ABSTRACT
Although Islamic dress in the context of Chinese society is more subtly nuanced and sparingly expressed than religious dress-codes in many Muslim diasporas elsewhere (for example, F. Mubarak on Australian Muslim women, 1996), and in urban areas barely visible (Pang, 1997), nevertheless these minimal and subtle, but dynamic, expressions carry rich symbolic meanings too important to ignore. The Islamic head-dress, such as scarf, veil/head-dress, or round cap (miansha, gaitou, maozi), more than any other garment most strikingly differentiates Muslim women from other women in Chinese society; less immediately obvious, yet equally important, is the concept of modest dress, embracing also concealment of arms, legs, and ankles. For men the most visible symbol of Islamic identity is the round soft hat, flat at the top, or in the hexangular shape. While such dress is more prominent in concentrated Muslim communities in Northwest China and small enclaves in North, Central and Southwest China, its continually evolving and regionally diverse language carries meaning far beyond cover for the head and the body. Moreover, it constitutes a dynamic discourse on ‘category creation … as an act of power’ (Lindisfarne-Tapper & Ingham, 1997:17) by which the body becomes a site of display of political (state or collective) appropriation, or of its limitation.
