The Muslim Quarter

China shares a border with 14 countries. Can you name them all?

                       (Answer at the end of this post**)

I mention this, not just as a fun geography question, but also because it explains a lot about Chinese history and contemporary China.  China’s history is one long story of battles beyond the borders:  the Turks (640 AD), Tibet (670 AD and then again in 745 and then again in 801), the Muslims (717 AD), the Mongols (1167) the Manchu(1644) , the Uighurs (765 AD and again in 1211- 1241 and then again in 1381),  the Burmese (1277)…  and the list goes on.  

I also mention this because almost always when you talk to Americans about China, the issue of Xinjiang and Tibet come up.  More often than not the discussion focuses on how the PRC treats these outer provinces. Many, however, don’t seem to realize how long and old the history is.

The Muslim Quarter

A tranquel view inside the
Great Mosque

I’m not here to sort out the geopolitical relationships of China’s Western border, but it is worth noting that it makes China an incredibly diverse nation.  If you go south, you feel in the influence of Laos and Vietnam.  The Northeast province of Heilongjiang shares a border with Russia, and you can see it in the architecture, food and ethnicity. In the 1920s,  Ha’erbin was home to the largest Jewish community in the far East, with over 20,000 Jews—mostly refugees from the harsh pogroms in Russia.  The Western Provinces offers mosques, a diversity of  Islamic communities,  mutton kebabs,  small tea-houses, bustling bazaars, the call to prayer from the neighborhood mosque, camels, ruined desert cities, and vast desert expanses. 

One of the Entrances to the Muslim Quarter

Shaanxi, our Province, has a strong and vibrant Muslim community.  At our school, the third floor of the “canteen’s” (cafeteria) is halal.   One of the Central-Western city blocks of central Xi’an hosts the “Muslim Quarter.”  It is tucked behind the city’s drum tower and is a vast warren of narrow streets, fast moving electric bicycles, and tourists.  The Hui community (Chinese Muslims) have lived here since the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD).  You will see butcher shops, lots of products made from sesame seeds, tiny mosques behind imposing wooden doors, men in white skullcaps, women in colorful veils, and food that is definitely not your traditional Chinese fare -- skewers of beef and squid, flat breads, and sweets that are quite unidentifiable, but smell like burned sugar.

Bakery near our house

That is the most obvious concentration of Muslim culture in our area; but if you are looking, you can find it beyond the walled city-center, and  throughout the city.   

Two blocks from our apartment is Dave’s and my favorite bakery.  A Uighur man and his brother bake this beautiful round bread in a clay oven, and sell it for 4 yuan (50-cents). He always wants to talk to us in Chinese about New York.  New York is very big, isn’t it?  Are you from there?  Meiguo (America) is also very large.  One block over from the bakery is a Muslim restaurant that serves Chao Mien Pian -- a lovely stew-like dish that is tomatos, square noodles and some sort of meat on top.

Chao Mein Pian

Not surprisingly, several of my students identify as Uighur and write proudly of the beautiful characteristics of their Western home.  Yuan wrote a beautiful poem about growing up in China’s Mongolian region.   She explains: 

“I have spent my childhood time in the far West in China. The place is called Ejin Banner, which is isolated and remote. And this poem is all about the imagery left in my mind.   I  hope I have conveyed my feelings of loneliness, wild, mystery and love to my childhood place through this poem.”

My Ejin Banner

I saw a shimmering light at the end of the desert

At the corner of the map, far West.

I am just thinking

That I have been missing you for too long.

There’s something inside my weary head

That wants us to meet again.

Wild geese fly across the deep blue sky,

Spots after spots, lines after lines,

the echoes from the songs of the bards,

the oldest and loneliest rhymes.

Fitful gusts come

Picture taken from Trip.com to show you
what the Ejin Banner looks like

winnowing through the smell of many unknown fields,

telling me never stop my steps forwards into the gentle good nights.

My dearest Ejin Banner,

Please don’t worry about your tough kid too much.

Inches of yellow sand falls from my fingers

teaching me the meaning of instant and immortal,

the morality of nature and history,

the mysterious disappearance of an ancient city,

the elusive spirits punishing evil and prizing the kind,

the obscure carved language spread in soft lullabies.

No White Rabbit and Alice, only adventures for the toughest

Hush, my child, it’s the time to go to bed.

Witness the wildflowers on the grasslands

where heroes and battle steeds come to die.

My innocent child’s eyes stare at them,

understanding  eternity and death.

The wind is more distant than the furthest places.

My Mongol lute cries without tears.

I return the distance of distant places to the grasslands.

The Heihe river winds its way, just like thousands of years before

Her breasts feed the different sons

Mongols, Russians, Uigur and Han:

Rose willows, golden Euphrates polar, and carnelians.

She taught me how to live harmoniously with different people and tribes,

how to cherish the treasure of nature and

Also how to fight against nature.

By the river I grew up lonely, accompanied by endless loneliness,

hearing the fluting by the flowing Crescent Spring,

learning the legends from Dunhuang grotto mural,

tackling and dancing with my internal emotion inside.

Beside the reeds, the date palms blooming shyly

Afraid of disturbing this peaceful, pure loneliness.

The starry sky above my head shows me the way home.

Take my horse by the bridle, with my amulet on my wrist

I battle bone-chilling wind from the boundless ground.

I will come back, safe and sound.

                                                                             --Yuan

Chloe also wrote the following folk piece about a region of China.  She provided the picture to illustrate it.   (Confession:  I’m not completely sure that I understand her poem, but it provides some vivid images of the west!)

The Girl and the Camel

In the north wind, a little girl led a camel.

 The wind whistled past her ears, blowing a piece of straw.

Assignment was: Find a picture
and write a story about it.  This
is Chloe's picture

The little girl burst out laughing.

She said: Camel, camel, I can smell someone ahead.

We found the village.

The camel beside her laughed and said,

“I want to eat meat and drink wine. I’ve already smell the food.”

The little girl hit the camel on the nose:

"Food is not free to eat, you have to work."

Then she suddenly became a little upset.

"If I were any wiser, I could make you human, too.”

The camel put out his tongue and licked the girl's hand.

His voice was low and gentle.”My strong body can support labor,

so that neither of us will be hungry."

The little girl stretched her arms around the camel.

As night fell, the wind grew cold,

the carpet of gold grass faded,

 the dark spread from the eastern horizon.

"Let's hurry, it's getting dark.

Perhaps we can find someone to take us in tonight.

You can sleep in the bed and I will sleep on the straw mat...

Have you ever slept in bed? Super comfortable!

Ten thousand times more comfortable than straw."

She began to sing.

A cattle herder, after a long day's work,

 led the cattle home, when he heard a touching song in the distant sky.

Camels on the Gollum Mountain

People below the Gollum Mountain

The camel on the Gollum Mountain,

when it comes down, it becomes a man

Gollum, Gollum Learn from people,

Work hard early in the morning

 late in the evening, and you will have a home.

In 2008 and 2009, there were street protests and terrorist attacks in Xinjang Province which led to at least 200 deaths and 1700 injuries, according to the Chinese police reports.  Since then, Beijing has increased surveillance and imposed restrictions on the local people.  Western governments see this as an attack on civil liberties, imposition of martial law and cultural marginalization. The CCP sees it as a “war-on-terror” protecting the peace, and ensuring that another revolution doesn’t emerge from the West to tear the country apart as it has in eon’s past.  When I listen to Western news, it presents one side.  However, living here, I can see the situation through both lenses. One thing that strikes me as I talk to my students about the culture and history of both China and America.  They know a lot more about us than we know about them. 

Below is a Photo Album of our visits to the Muslim Quarter:

Entering the Muslim Quarter.
The Bell Tower is directly ahead.

 

Gate leading to the warren of bazaars

The Great  Mosque

The Great Mosque was built during the Tang Dynasty
and had a presence in Xi'an for over 1200 years.  It
was expanded in Song, Yuan, Ming and
Qing dynasty....

Inside the Big Mosque's walls

Store selling swee

Inside  the Big Mosque

One of the many mosques. This one was built
in 705 AD, during the Tang Dynasty

Entrance to the Da Xue Xiang Mosque

One of many beautiful walls in the Quarter

Across the street is A Taoist Temple

More Diversity:  The Duchenghuang Temple
Bult in 1387 (Ming Dynasty), it is a "City
God Temple." Here, they worship local Chinese
Gods from Xi;an

This is the Hall of Birth:Mother of
Constellations and Mercy

Hall of Birth:  Mother of Stars

*** China is bordered by 14 countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam