ABSTRACT
Muslims in China are hardly ever featured in international media, except when stories of bomb explosions and riots in the Chinese Central Asian region of Xinjiang or the destiny of Uyghur Guantanamo detainees hit the headlines for a day or two. Such reporting not only presents Uyghurs as conflictual (regardless of whether the journalist is sympathetic to their cause or not), but it also obscures the existence of other Muslim groups in China, in particular the Hui. Contrary to the Uyghur who speak a Turkic language and inhabit China’s Northwestern-most region, Hui are predominantly Chinese speaking (see below) and spread all over China’s vast territory. With a population of approximately 10 million, they are also the most numerous Muslim ethnic group in the country and the third largest of all Chinese minorities.
