ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the economic success of the Hui miniority in two communities in China, contrasting "Muslim" entrepreneurialism with recent changes in capitalistic practice among the Han, among whom these Muslims have lived and interacted for nearly 1,200 years. It argues that whereas the Muslim Chinese may not be more predisposed toward business than any other Chinese, there has been a less ambivalent view toward the market among Muslims than among the Han. This has to do with not only the role of the market in promoting Islam among the Hui but also the role of the state in both encouraging Muslim participation in the market while formerly restricting Han entrepreneurialism as antisocialist. Recent changes in People's Republic of China (PRC) policy toward private business under the late Deng Xiaoping's maxim "To get rich is glorious" has stimulated a profound debate about the market among the Han Chinese in general and a tangible ambivalence.
