This much-needed work on ethnicity in Asia offers a major sociological analysis of Hui Muslims in contemporary China. Using both qualitative and quantitative data derived from fieldwork in Lanzhou between March 2001 and July 2004, it looks at the contrast between the urban life of the Han people, the ethnic majority in the city of Lanzhou, and the Hui people, the largest ethnic minority in the city, and assesses the link between minority ethnicity and traditional behaviour in urban sociology and research on ethnic groups of China.

In-depth interviews and survey data provides a fresh perspective to the study of ethnic behaviour in China, and offers a rich account of Hui behaviour in seven aspects of urban life: neighbouring interaction, friendship formation, network behaviour, mate selection methods, spouse choice, marital homogamy, and household structure.

Contributing to the global discourse on Islam, religious fundamentalism and modernity, this book will be invaluable to anyone interested in Chinese society, Islam, religion, development, urban studies, anthropology and ethnicity.

Table of Contents

1. New Wine, Old Bottle

2. Neighbors United, Neighbors Divided

3. Sworn Brotherhood or Modern Friendship 4. A Lonely Crowd or a Network Society?

5. Finding a Mate in a Metropolis

6. Who Marries Whom?

7. 'Match Door' Marriages

8. Family Behavior

9. Ethnicity and Urban Life in China

Zang Xiaowei earned a PhD from UC Berkeley in Sociology, MA in East Asian studies in UC Berkeley, BA in history in Xiamen University. He has taught in department of sociology in the Flinders university of South Australia, Australia; Department of Asian and international studies in City University of Hong Kong; Now he is professor in China studies and school head in East Asian school in the University of Sheffield, UK.