Hui in China, Hong Kong

Hui
Photo Source:  Leslie D. Montano 
Send Joshua Project a map of this people group.
People Name: Hui
Country: China, Hong Kong
10/40 Window: Yes
Population: 37,000
World Population: 14,005,200
Primary Language: Chinese, Mandarin
Primary Religion: Islam
Christian Adherents: 0.00 %
Evangelicals: 0.00 %
Scripture: Complete Bible
Online Audio NT: Yes
Jesus Film: Yes
Audio Recordings: Yes
People Cluster: Hui, Dungan
Affinity Bloc: East Asian Peoples
Progress Level:

Introduction / History

By the middle of the seventh century, Arab and Persian traders and merchants traveled to China in search of riches. In addition, in the thirteenth century the Mongols turned people into mobile armies during their Central Asian conquests and sent them to China. These civilians were expected to settle down at various locations to farm while maintaining combat readiness. As artisans, scholars, officials, and religious leaders, they spread throughout China, and some spread out into Hong Kong. However, most of the Hui Muslims in Hong Kong arrived within the last 100 years.

Where Are they Located?

The bulk of the Hui people are spread throughout the PRC. Some are also in Hong Kong, and a smaller number have migrated to other parts of the world.

What Are Their Lives Like?

They are on good terms with the Chinese government, so not many have left China.

What Are Their Beliefs?

Almost all Hui are Sunni Muslims. They worship in thousands of mosques throughout China and Hong Kong. Islam first came to China via Abu Waggas, one of Mohammed's contemporaries. He preached in southern China and had the Beacon Tower built in memory of Mohammed in AD 627. In recent years, an increasing number of Hui have traveled to Mecca for the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Mission work among the Hui in the PRC's Ningxia Province commenced in 1885. A few Hui converts were numbered among the Hui in Manchuria, Gansu, and Qinghai by the 1920s. In 1934 an American missionary known as Hai Chun Sheng baptized several Hui Muslim leaders in Qinghai. Recently a mission team secretly distributed 35,000 gospel tracts and cassette tapes to the Hui. A large church has emerged in northern Ningxia, but almost all the believers are Han Chinese, and few of them have a desire to reach out to the Hui. Most Hui have yet to hear the gospel of Christ, but there are now a few thriving churches among the Hui. Some of these believers can reach out to the Hui people in Hong Kong.

What Are Their Needs?

The Hui people need a spiritual hunger that will drive them into a quest for spiritual truth and for the true Savior.

Prayer Points

Pray that the Hui people in Hong Kong will have a hunger for spiritual truth that will lead them to seek and find Christ from their Christian neighbors.
Pray for the Chinese believers to do whatever it takes to introduce Jesus Christ to the Muslim Hui people.
Pray for a Disciple-Making movement to flourish among the Hui people in Hong Kong.

Text Source:   Keith Carey