1. Dungan Women and Religious
Education
Roksana Gabidullina
http://www.dostuck.com.kg/files/images/dungan-mosque.jpg
2. Contents
• Origins of Hui in China
• Dungans in Central Asia
• Dungans’ religion
• Dungan women
• Religious education in Central Asia
• Religious education of Dungan women
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
http://factsanddetails.com/media/2/20111102-
Wiki%20com%20Hui%20Ma%20Jia%20Jun%203.jpg
3. Origins as Hui in China
• Descendants of Persian, Arab, Mongolian, and Turkish
Muslim merchants who started coming since the
middle of the 7th century.
• The term “Huihui” was first used in the Yuan dynasty
(1276-1368) to describe Central Asian, Persian, and
Arab residents in China.
• Hui became designated as a nationality (minzu) for
Chinese-speaking Muslims in China in 1949.
• Physically indistinguishable from the Han Chinese but
their diet, religion, and other customs set them apart.
• Around 9.9 million Hui in 2000. Mostly reside in central
north-west China.
4. Dungans in Central Asia
• When Hui Muslims’ uprising was crushed by the
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in the late 1800s,
many insurrectionists migrated to Czarist Russia
in 1877, 1878, and 1879.
• Second major migration was after the Treaty of
St. Petersburg in 1881.
• Many settled in Semirechie region.
• Today, many live in Tokmok, Karakol, Bishkek,
Alexandrovka, Ivanovka, Milyanfan, Kenbulun,
and Daishin.
5. Dungan’s religion
• Dungans are Sunni Muslims who follow the
Hanafi school of law.
• First two migrations:
– Sufis (Jahriyya and Khufiyya) from Gansu and Ningxia
– Laojiao (‘old teaching’ or qadim in Arabic) from
Shaanxi
• Today, Sufi practices are not practiced as much as
before and most Dungans now follow xinjiao, a
more fundamentalist and reformist trend.
7. Dungan Women
• Dungan women are not allowed into mosques.
• They organize their own religious practices in
women’s assemblies.
– They would get together in a house and read the
Qur’an together with a female ahong/otine, comment
on hadith, and learn religious rules.
– Read Qur’an in Arabic and comment in Russian or
Dungan.
– Sometimes, they may go to weddings with an otine
and read the Qur’an and tell Islamic stories.
8. Religious Education for Women in
Central Asia
• Muslim women play an important role:
transmitting religious knowledge and practice.
• Otins, who are literate women who know the
Qur’an in Arabic and other religious texts, play
this important role.
– Performs same functions as a male mullah but among
women.
– Oversee the religious life of children (both male and
female) and of other adult women.
– Officiate celebrations of household life cycle rituals.
– Practices rituals but also teaches religion.
9. Otins as religious teachers today
• They set up a religious schools it their houses.
• Teach not only kin but also neighbors’
children.
• In Central Asia, they used to come from elite
families but now they may also come from
poor families.
• Their teaching has become more sporadic and
the traditional otins now face competition
from reformist ones.
11. Religious Education of Dungan Women
• Many Dungan women receive some form of
religious education/instruction.
• Since they are barred from mosques, women
meet together at home.
• Children are taught by knowledgeable family
members or by other women in their houses.
• They do not usually go to madrassas.
12. Interview with a 16 year old Dungan
girl
• Her parents do not force her to cover and they are
against early marriage. Religion is not forced upon her.
• She went to the religious teacher’s house (who seems
to perform the same functions as an otin) because she
was interested in learning more.
– Two friends of hers would go there and she would hear
stories from them.
– She thinks religious education and practice is important.
Afraid of the afterlife.
– She went because it was for free and the covered woman
taught to improve people’s understanding of Islam and
Allah.
13. Interview with a 16 year old Dungan
girl
• Went there for three days:
– 1st Day: Learned the Arabic alphabet
– 2nd Day: Passed the test
– 3rd Day: Learned syllables and went to the local
mosque (heard stories about Muhammad, what
women were banned from doing, how to dress, the
afterlife).
– Families whose girls receive these religious
instructions/education are perceived more positively.
• This improves status or reinforces high status of a family.
14. Conclusion
• Dungans combine practices from various cultures
(Persian, Arab, Turkic, Mongolian, Chinese).
• They have their own peculiarities but majority
share widespread Islamic sentiments.
• Religious education of Dungan women is
prestigious and many believe to be a must,
although variations on this exist.
• There are Dungan otines and Dungan women
who perform similar functions although may not
be called so.
• Need to do further research.
15. Bibliography
• Кыргызский национальный университет имени Жусупа Баласагына. Дунгане. 18 June 2011. 2
December 2014
<http://www.university.kg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2301:2011-06-18-04-
37-26&catid=868:2011-06-14-05-28-18&Itemid=337>.
• Advameg. Dungans - Religion and Expressive Culture. 2 December 2014
<http://www.everyculture.com/Russia-Eurasia-China/Dungans-Religion-and-Expressive-
Culture.html>.
• Alles, Elizabeth. "The Chinese-speaking Muslims (Dungans) of Central Asia: A Case of Multiple
Identities in a Changing Context." 6.2 (2005): 121-134.
• Da, Shao. The Dungans -- Cultural Emissaries in Central Asia. 21 August 2003. 2 December 2014
<http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Aug/72893.htm>.
• Fathi, Habiba. "Gender, Islam, and social change in Uzbekistan." Central Asian Survey 25.3 (2006):
303-317.
• Hong, Ding. "A Comparative Study on the Cultures of the Dungan and the Hui Peoples." Asian
Ethnicity 6.2 (2005): 135-140.
• Kyrgyzjer. Dungans. 2007. 2 December 2014
<http://www.kyrgyzjer.com/en/kg/section27/section304/3350.html>.
• Mackerras, Colin. "Some Issues of Ethnic and Religious Identity among China's Islamic Peoples."
Asian Ethnicity 6.1 (2006): 3-18.
• Tovar, Solidad Jimenez. Cultural Adaptation of Dungan Migrant Communities in the Multi-ethnic
Context of Kazakhstan. 2 December 2014 <http://casca-halle-zurich.org/cultural-adaptation-of-
dungan-migrant-communities-in-the-multi-ethnic-context-of-kazakhstan/>.
• Wang, Wenfei, Shangyi Zhou and Cindy C. Fan. "Growth and Decline of Muslim Hui Enclaves in
Beijing." Post-Soviet Geography and Economics 43.2 (2002): 104-122.
