“We Are Believers”: Contemporary Hui Mobility in Transnational Islamic Space ? a Malaysia Case Study

Abstract

Studies of Chinese migration have been framed largely in terms of geography (qiaoxiang migration) or class (coolie vs student/trader/professional/entrepreneurial migration). An unstated and unquestioned assumption of these studies is that Chinese migrants are Han, and that minorities are contained, and hence immobilized, in remote border regions. This paper draws attention to the importance of ethnicity and religion in the study of contemporary Chinese international migration. It argues that China©s Muslim minorities have enjoyed a disproportionately high level of international mobility since 1978, both in the form of cross-border movements, especially for Muslim ethnic minorities such as the Uyghur and the Kazakhs, as well as long-distance transnational mobility, particularly marked for the Hui ethno-religious minority. It presents data on recent Hui mobility to Malaysia which highlights the close relationship between transnational Muslim mobility and education and trade within the Muslim world. In particular, it draws attention to the critical role of religion in the mobility decisions and patterns of Hui Muslims navigating their minority lives through the spaces of the Chinese nation-state and the transnational Islamic world. Show more