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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000544 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM, EAP/TC, INR/EAP, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV SOCI SCUL CH
SUBJECT: Fujian's Minorities:  Hard To Distinguish But Still 
Collecting Benefits 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000544  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.   (U) Summary.  Fujian's two largest ethnic minorities-the She 
and the Hui-are already visually indistinguishable from their Han 
neighbors and appear to have lost or are rapidly losing culturally 
distinctive characteristics.  This is especially the case with the 
urban She and the Hui minority members living near Quanzhou.  Still 
the She and the Hui have no qualms about accepting affirmative 
action-type benefits extended to minorities.  Under the confusing 
definition of what constitutes an ethnic minority in China, the 
Hakka of southern Fujian are not considered a minority.  They are 
classified as a subgroup of the Han majority.  Nonetheless, the 
Hakka retain a distinctive language, a proud heritage linked with 
unusual architecture, and a deeply entrenched consciousness of being 
"different."   End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) During several visits to Fujian in August and September, TD 
Off met with representatives of and experts on the She and Hui 
minority groups and the Hakka people of southern Fujian.  The She(or 
Sanhak, as they refer to themselves) represent Fujian's largest 
ethnic minority group.  The 375,000 She living in Fujian constitute 
approximately 53% of China's total She population.  The 
approximately 100,000 Hui descendants of Arabic and Persian traders 
who followed the maritime Silk Road and settled near Quanzhou during 
the fifteenth century constitute the second largest ethnic minority 
in Fujian.  Populations of other ethnic minority groups in Fujian 
are comparatively small, although 53 out of China's 55 ethnic 
minority groups are represented in Fujian. 
 
Impossible to Distinguish 
------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Fujian's She and Hui ethnic minority members do not wear any 
distinctive costumes or clothing.  Without distinguishing physical 
characteristics, the She and Hui people are virtually impossible to 
distinguish from their Han neighbors.  Many of Fujian's She people 
still reside in rural villages scattered in mountainous areas near 
Ningde and Fuzhou.  For economic reasons more than ethnicity 
(because the She farmers remain relatively impoverished), Han 
neighbors have viewed the She as undesirable marriage partners.  She 
people living in urban areas, however, like the Hui, have 
intermarried with the dominant Han to the extent that they have 
almost completely been assimilated by the dominant culture. 
Demonstrating the degree of intermarriage among the Hui and Han, 
three Hui interlocutors in one Hui village told us that their 
spouses are Han. 
 
¶4.  (U) While the rural She still maintain distinctive traditions 
including story-telling songs and a unique form of martial arts, 
these traditions have been lost among the urban She.  According to 
one She minority representative, only a dwindling number of elderly, 
urban She maintain beliefs in traditional She "superstitions."  In 
actuality, only the family names that are traditionally associated 
with the She people serve to perpetuate a diminishing sense of 
separate identity.  Hui minority representatives told us that 
although the Hui people still claim and assert the right to a 
Muslim-style in-ground burial (a privilege not afforded others), 
almost all of Fujian's Hui do not observe other Islamic traditions 
relating to food and religious practice, nor are they schooled in 
Arabic.  Many of Fujian's Hui have adopted Buddhist, Taoist, or 
Christian religious beliefs.  Most eat pork.  According to one Hui 
elder, when one Hui delegate went to Beijing to attend the Chinese 
People's Political Consultative Conference, the delegate was 
distressed to find that because of his Hui heritage, he had been 
assigned to the Halal cafeteria.  Linguistically, most of Quanzhou's 
Hui residents speak the Minnan language of southern Fujian.  Their 
identity is linked with Minnan culture, not Islamic culture. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Academics from Xiamen University told TD Off that 
beginning in the late 1990s, a few individuals within the Hui 
community began "re-identifying" with their Muslim roots.  The 
scholars speculated that this likely had more to do with pursing 
business opportunities with the Muslim world than with a desire to 
reconnect with religious roots.  When asked if Fujian's Hui 
community maintained any special links with other Muslim communities 
within China or abroad, Hui villagers provided TD Off with a tour of 
their local cemetery.  Within the cemetery were approximately one 
dozen gravesites, most with tombstones inscribed in Arabic, of 
Muslims from other parts of China and the world who had passed away 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000544  002 OF 002 
 
 
in Xiamen.  The same villagers recalled that six or seven years ago, 
a wealthy businessman from some Arabic-speaking country visited 
their village and donated tables and chairs to Hui residents of the 
village.  When asked if they had followed reports of ethnic unrest 
in Urumqi, the Hui of Chen Tang village said they were not aware as 
they rarely watched the news.  They, as did Hui villagers of Bai Qi 
near Quanzhou, indicated they felt no special affinity for or 
connection with other Muslim ethnic groups in China or elsewhere. 
 
Affirmative action - Chinese style 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Like other minority groups in China, the She and Hui people 
are exempted from the one-child policy; they are allowed to have two 
children.  She and Hui villagers noted there were other privileges 
that were extended to them based on their minority group status. 
These include 10 bonus or preferential points on the national 
College Entrance Exam or 20 bonus or preferential points when 
applying to Fujian-based educational institutions.  Minority 
residents are also entitled to a 600 RMB/year educational allowance 
for children.  When asked if there were any downsides to their 
minority status (i.e., discrimination), She and Hui representatives 
said they thought at present the positives outweighed the 
negatives. 
 
Not a minority, but definitely different - the Hakka 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶7.  (U) Considered to be a sub-group within the Han majority, the 
Hakka of southern Fujian began arriving in the area more than 1,000 
years ago when war and turmoil drove them from their homes in 
Central China.  As newcomers, the Hakka clustered in mountainous 
areas in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces where they 
developed a unique style of architecture-massive, multi-story 
earthen round (and square) houses.  Originally built as easily 
secured fortresses that could be shuttered to protect from natural 
and human threats, the distinctive structures also served to foster 
a strong sense of clan and family identity.  The Hakka have thrived 
in southern Fujian.  Tightly-knit and keenly aware of their distinct 
heritage, the Hakka have become a powerful economic and social force 
in the areas which they inhabit.  Hakka communities, said several of 
our Hakka interlocutors, have grown stronger and increasingly 
Hakka-as the economically prosperous Hakka have bought out many of 
their non-Hakka neighbors. 
 
¶8.  (U) The Hakka have special words-mostly derogatory-to describe 
their non-Hakka neighbors.  The Hakka language serves to heighten a 
sense of distinct cultural identity.  Unlike the Hui, the Hakka do 
not generally speak the Minnan language, and they do not identify 
themselves as Minnan people.   Although most of our Hakka 
interlocutors said that Hakka were free to intermarry with non-Hakka 
people, other observers have noted that matriarchal tradition within 
Hakka culture often places pressure on females to marry within the 
group. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Comment.  Ethnicity can be a confusing concept, and it 
certainly is in China where even the Han majority is descended from 
a gene pool that includes a variety of nomadic groups.  It is 
confusing concept in Fujian, too, where the largest recognized 
minority groups have been largely assimilated by the Han but where 
another group, the Hakka that prides itself in being different is 
considered to be a part of the Han majority.  Because Fujian's 
minorities look "Han," it seems remarkable that there is presently 
so little resentment among the Han about the special privileges that 
are extended to these virtually indistinguishable minorities.  End 
comment. 
 
GOLDBECK