 Uzbekistan is the location of Samarkand, the former capital of the empire built by Tamerlane. It is known for its beautiful mosques and architecture. The smaller, more desert like country of Turkmenistan has only five million people and is tucked in between Uzbekistan and Iran. They are 77 percent Turkmens and 89 percent Muslims. To the east of Uzbekistan is Tajikistan, a mountains country with a population of seven million people. Sixty-five percent are Tajiks, and 25 percent are Uzbeks, most are Muslim (85 percent Sunnis and 5 percent Shi'ites).
Krygyzstan is the smallest of the Central Asian countries, and most of its population is Kyrgyz with the remainder being Russian, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, and other Central Asians. One of the benefits of having been under the Soviet government is the high literacy rate of people in the Central Asian republics, 99 percent for men and 98 percent for women which makes the Muslims of Central Asia the most literate of all the people of the Muslim world.
Ron Duncan Hart, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist from Indiana University with postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford. He is the Director of the Institute for Tolerance Studies and a former University Vice-President. Hart has written books on Crypto-Jews, Jews and the Arab World, and Sephardic Jews. He has spoken widely as an invited lecturer on Jewish life and culture at universities and other venues. He is a former President of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico.
For additional information on the Han see de Blij, H.J. and Peter O. Muller. 1997. Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. Eighth edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Page 432.
Statistical information from The World Factbook 2003. "China". Washington, D.C.: Central Intelligence Agency. Web site: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/.
For information and images of the Guilin area see Blunden and Elvin, pages 20 and 44-46.
For information on the Manchu and the North China plain where they live see de Blij and Muller, pages 434-438.
For information on the development of Tibetan Buddhism see Heinz, Carolyn Brown. 1999. Asian Cultural Traditions. Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. Pages 171-176.
See Heinz, pages 52-54.
For a discussion of the Tibetan region see de Blij and Muller, pages 443-444.
For a discussion of the Nei Mongol Autonomous Region see de Blij and Muller, page 438.
For a discussion of Xinjiang and Uygurs see de Blij and Muller, page 444.
For interesting descriptions of the Province of Xinjiang from the Uygur perspective, see Dowamat, Tomur. 1993. Xinjiang: My Beloved Home. Beijing: China Today Press and
Xinjiang People's Publishing House. Also, Xinjiang: A General Survey. 1989. Compiled by the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Beijing: New World Press. A more popular account can be found in Allen, Thomas B. 1996. "Xinjiang," in National Geographic. Vol. 189, No. 3, March. Washington: National Geographic Society. Pages 7-51.
The Pashtuns occupy the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Anthropological research on the Pakistani groups gives the best documentation on these people. See Barth, Fredrik. 1959. Political Leadership among Swat Pathans. London: The Athlone Press.
For further information on the Muslim countries of Central Asia see De Blij and Muller, pages 299-300, 317-322.
Statistical information for the Central Asian countries is from The World Factbook 2003.