The Epitome of Ethnic Integration: The Formation and Development of Hui Nationality

: In this paper, the origin of the Hui people in China is researched, the formation history of the Hui people is stated in detail, the development and evolution of the Hui people are described in detail, and the origin, formation, development and evolution history of the Hui people are divided into six stages, and the characteristics of each stage are analyzed in detail. It is pointed out that the origin of Hui nationality originates from the opening of China's Silk Road, the needs of Sino-foreign economic and trade development, and China's political integrity, economic prosperity, cultural prosperity, national prosperity and people's security are closely related. The formation of Hui in China has the great attraction of Sui, Tang and Song dynasties, and is closely related to the expansion, wars and killings of Islam in the Arab Empire and the plunder, capture and recruitment of soldiers in the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties. The formation of the Hui people and the essence of its development and growth are the fundamental way for the eastern Muslims to settle and grow in China and absorb the blood of Han Chinese, Mongolians, Uyghurs, Jews and other ethnic groups.


INTRODUCTION
The Hui ethnic group would be a unique ethnic group in China, which was formed and developed in China, but not in other countries.With a very large population, it could no longer be called a minority ethnic group.According to China Statistical Almanac 2021, the population of the Hui ethnic group in China would be 11,37,914 [1] .It would be distributed in China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region would be its main settlement area, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region would have a Hui population of 1,862,500, accounting for 18.9% of the total Hui population in the country.In addition, there were other regions where the Hui population exceeds 200,000: Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Anhui, Shandong, Henan, Yunnan, Gansu, Xinjiang and Qinghai, etc. [2] .The particularity of the formation of the Hui nationality, the uniqueness of its development, the complexity of its composition, the specificity and piety of its religious belief, and the intensity of its ethnic consciousness were incomparable to many other ethnic groups.It would have an important position and plays an important role in the history of the development and evolution of Chinese ethnic groups, and it would have a far-reaching impact on the development trend of China's ethnic integration in the future.The history of its formation and development would be worth analyzing and studying.

ORIGIN OF THE HUI NATIONALITY
The Hui people only exist in China, so there would be no need to call them Chinese Hui people, the Hui people in ancient China called Hui Hui, commonly known as Hui Hui.There were three theories about the origin of the Hui nationality.The first These former merchants from other countries in the Western regions who settled down and acquired nationals of the Sui and Tang Dynasties in China intermarried with other ethnic groups in the Sui and Tang dynasties, gradually integrating the bloodlines of other ethnic groups into their own tribes.With the evolution of history, they continued to absorb other ethnic groups, intermarried with each other, and continuously integrated the bloodlines of other ethnic groups into their own tribes.Shaanxi was the most central and prosperous region in the Sui and Tang Dynasties in China.At that time, Chang 'an was the metropolis of Sui and Tang Dynasties and the political, economic and cultural center of China.Shaanxi was the gateway of China's foreign trade and the Silk Road economy and trade.Therefore, these tourists often lived in Shaanxi, which became the core area of the origin of Hui people in China.These visitors were revered by later generations of Hui as "ancestors" and "overseas Chinese".

THE FORMATION OF THE HUI NATIONALITY
As the largest ethnic group after the Han in China, the Hui nationality had experienced a long historical process from its origin to its formation.Although the origin of the Hui nationality was very early or even earlier than the Sui Dynasty in China, it could be believed that as long as the Silk Road was opened up, there would be so-called "tourists" staying in China, but the number was small.Or go into exile in other countries, or even die in troubled times, or hide in the mountains of China.With the demise of China's Han Dynasty, the wars of The Three Kingdoms, the Western Jin, the Eastern Jin, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the five turbulent years of China, the number of "fandom" even decreased, not increasing, until Yang Jian unified China and established the Great Sui Dynasty, these fandom reappeared in China, and gathered friends and came to the prosperous place of Chinese politics, economy and culture, Shaanxi, with Chang 'an as the center.And the number of fans continues to increase, and because of good business in China, economic prosperity, achieved a good social and economic status, cultural status and even political status, and gradually called themselves Chinese, belong to China, become Chinese nationals.As an ethnic group, the name "Hui Hui" follows the old name of Islam in China, "Hui", the word "hui", "there are small mouths in the big mouth", which was intended to warn people to be consistent with their words and deeds, and this was in line with the Islamic belief that "the mouth admits, the heart was honest (the preaching of Muhammad by Allah's command)".Huihui as a nation was called until The origin of Hui nationality would be early, even dating back to the Western Han Dynasty of China."Huihui", as the name of individual visitors, was widely familiar to people as early as the Sui and Tang Dynasties.In this period, "Huihui" expressed the meaning that these visitors would return to their homeland in the winter of the four seasons, and return to China in the spring.As a large group of people and a class of people, "Hui Hui" was popular in China during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.The term "Hui" for this period refers to people from areas further west than the Uighur Belt (i.e., "west of the Shallot, east of the Black Sea" -Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and parts of Kazakhstan, Iraq, Turkey, and the Caucasus), It could be seen that the "return" of this era would be very wide, the composition would be very mixed, and the number of people was extremely large.As a religious appellation, "Hui Hui" refers to the believers who believe in "Hui Hui" or "Islam" in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty of China.In the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the "Hui" refers to the "Hui", that would be to say, the "Hui" at this time think that they were objectively different from other groups in culture, language and history, that was, the "Hui" think that they have the same cultural background, the same language (there were palindrome and Hui language in history) and the same historical experience.And have the same religion (Islam) of a group of people, a type of people.Therefore, the Hui should be formally formed as an independent nation during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.

THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF HUI NATIONALITY
The development of the Hui people would be closely related to the development and advancement of Chinese history.The development of the Hui people would have probably gone through four stages.Due to the complexity of history and the change and folding of the world pattern, these stages could not be clearly divided, but could only be roughly divided.
The first stage, mainly in the Sui and Tang dynasties of China, or even earlier, this stage could be temporarily named: the early brewing stage.The early development of Hui benefited from China's political stability, economic prosperity and cultural prosperity, which were closely related to the high international status, which was mainly manifested in the Sui and Tang dynasties.
This was also the main reason why the ancestors of the Hui came and settled in China before the formation of a nation.This period could be defined as the "Fanke period", the characteristics of this period were: 1) the number of Fanke was small, did not form a large number; 2) Two attributes of identity, on the one hand belongs to China, on the other hand was still not severed from the home country; 3) Each guest had not formed an ethnic group, their own body, with their own country and homeland and hometown as a link, three or three two, have not formed a common belief as a bond; 4) Islam had not yet appeared among these visitors; 5) The feelings for China were not deep, China was their inn at this time, but the feelings were sincere and pure, no bad feelings; 6) During this period, the Chinese residence of Fanke was mainly concentrated in Shaanxi, China, with Chang 'an as the center; 7) Economic and trade was the only means and way to make a living.
The second stage might be called the accumulation stage.This period mainly occurred in the era of the rise of the Arab Most of them will settle in the Northern Song Dynasty and will be arranged to live in Youzhou and Bianliang.On the other hand, it originated from Muslims who had joined the Mongols and Muslims who had come from the Mongol armies taking prisoners in the West in the early 13th century.At that time, some Muslim merchants engaged in trade and loan activities in Mongolia, dependent on the powerful Mongols, and many more came from the Mongols to conquer and capture prisoners or surrender Muslims.Wherever the Mongol troops went, groups of people of all ethnic groups in Central Asia who believed in Islam, as well as Persians and Arabs, were constantly captured, signed or automatically migrated to Northwest and North China and other areas under the rule of Mongolia, most of them in the form of military camps and herding, as military officials, craftsmen, merchants and scholars and other different identities, scattered throughout the northwest and even the whole country.They were called "Hui Hui people" and became the main part of the "Shamu people" in the Yuan Dynasty.The characteristics of this stage are as follows: 1) a huge number, one batch after another, was the decisive period of the formation of Hui as a nation; 2) had been thoroughly Muslim, completely Islamic, and believes in the one God, Allah; 3) The era of integrating many foreign nationalities into Hui nationality; 4) From the previous Chinese Hui only merchants and craftsmen evolved into all walks of life, in China also began to have Hui farmers, herdsmen and so on; 5) A large number of Han Chinese were accommodated, and the repatriation of some Han Chinese began; 6) With the establishment of China's Yuan Dynasty in Mongolia, these Hui were constantly relocated and dispersed to settle all over China, with Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai and other places in northwest China being the most, but there were Hui in almost all areas.
The fifth stage could be named as the Hui Integration stage, which we could think of as starting from the Mongolian Yuan era in China and finishing in the Kublai Khan era of the Yuan Dynasty in China.This stage would be mainly the integration of the Hui into the same faith, the same language, the same culture of the Hui stage.The "Hui" people from the Western regions who migrated to China in the 13th century did not all turn out to be the same people.Among them, there were Persians and Arabs, as well as Turkic-speaking people such as Ah-hun and Hasiru.They had little in common with each other other than their shared belief in Islam, and thus were initially a collection of Muslims in China.At that time, Mongolians were a small ethnic group in China and their original culture was relatively backward, so once they arrived in China, they were immediately trusted and reused by the Mongolian ruling class.Some of them were absorbed into the government institutions at all levels of the Mongolian state, some were sent to work in government-run handicraft workshops, and some were ordered to follow the Mongolian military prisoners to war.Therefore, with the realization of Mongolia's unification with China, they gradually dispersed throughout the country, or continued to engage in handicraft production; Or be changed to "people" engaged in agricultural farming; Or one side of the camp, as a garrison task, living a "camp herding" life.It could be seen from the relevant records that the northern Gansu Province, including Zhangye in Gansu Province and Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Yunnan and other places, were all important areas where the returnees were engaged in reclamation.In the Yuan Dynasty, the political status of the Hui people was generally superior to that of the Han people, so many Hui people became officials throughout the country.Usually when a returnee becomes an official, a large number of returnee people follow him, which also promotes the immigration of returnee to various places.Due to the repatriation throughout the country, the Yuan government in order to strengthen the management of returnees, from the central to the local had a "return order history", "return history" and "return writing" and other officials to assist the various government departments to deal with returnees affairs.In addition, it had also set up institutions such as "Return to the Department of Heaven Supervision", "Return to the drug Hospital", "Return to the gunner, gunsmith, Wanhu House", "Return to the Water Army Wanhu House", and "Return to the Guozi Supervision School".The number of returning officials serving in these bodies was also high.With the realization of the great unification in Yuan Dynasty of China, Hui people appeared the situation of large dispersion and small settlement.Because of their belief in Islam, the scattered Hui people often form their own villages and live near temples and temples, forming a large number of villages, camps and towns.In the city, there were gradually returnee neighbourhoods.Thus, the population distribution forms a pattern of "large dispersion and small concentration".It was on this pattern that the returnees from all over the world maintain their contact with each other.
The sixth stage, which began at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, showed that the Hui people absorbed a large number of Han people, Mongolians, Uygurs and other ethnic groups.In the Yuan Dynasty of China, the status of Han people was the lowest, while the status of Hui people was higher, second only to the Mongolian people.In order not to be oppressed by the Mongols forever, some Han people tried their best to intermarry with Hui people and convert to Islam, so as to integrate into Hui people.There were two forms of marriage: Han men married Hui women into Hui people, and Han women married men into Hui people.The integration of the Mongols mainly occurred in the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang attacked the Mongols.In order to escape the attack, the Mongols in the Ming Dynasty ruled areas integrated into the Mongols through marriage, or converted to Islam.In addition, some Uyghurs also integrate into the Hui through intermarriage or through the Islamic faith when the Hui status was relatively high.The Jews who lived in Kaifeng during the 10th to 12th centuries, the Filipinos who migrated to Dezhou in Shandong in the early 15th century, and the Tibetans who originally lived in Hualong Kaligang in Qinghai were also absorbed into the Hui people.After absorbing and integrating a large number of Han, Mongolian and other ethnic blood, the appearance of Hui people had become more and more Chinese.Today, the appearance of Hui people in China has been basically Chinese, and there would be almost no difference with Han people.It could be seen from here that the proportion of Hui people absorbing and integrating Han people would be very large.

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
It could be seen that the Hui, as the only foreign ethnic group in China, should be the second largest ethnic group in China (China had not conducted a census for a long time, so the commonly said second largest ethnic group was the Zhuang, this sentence would be wrong.For many years, The Han people became Hui, and now the Hui people in China would be already the second largest ethnic group in substance), whose origin, formation, development and evolution would have their unique characteristics.
The origin of the Hui people in China would come from the merchants of other nationalities outside China, which deeply branded the inheritance of being good at economic trade and business into the genes of Hui people.Uniting under the banner of Islam, receiving the teachings of Quran, and spreading excellent medical skills, the Hui were more devout to Islam than any other people in the world.Another characteristic of the history and culture of development and evolution of the Hui people was their scattered settlement and diversified development.The pattern of "large dispersion, small concentration" of Hui people was particularly obvious in the distribution of Hui autonomous regions, autonomous prefectures, autonomous counties and ethnic townships in China.China had a total of 14 Hui autonomous areas, including 1 autonomous region, 2 autonomous prefectures and 11 Hui autonomous counties (including united).In addition, there were 140 Hui townships in China, which were distributed in different regions, including 37 in Northwest China, 28 in Southwest China, 27 in North China, 12 in East China, 5 in Northeast China and 31 in Central and South China.Another feature of the history of development and evolution of the Hui nationality was that the Muslims from the East and the members of the Han nationality were both important sources of the Hui nationality, but the Muslims from the east were an important component of it.Without the Muslims from the East, the Hui nationality would not have emerged at all.Of course, without the important condition of Hui-Han intermarriage, it was difficult to form a Hui nationality.In addition, one of the most crucial features would be that the Hui were an alien ethnic group that had never been Sinicized in China, but on the contrary, it had been continuously repatriating the Han nationality on a large scale from the beginning.
It could be seen that the origin, development and evolution of any nation would be very complex phenomena and historical facts.The origin, development and evolution of the Hui nationality were also very complex.No matter what kind of argument could be made about its origin, it could not be separated from the development of China's Huaxia and Chinese history.Its evolution process would be an important part of the development of Chinese history and an important content of the evolution of the Chinese nation.
The historical facts of the evolution of the Hui nationality would have proved that there was no such thing as a nation from the beginning, no such thing as a nation that remains unchanged, and no nation that exists forever.Nationality would be only a historical concept, and ethnic integration and evolution were inevitable.The integration of all ethnic groups in China and even in the world would be a historical necessity and conforms to the development trend of human history.However, people must publicize good ways and cases of ethnic integration, and strive for human progress, social development and world peace, which would be the responsibility and mission of the majority of scientific research workers.
that the Hui nationality originated in Yuan Dynasty of China.The second theory would be that the Hui originated in the Ming Dynasty of China; The third theory would be that the Hui originated in the middle of the 16th century.But the author thinks that the Hui people should originate from the alternating times of Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty in China.The Sui Dynasty unified China and put an end to the chaotic situation of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.China's national strength increased greatly, and its economy and culture achieved unprecedented development.Emperor Yang reached the peak stage of culture, governance and military achievements in the Sui Dynasty.The opening of the Chinese canal and the re-opening of the Silk Road attracted a large number of merchants from other countries, including Persian and Arab merchants, to celebrate.Under the reign of Li Shimin Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, China's economic and cultural development reached its peak, and the Silk Road was unblocked.Merchants from the Western regions such as Arabia and Persia flooded into Chang 'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and other places to do business.Due to the strength, prosperity and cultural prosperity of the Tang Dynasty in China, many merchants from the Western regions settled in the Tang region of China and gradually acquired the national status of the Tang Dynasty.These merchants from other countries in the Western regions (mainly Arab countries, as well as Persia and even West African countries) who came to China to do business during the Taizong and later periods of the Tang Dynasty came to China through the Silk Road to do business, and in response to the needs of long-term economic and trade, they gradually settled in China and finally obtained the status of Chinese nationals.These tourists were the original origin of the Hui people in China.

the
Song and Yuan dynasties of China.During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Huihui people (Sogdian, Jewish, Persian and other Hu-shang people) and some Huihui and Uighur people were called Huihui people.Some Uighurs, Ouigour or Huihui people distributed in Mobei, along with some local ethnic groups, migrated west to form the Weir, and some developed into Tajik, Uzbek and other Western ethnic groups.During this period, such appellations as Hu, Uighur and Ouigour basically disappeared from historical records.The word "Hui Hui" became clear, and in official edicts and Chinese records, all ethnic groups were generally referred to as "Mongols, Waghurs, Hui Hui, Yalikewen, Hexi, Khitan, Jurchen, Han".
Empire, corresponding to the Tang Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty of China.The conquest of Arab Islam, the devastating attacks and killings on other countries and foreigners, drove some ancestors of the Hui people to the territory of of China.It belongs to the formation period of the Hui nationality, which mainly stems from the turbulence, wars and killings of the ancestors in their native country.These ancestors of the Hui nationality came to China to escape the massacre and persecution brought about by the failure of politics and war.Its main characteristics are: 1) its large scale, mainly members of the royal family and aristocrats; 2) Still rely on trade as the main means of survival; 3) Having non-Islamic religious beliefs or no religious beliefs; 4) Deep feelings for China, with China as the relief of deep heart, sincere feelings; 5) This stage couldnot be called return.The third stage, which could be named as the accelerated development stage, the stage of Hui Hui, this stage was really called Hui Hui (after the belief in Islam, which was also Islam), mainly from the Tang Dynasty of China during the Anshi Rebellion during the decline of Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty and the Persian mercenaries, these mercenaries stayed in the Tang Dynasty of China.They married local Chinese women, had children, and gradually integrated into Chinese citizenship.These mercenaries were large in number and mainly Muslim.This stage occurred in the late Tang Dynasty of China, the Five Dynasties of China, and already formed a minority in China and achieved legal status.The characteristics of this stage were as follows: 1) large quantity and scale; 2) No longer confined to Shaanxi Province of China and no longer centered on Chang 'an, but spread throughout China; 2) brought about the spread of Islam in China; 3) Under the influence of Islam, Islam was the bond of unity rather than the homeland and homeland, and the uniqueness of Islam, one person believes in Islam, and the whole family was Islamized, which makes Muslims grow rapidly in China and the number of returnees increases sharply.The fourth stage could be named the stage of rapid rise of Hui nationality.This stage occurred during the coexistence of Song and Mongolian dynasties in China.On the one hand, China's Great Song Dynasty was the best dynasty for ordinary people, literati, literati and merchants.Its economy was extremely rich, its culture reached the heyday of mankind, and its commerce and trade were extremely developed.Later settled in China became Hui Hui.During the reign of Emperor Shenzong, a group of 5,300 Muslims from Central Asia, led by a noble named Sofel, migrated east from Bukharin Central Asia to Northern Song China.[3] descendants from different countries, different regions, different nationalities and different beliefs.Integration

Fund Project:
The Research Base of Humanistic Spirit and Social Development in Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi Border Revolutionary Old Base and the Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Guangxi Universities supported the 2022 Open Fund project "Research on Building Strong Chinese Ethnic Community Consciousness" (Project number: 22JDB01).