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Islam is widely spread throughout every corner of China, with the Hui people, the largest Muslim ethnic group in China, numbering over 10 million people, serving as its main carrier. Their culture types and local features exhibit great diversity across different provinces. The ceremony of Prophet's Day or Mawlid al-Nabi in China, as one of the three fundamental festivals of the Hui people alongside Eid al-Fitur and Eid al-Qurban, appears to be more comprehensive, open, and localized. Drawing from fieldwork in three Hui communities—Xi'an in Shaanxi province, Najiaying in Yunnan province, and Hezhou in Gansu province—this paper approaches the topic from the perspective of inculturation and cultural innovation. It aims to describe the ritual processes observed in these three different Hui communities and discuss how the Hui people integrate Islam with traditional Chinese culture in their local contexts, with the intention of forming and preserving their own cultural characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qixiang is a unique sacrificial culture created by the Han army eight banners in northeast China. This culture not only has elements such as shamanism and Han people burning incense, but also has military sacrificial elements. This paper argues that Qixiang is the evolution and legacy of Maji, a military sacrificial ritual in ancient China. The Han military banner people in the Qing Dynasty took Maji as the main body, combined the Manchu Shamanism with the Han incense burning, and created a cultural symbol representing their own ethnic group. At present, the study of Qixiang not only helps to understand the complexity of the development and evolution of Manchu shamanism, but also helps to reveal the ethnic identity of Han bannermen under the Eight Banners system of the Qing Dynasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. The aim of the study is to assess the impact of a multifaceted education strategy for Uyghur patients with glaucoma on their anxiety, satisfaction, and comprehension of disease information in rural China. Methods. This study recruited 100 patients who were randomized into two groups: the control group that received a conventional consultation and the intervention group that received a multifaceted education approach. Information comprehension was evaluated using a 15-item questionnaire. A 6-item State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-6) score was used to assess patient anxiety levels. Satisfaction was evaluated on the day of discharge. Results. After education, patients in the intervention group scored significantly higher than those in the control group on their knowledge of glaucoma (p ≤ 0.001). Education level, family history of glaucoma, and number of glaucoma clinic visits were independently associated with baseline scores (p = 0.038, 0.002, and 0.017, respectively). The age was negatively correlated with scores (p ≤ 0.001) after education. The STAI-6 score of the intervention group was 28.50 ± 5.13, which was significantly lower than that of the control group (32.50 ± 6.47, p = 0.001). Income levels were negatively correlated and the duration of glaucoma was positively correlated with STAI-6 scores (p ≤ 0.001 and p = 0.003 , respectively). Overall satisfaction was significantly higher in the intervention group (p ≤ 0.001). The knowledge score was positively correlated with overall satisfaction and follow-up probability (both p ≤ 0.001). The STAI-6 score was negatively correlated with overall satisfaction and follow-up probability (p = 0.017 and 0.006, respectively). Conclusions. This new multifaceted educational strategy can enhance patients' knowledge of glaucoma, reduce their anxiety, and improve their satisfaction. ClinicalTrials.gov (No. 2100050926) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some ethnic groups are remarkably resistant to surrounding influences, and only slightly undergo assimilation. What, then, are the most significant factors affecting ethnic assimilation? The foremost is state intervention. The state can support the nationalist tendencies of one group of inhabitants while suppressing the ethnic expressions of non-dominant groups. How do various ethnic groups respond to this kind of support or oppression? In this research note the Baloch minority, a relatively small group in Turkmenistan, have been chosen as a case study to examine the questions raised above. The chosen ethnic group under investigation here does not have a homeland to provide it with support. There are numerous such ethnic groups in non-dominant positions without states that cause tension between minorities and majorities. The tension is often extremely strong, even when such groups have political autonomy (e.g., the Kurds in Iraq and the Uyghurs in China). The aim of this report from the field is to explain how self-aware the Baloch of Turkmenistan are of their identity and the extent to which they have succumbed to modernization and attempts to render them Turkmen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Bimodality in fasting plasma glucose (FPG) distribution has been detected in several populations. However, information regarding this phenomenon among Chinese ethnic groups is minimal. This study aimed to describe and update the distribution of FPG in the Uyghur and Han populations of Xinjiang, China, as well as to estimate the cut points of FPG on the basis of bimodal distribution.Methods and Study Design: A cross-sectional study was performed among the Uyghur and Han populations of Xinjiang, China in 2013. Questionnaire survey and FPG tests were conducted among 5,923 participants aged 20-80 years. We fitted the unimodal and bimodal distributions into the FPG data by ethnicity, age, gender, and location to test whether the FPG values were consistent with a bimodal distribution.Results: The FPG distribution could be described as bimodal, except for the age group of 50 years old and below among the Uyghur and Han populations and the age group of 70-80 years old among the Uyghur population (p<0.01). However, most of the cut points estimated using this method did not fall between the corresponding means of the first and second modes.Conclusions: Although a bimodal distribution of FPG was observed in the Uyghur and Han populations of Xinjiang, China, the cut points estimated using this method were not biologically meaningful, and thus, a bimodal distribution of FPG was not useful for defining cut points to diagnose diabetes in Xinjiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research examined the role of the belief in free will on prejudice across Han Chinese and white samples. Belief in free will refers to the extent to which people believe human beings truly have free will. In Study 1, the beliefs of Han Chinese people in free will were measured, and their social distances from the Tibetan Chinese were used as an index of ethnic prejudice. The results showed that the more that Han Chinese endorsed the belief in free will, the less that they showed prejudice against the Tibetan Chinese. In Study 2, the belief of the Han Chinese in free will was manipulated, and their explicit feelings towards the Uyghur Chinese were used as an indicator of ethnic prejudice. The results showed that the participants in the condition of belief in free will reported less prejudice towards Uyghur Chinese compared to their counterparts in the condition of disbelief in free will. In Study 3, white peoples’ belief in free will was manipulated, and their pro-black attitudes were measured as an indirect indicator of racial prejudice. The results showed that, compared to the condition of disbelief in free will, the participants who were primed by a belief in free will reported stronger pro-black attitudes. These three studies suggest that endorsement of the belief in free will can lead to decreased ethnic/racial prejudice compared to denial of the belief in free will. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trust is a vital lubricant that increases the sense of security in social interactions. In this study, we investigated the intergroup trust between the Uyghur and the Han, the two largest ethnic groups in Xinjiang, China, with a Go/No-Go Association Task. Specifically, we instructed Uyghur and Han participants to respond to ethnic faces (Uyghur vs. Han) and trust/distrust words and measured the strength of the automatic associations between the faces and words for both in-group and out-group pairs. As expected, both ethnic groups showed implicit in-group trust and out-group distrust, but the Han group demonstrated stronger in-group trust and out-group distrust toward the Uyghur than the Uyghur group toward the Han. However, the magnitude of distrust of the Han toward the Uyghur was small to medium as compared with that reported by other intergroup relationship research. In addition, participant geographic location was associated with out-group distrust. These findings offer implications for developing effective strategies to encourage trust between conflicting groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most analyses of central government policy in Xinjiang focus on "the Uyghur problem". This article demonstrates the coexistence of a significant "Han problem" in Xinjiang, and thereby throws a different light on relations between center and periphery in China. Central government reactions to the Úrúmqi riots in July 2009 suggest that stability among the Han population of Xinjiang is the center's primary objective, and that this stability is seen to be facilitated by a particular style of development. Furthermore, state--society interactions in the immediate aftermath of the 2009 riots show that Han in Xinjiang perceive themselves to possess collective--if limited and contingent--influence. This perception is the product of the mass frame through which, I argue, the Han mainstream view their relationship with the central government. I call this mass frame "the partnership of stability". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies indicate that the frequency distributions of HLA alleles and haplotypes vary from one ethnic group to another or between the members of the same ethnic group living in different geographic areas. It is necessary and meaningful to study the high-resolution allelic and haplotypic distributions of HLA loci in different groups. Methodology/Principal Findings: High-resolution HLA typing for the Uyghur ethnic minority group using polymerase chain reaction-sequence-based-typing method was first reported. HLA-A, -B and -DRB1 allelic distributions were determined in 104 unrelated healthy Uyghur individuals and haplotypic frequencies and linkage disequilibrium parameters for HLA loci were estimated using the maximum-likelihood method. A total of 35 HLA-A, 51 HLA-B and 33 HLA-DRB1 alleles were identified at the four-digit level in the population. High frequency alleles were HLA-A*1101 (13.46%), A*0201 (12.50%), A*0301 (10.10%); HLA-B*5101(8.17%), B*3501(6.73%), B*5001 (6.25%); HLA-DRB1*0701 (16.35%), DRB1*1501 (8.65%) and DRB1*0301 (7.69%). The two-locus haplotypes at the highest frequency were HLA-A*3001-B*1302 (2.88%), A*2402-B*5101 (2.86%); HLA-B*5001-DRB1*0701 (4.14%) and B*0702-DRB1*1501 (3.37%). The three-locus haplotype at the highest frequency was HLA-A*3001-B*1302-DRB1*0701(2.40%). Significantly high linkage disequilibrium was observed in six twolocus haplotypes, with their corresponding relative linkage disequilibrium parameters equal to 1. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree between the Uyghur group and other previously reported populations was constructed on the basis of standard genetic distances among the populations calculated using the four-digit sequence-level allelic frequencies at HLAA, HLA-B and HLA-DRB1 loci. The phylogenetic analyses reveal that the Uyghur group belongs to the northwestern Chinese populations and is most closely related to the Xibe group, and then to Kirgiz, Hui, Mongolian and Northern Han. Conclusions/Significance: The present findings could be useful to elucidate the genetic background of the population and to provide valuable data for HLA matching in clinical bone marrow transplantation, HLA-linked disease-association studies, population genetics, human identification and paternity tests in forensic sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Have workers of minority status suffered labour market discrimination in China? Do all actors in the state sector discriminate against minority workers? What are the rationales for discrimination? To address these questions, I compare two ethnic groups (Han Chinese and Uyghur) with regard to job attainment in the state sector. Data are from a 2005 survey (N= 2,947) conducted in Ürümchi, China. Data analysis shows that controlling background characteristics does not remove the Uyghur-Han difference in job attainment in state firms. However, there is no ethnic variation in employment in redistributive agencies. This contrast is explained with reference to post-1978 market transition and the resulting differentiation in the institutional tasks between state firms and government agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]