Ningxia: Land of Deserts and Mosques

by Tony Lambert

By Chinese standards the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China is tiny—just 41,250 square miles tucked away inside the great bend of the Yellow River. Its population is small, too—only 5,430,000 (1999 official statistic) which is under half the population of Shanghai or Beijing.

Yinchuan, the capital, was long ago the capital of the mysterious Western Xia dynasty 1038-1227 AD) The beehive-shaped tombs of their kings can still be seen west of the city. Nothing else remains, as the Mongols ruthlessly destroyed the kingdom in the early 13th century.

Ningxia is the poorest and most arid area in China. Farmers say their poverty is caused by natural disasters, the arid climate and the falling ground water levels. Despite the one-child policy there has been a population growth which has tripled the number of mouths to feed in some counties in just twenty years. In the south, many Muslim Hui villagers live in small cave-homes because they cannot afford houses made of brick. They sleep on a giant “kang” which is kept warm during winter by burning manure or straw. Many hundreds of thousands of people live under the official poverty line of 500RMB income a year (only about U.S. $65). Ningxia is now on the frontline for the government’s “Grand Strategy for Developing the Western Regions.” This strategy aims to pour investment into the backward western areas of the country which have fallen economically behind the advanced coastal provinces. Ningxia is largely desert and subject to serious sandstorms and erosion. In recent years some progress has been made in planting 30 million trees as a shelter belt, as well as planting vineyards. However, this has come at some cost: local farmers and herders have to be persuaded to give up their traditional shepherding to plant and care for trees, as their flocks destroy the thin topsoil at an alarming rate. There has been some resistance to this change as Ningxia still does a lucrative trade in “halal” mutton to the Muslim world.

Ningxia is home to the Muslim Hui people who total about one-third of the total population (or about 1.8 million). The Hui are the descendants of various Central Asian peoples, as well as Arabs and Persians, who traveled the Silk Road many centuries ago, settled and intermarried with the Han Chinese.

Islam of the Sunni variety is the main religion in Ningxia. The number of mosques has grown from 1,800 in the 1980s to more than 3,000 today and there are over 5,000 imams. The number of Muslim clergy is growing at an annual rate of 3% according to the Director of Ningxia’s Religious Affairs Bureau (China Today Dec. 2000) Every year 150 men graduate from Islamic training schools. Many Hui people make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The great Nan Guan Mosque in Yinchuan was totally demolished during the Cultural Revolution. Local Muslims could only spread their prayer-mats in the market to worship, suffering much persecution. Later in 1981 the mosque was rebuilt, and today Islam is flourishing under the watchful eye of the authorities who are nervous of terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. The tensions between Islam and the forces of secularism are very obvious. In some towns most of the women wear veils. Some people are eager to study Arabic and a few speak it. However, most shops sell alcohol, which is forbidden under Islamic law.

GAIWANCHA – A HUI TREAT!

Strolling the dusty streets of any city in northwest China, what can be nicer than to find a Hui restaurant and sit down for a refreshing cup of tea! But not any tea—it has to be “Gaiwancha”—Covered Bowl Tea. Green tea is mixed together with rock sugar and dried fruits such as lichees. Pour on the boiling water—and hey, presto, a wonderful thirst-quencher! You slurp the tea between the china bowl and its cover which acts as a strainer. The waiter will fill it up with fresh boiling water any number of times.

THE GOSPEL IN NINGXIA

It was not easy to bring the gospel to this remote region. In 1911 Mr. Fiddler of the China Inland Mission (CIM) described his terrifying experiences in Ningxia when civil war broke out between the local Muslims and the Manchu government when the old dynasty was being overthrown and a republic proclaimed:

“On December 17, 1911 it was rumored that Mohammedan Imperial soldiers from Lanzhou were nearing, so the rebels left off fighting and again started for the north firing and plundering every place they came to. That evening 3,500 Moslem soldiers arrived. The Manchu general said ‘I want you to go to Ningxia city and kill every man woman and child in it...’ They shot down every person they saw so that in half an hour 400 people lay dead.”

The Fiddlers were wonderfully delivered and successfully planted the gospel in the area.

Throughout the first part of the 20th century, the CIM struggled to plant churches in Ningxia. For much of the time, the region was controlled by fierce Muslim warlords. By the time of the Communist victory in 1949, the small church in Yinchuan numbered about 75 members and there were small churches or out-stations established at Pingluo, Zhongning, Zhongwei and some other places.

Today according to official Three Self statistics there are only 12,000 Protestant Christians in Ningxia. (Tianfeng May 2001) That is only 0.2% of the population. The real figure is certainly higher because of the existence of unregistered house churches, but Ningxia must be one of the least evangelized areas in the country.

Although the number of Christians is not great, it has certainly grown considerably since the missionaries left in 1951. The first church to be re-opened in Ningxia after the Cultural Revolution was the old CIM church at Pingluo, in the north of the region, in 1979. Pingluo gained the local reputation of being an “Antioch” for its evangelistic fervor. By mid-1986 the Pingluo congregation had grown to 400-500 believers and by 1994 to over 1,800. There are now at least 10 churches and 30 registered meeting points in the Pingluo region.

In the new mining area of Shitanjing there were only three Christians in 1982. By 1985 they had increased to over 300 and by 1990 to over 600. However, the fastest-growing church is reputed to be that at Shizuishan. It began in 1982 with eight believers. A year later they had increased to seventy with forty requesting baptism. By 1989 there were over 900 converts, many of them coal miners. Several dozen meeting points were set up in this area each with a membership of 20-50 people.

Most of the Christians appear to live along the Yellow River in the north of Ningxia. The southern part of the province is a Muslim stronghold. However, a research article in a Nanjing magazine published in 1997 revealed that house churches were strong in the southern town of Guyuan. Christians had been meeting secretly there until 1990 when they rented three large rooms for 70RMB a month. Normal attendance has been about 300, with up to 1,000 coming at Christmas and Easter. According to this survey, Christian house churches had multiplied throughout Guyuan County totalling thirty. “The number of believers has multiplied ten-fold since the early fifties.” Women account for 80% of the Christians. 30% are farmers and 70% urban workers. 30% are illiterate. (Taken from Zongjiao magazine 1997) The researcher did not find that the Christians had any “subversive” links with overseas Christian organizations but was purely indigenous. However, he did call for tightened Party control over them.

Why do people turn to Christ in Ningxia? According to the non-Christian researcher there are multiple reasons. One independent businessman said: “I set up a clothing shop in town and did very well. But people must have something to believe in. Believing in Christ helps me to be a better person and to fill my spiritual emptiness.” Others in poverty turned to Christ after receiving practical aid from the local church.

All in all, the gospel has taken root in Ningxia and has spread vigorously to many poor farmers and working people. However, the converts have been overwhelmingly among the Han population. There is very little evidence of Hui having been converted. This must become a key focus for prayer.

Copyright OMF International