“
The Role of Mosques in Overcoming the Economic Exclusion Faced by the
Uyghur Muslim Minority Living in Urban China:
A Comparative Case Study of
the Muslim Hotel Mosque & the Mei Lin Mosque, Shenzhen, China, 2016”
The Muslim Hotel situated in Luohu District, Shenzhen. Source: Photo by author, 2016.
The Mei Lin Mosque situated in Futian District, Shenzhen. Source: Photo by author, 2016. Author: Ali Bal
Student Number: 6178286 E-mail: ali.bal@student.uva.nl
Institution: University of Amsterdam, Graduate School of Social Sciences Study: MSc Human geography, Urban Geography
Course: Geo Track: Master Thesis Project (7354102004) Lecturers: Marco Bontje & Ching Wen Yang
Date: 20th of June 2016 Word count: 27322
Acknowledgements
This master thesis project is about the role of the urban mosque, as a place of worship, in overcoming the economic exclusion faced by a large share of the Uyghur Muslim minority immigrants living in the City of Shenzhen, China. The creation of this master thesis report was something I couldn’t have done without the help of several people, whom I hereby would like to acknowledge.
First and foremost, I would like to thank all the interviewees for their openness and cooperation. Special thanks go to the imams of the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque. Without their permission and help it wouldn’t have been possible to conduct the data gathering as planned in the research proposal, which was made in the preparatory stage of this master thesis project.
Secondly, I would like to thank the group of students from Shenzhen University and Peking University for their help given during the data gathering of this master thesis project. Without their provision of translation assistance during several interviews it wouldn’t have been possible for me to conduct interviews with some important persons. Special thanks go to Shuang Li, sociology student at Peking University, for her consistent provision of assistance during my fieldwork in general.
Thirdly, I would like to thank my supervisors Marco Bontje and Ching Wen Yang for their provision of feedback and guidance during this master thesis project.
Besides my supervisors, I also would like to thank International New Town Institute for giving me the opportunity to conduct research in the City of Shenzhen. Special thanks go to Linda Vlassenrood, for planning and organizing a large part of the field trip.
Last but not least, I want to thank my family, girlfriend and close friends for supporting me throughout this master thesis project and my study in general.
Have fun reading this master thesis report.
Abstract
This master thesis project investigates the role of the Chinese urban mosque in overcoming the production part of the economic exclusion, which is faced by the Uyghur Muslim minority living in the coastal cities of China. With the production part is meant, the non participation in or blocked access to the labour market. This research was conducted in one of the biggest coastal cities of China, called the City of Shenzhen, on the basis of a comparative case study design and qualitative research methods. Firstly, in this study the economic exclusion of the Uyghur community living in the City of Shenzhen is explored and described. Secondly and most important, the socio-economic role of the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque, which both are situated in the City of Shenzhen, are explored and compared. These mosques are the only mosques acknowledged by Shenzhen’s government and visited by Uyghurs on a regular base. Based on the results of this study, it could be stated that a share of the Uyghurs living in the City of Shenzhen do feel themselves excluded from the labour market, mainly due to “discrimination” and “stigmatization”. The role of the mosques and their communities in overcoming this exclusion can be seen as relatively small. The Uyghur visitors mainly foster their bonding capital and not their bridging and linking capital. This is mainly due to the existence of a “language barrier” between the Uyghur visitors and other visitors and workers of both mosques. Thus, the role of the mosque could be bigger for the Uyghurs if there was no such thing as a “language barrier”. The role of the economic activity fostered by the mosques and taking place in their direct surrounding area can be seen as relatively big. In this case, the role of the economic activity in the direct surrounding area of the Muslim Hotel Mosque can be seen as more important for the economically excluded Uyghur population living in the City of Shenzhen. This is mainly due to the lager amount of Uyghur businesses situated around the Muslim Hotel Mosque.
Keywords: Economic exclusion, Social capital, Social Network, Uyghur migrants, Ethnic minorities, Mosque, the City of Shenzhen, China, Economic activity.
Inhoudsopgave
1. INTRODUCTION 13
1.1PROBLEM DEFINITION 15
1.2RELEVANCE 15
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 17
2.1THE UYGHUR ETHNIC MINORITY 17
2.2THE XINJIANG CONFLICT 17
2.2THE UYGHUR MIGRATION TO THE CITY OF SHENZHEN 18
2.3THE ECONOMIC EXCLUSION OF UYGHUR URBAN MIGRANTS 19
2.3.1 Political and Cultural Exclusion 21
2.3.2 Economic Exclusion 21
2.4SOCIAL CAPITAL 23
2.4.1 The Economic Advantages of Social Capital 24
2.5SOCIAL CAPITAL AND THE MOSQUE 24
2.6THE MOSQUE AND ITS DIRECT SURROUNDING AREA. 26
2.7UYGHUR MIGRANTS AND THE MOSQUE 27
2.8CONCLUSION LITERATURE 28 3. RESEARCH QUESTION 30 4. METHODS 32 4.1CONCEPTUAL SCHEME 32 4.2RESEARCH DESIGN 35 4.3RESEARCH POPULATION 35 4.4RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS 36 4.5DATA COLLECTION 36 4.6DATA ANALYSIS 38
4.7RESEARCH LIMITATIONS ÐICAL ASPECTS 38
5. THE CASES 41
5.1THE MUSLIM HOTEL MOSQUE 43
5.2THE MEI LIN MOSQUE 45
6. RESULTS 47
6.1THE ECONOMIC EXCLUSION OF UYGHURS LIVING IN THE CITY OF SHENZHEN 49 6.2THE MOSQUE AND THE ECONOMIC EXCLUSION OF THE UYGHURS 54 6.3THE WORKERS OF THE MOSQUE AND THE ECONOMIC EXCLUSION OF THE UYGHURS 57 6.4THE VISITORS OF THE MOSQUE AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH UYGHURS 60 6.5ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE DIRECT SURROUNDING AREA OF THE MOSQUES 64 6.6THE EFFECT OF THE MOSQUES ON THEIR DIRECT SURROUNDING AREA 69
6.7THE UYGHURS AND THE ECONOMIC ACTIVITY 71
7. DISCUSSION 74
8. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS 77
8.1CONCLUSION 77
8.2RECOMMENDATIONS 78
9. CRITICAL REFLECTION 79
10. REFERENCES 81
11. APPENDICES 83
11.1.APPENDIX A,SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW IN TURKISH 83 11.2.APPENDIX B,INTERVIEW QUESTION FOR A PROFESSOR OF PEKING UNIVERSITY 84
Figures, Maps, Tables and Pictures
Figures:
Figure 01: The three dimensions of “social exclusion” p. 20
Figure 02: The three dimensions of “social capital” p. 23
Figure 03: Conceptual model p. 33
Figure 04: Pictures of the Muslim Hotel Mosque p. 43
Figure 05: Pictures of the Mei Lin Mosque and its temporary prayer rooms p. 45
Maps:
Map 01: Shenzhen’s and Xinjiang’s location in China p. 13
Map 02: A map of the mosques situated in the City of Shenzhen p. 41
Tables:
Table 01: An overview of the conducted observations p. 45
Table 02: An overview of the interviewed people p. 46
Pictures:
Picture 01: An Uyghur street vendor selling sugarcane juice on the streets of Shenzhen
p. 49 Picture 02: An Uyghur street vendor selling nuts and dates on the streets of
Shenzhen
p. 49 Picture 03: The stall of an Uyghur street vendor selling naan on the streets of
Shenzhen
p. 50 Picture 04: The imam of the Mei Lin Mosque standing together with some Hui
visitors
p. 58 Picture 05: A street vendor selling kebab in the direct surrounding area of the
Mei Lin Mosque
p. 64 Picture 06: A Hui supermarket in the direct surrounding area of the Muslim
Hotel Mosque
p. 66 Picture 07: An Uyghur restaurant in the direct surrounding area of the Muslim
Hotel Mosque
p. 66 Picture 08: An Uyghur restaurant situated around the former XUAR of China
Office
p. 67 Picture 09: An Uyghur restaurant situated around the former XUAR of China
Office
1. Introduction
he City of Shenzhen (Map 01) is situated in the Pearl River Delta, one of the so called “city regions” in the east of The People’s Republic of China (PRC) (Map 01), hereinafter referred to as China (Wu & Gaubatz, 2013:86). The city region can be seen as “(…) one of China’s wealthiest and most productive regions” (Wu & Gaubatz, 2013:20) and, in addition to the City of Shenzhen, consists of the Cities of Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Zhongshan and Foshan (Wu & Gaubatz, 2013:20). The development of the City of
Shenzhen began after the year 1980, in which the government of China gave it the status of “Special Economic Zone” (INTI, n.d.). After granting the Special Economic Zone status, the area of Shenzhen rapidly transformed from an area with several small fishing villages, with a total population of 30.000, to a metropolis with a permanent resident population of 10.78 million and a large floating population, by the end of 2014 (Shenzhen Government, n.d.).
The City of Shenzhen is considered as a new town-city. A new town-city can be defined as a city which is completely planned and built from scratch (INTI, 2012). Despite the fact that the City of Shenzhen is only 35 years young, it already tries to make a shift from an industrial city to a creative city (INTI, n.d.). In order to accomplish this transformation, the City of Shenzhen needs to take into account which social, economic and environmental factors need to be improved (INTI, n.d.). Due to the rapid growth, the City of Shenzhen namely has to deal with several problems including problems which are related to its population, largely consisting out of immigrants.
As part of the relatively more advanced eastern seaboard, the City of Shenzhen is attracting migrants from all over China. According to INTI (n.d.), 82% of Shenzhen’s population can be considered as immigrant. Among these immigrants there is also a share belonging to the minority population, which mostly live in the relatively poorer western part of China (Rayila, 2011:46). The minority population of China can be divided into 56 different groups, which are officially recognised by the Chinese government. One of these groups are the Uyghur. The Uyghur are an ethnic minority living in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (XUAR), hereinafter referred to as Xinjiang. As can be seen on “Map 01”,
T
Map 01: Shenzhen’s and Xinjiang’s location in China. Source: RFA Graphic (2010)
Xinjiang is situated in the north-western part of China (Kaltman, 2014:10), bordering the countries of Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia and Tajikistan (Kaltman, 2014:11). The Uyghur speak a Turkic language, called the Uyghur language, which is written in the Arabic script and they are Sunni Muslims. Their language and religion are not the only things that distinguish the Uyghur ethnic minority from the Han Chinese majority. Differences are also visible when it comes to their physical appearance.
The Uyghur ethnic minority is also represented in the City of Shenzhen. Although their number is not determined and relatively small, in comparison to cities like Beijing or Shanghai (Kaltman, 2007:12), their presence can’t be ignored. According to several articles, a large share of the Uyghur ethnic minority population living in cities situated in the more advanced eastern seaboard, like the City of Shenzhen, are feeling themselves economically excluded (The Economist, 2015). An important part of this economic exclusion is the non-participation in or blocked access to the labour market.
According to Putnam (2000), acquiring social capital can be an important factor when it comes to gaining better access to the labour market in general. The mosque and its community can be seen as the prime source of social capital for Muslim immigrants, like the Uyghur in the City of Shenzhen (Foley & Hoge, 2007). When it comes to the City of Shenzhen, there are two mosques where Uyghurs and other Muslim groups gather, namely the following: The Mei Lin Mosque, situated in Futian District and the Muslim Hotel Mosque, situated in Luohu District. Both mosques are acknowledged and partly funded by the government of the City of Shenzhen and visited by Uyghur people on a regular base. Besides the ability of a mosque and its community to foster the social capital of its worshippers, it could also foster the economic activity within its direct surrounding area. The economic activity fostered by a mosque mainly consists of Muslim orientated businesses, like halal food businesses. What is the role of the mosques, their community and their direct surrounding area in overcoming the economic exclusion faced by the Uygur ethnic minority living in the City of Shenzhen?
1.1 Problem Definition
As stated in the introduction, the mosque and its community can be seen as a prime source for Muslim immigrants to acquire social capital and therefore in gaining better access to the labour market. Based on this statement, an important source of social capital for the economically excluded Uyghur Muslim minority living in the City of Shenzhen could be the Mei Lin Mosque and/or the Muslim Hotel Mosque. According to Putnam (2000); Hawkins & Maurer (2010), the concept of social capital can be divided into bonding capital, bridging capital and linking capital. Firstly, based on these three dimensions, this research aims to investigate to what extent the economically excluded Uyghur visitors is able to foster its social capital by visiting the Mei Lin Mosque and/or the Muslim Hotel Mosque.
Besides the ability of a mosque and its community to foster the social capital of its worshippers, it could also foster Muslim oriented economic activity within its direct surrounding area. In case of the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque, Muslim oriented economic activities like halal butchers, halal restaurants or supermarkets are noticeable. These economic activities could contribute to employment opportunities for Muslims living in the City of Shenzhen and thus also for Uyghurs. Secondly, this research aims to investigate to what extent the economic activity, fostered by the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque, contributes to employment opportunities for the economically excluded Uyghurs living in the City of Shenzhen. The aims of this research project, which are stated above, form the following research question: “What is the role of the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel, in overcoming the economic exclusion faced by the Uyghur Muslim minority living in the City of Shenzhen?”.
1.2 Relevance
The relevance of this master thesis project can be divided into two parts, namely the relevance from a societal point of view as well as an academic point of view. Firstly, the societal relevance of this research will be explained. This research tries to contribute to a better understanding of the non-religious functions of a mosque situated in an urban area. In this case, the socio-economic function, as a non-religious function, of two mosques will be examined. By linking the socio-economic function of a mosque to the problem of economic exclusion, better insights could emerge concerning the role of a mosque for Muslim ethnic minorities that have to deal with economic exclusion. In this case, the focus will be on the possible importance of the Mei Lin Mosque and the Mosque of the Muslim Hotel for the
Uyghur Muslim minority that has to deal with economic exclusion, including non-participation in or blocked access to Shenzhen’s labour market. Secondly, the academic relevance of this research will be explained. There is a lot of literature available concerning places of worship as a place where people can generate social capital. This literature i s mainly based on research about places of worship, like churches and mosques, situated in Western countries, like the United States of America and countries situated on the continent of Europe. This research tries to give a contribution to the knowledge concerning urban mosques situated in China. In addition, there is not much literature about the role of a mosque and its direct surrounding area in overcoming the economic exclusion of a Muslim minority, especially when it comes to a new town-city as the City of Shenzhen. This research could give better insights concerning the role of a mosque in overcoming economic exclusion that could be faced by a Muslim minority. Finally, there is not much literature available concerning the effect of a mosque on the economic activity that takes place in the direct surrounding area of the mosque, and to what extent Muslim minorities are able to take part in this economic activity to overcome their economic exclusion. This master thesis project could contribute to the knowledge concerning this topic.
2. Theoretical Framework
In this theoretical framework the most important topics concerning this master thesis project will be discussed. Firstly, background information about the migrating Uyghur ethnic minority will be provided. Secondly, the concept of economic exclusion will be explained. Thirdly, the concept of social capital will be explained and associated with the mosque. Fourthly, the possible impact of a mosque on the economic activity in its direct surrounding area will be discussed. Finally, this theoretical framework will end with a short conclusion.
2.1 The Uyghur Ethnic Minority
As described in the introduction of this master thesis report, the Uyghur population can be described as an ethnic minority. The concept “ethnic minority” can be described as follows: A group of people with “shared ethnic, religious, linguistic or cultural characteristics and a position of numerical minority in the overall population of a given state or territory” (Justino & Litchfield, 2003:3). According to Justino & Litchfield (2003:4), this definition is not internationally accepted. The missing international definition of the concept of “ethnic minority” is contributing to the fact that a lot of ethnic minorities still aren’t recognized by the state which they live in. As indicated before, this is not the case when it comes to the Uyghur ethnic minority. This ethnic minority is officially recognized by the Chinese government, like 55 other ethnic minorities in China.
2.2 The Xinjiang Conflict
Despite being officially recognized as ethnic minority and having a degree of autonomy, many Uyghurs are displeased and want more recognition by means of total independence for Xinjiang. The urge of independence led to an ongoing separatist conflict between Uyghurs and the Chinese authorities, which is called “the Xinjiang conflict”. The Xinjiang conflict mainly takes place in Xinjiang, but sometimes the conflict is also noticeable in other parts of China by means of terrorist attacks, mainly carried out by Uyghur separatists. An example of a terrorist attack is the knife attack conducted in the City of Guangzhou, situated in the same province as and relatively nearby the City of Shenzhen. The attack was carried out on the 6th of march 2015 by Uyghur separatist in front of a railway station (Hunt & Lu, 2015). During
the knife attack the attackers wounded 10 people, belonging to the Han Chinese ethnic majority.
Partly due to the Xinjiang conflict, people from Xinjiang are migrating to other countries or other areas in China. The conflict is namely not only fostering tensions, but also oppression of the Uyghur population living in Xinjiang (Kanat, 2014). An example of the Chinese government’s oppression, is the supress of all Uyghur religiosity expressions. Besides drastic oppression, another important reason for Uyghur people to migrate is the relatively poor economic condition of Xinjiang. The Chinese government tried to better the economic condition of Xinjiang by the implementation of major development campaigns, such as the Great West Development Project (Rayila, 2011:46). But, according to Rayila (2011:46), the Uyghur population experienced limited benefits of these campaigns. In order to better their economic situation many Uyghurs migrated to more advanced cities situated on the eastern seaboard, like the City of Shenzhen. The migration of Uyghurs to the City of Shenzhen is further described in the section below.
2.2 The Uyghur Migration to the City of Shenzhen
According to Rayila (2011:46), “with the deepening of opening and reform since 1978, the cities along the coast have become areas in which all nationalities from around the country gather”. This also applies to the Uyghur ethnic minority, which mainly migrate from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (abbreviated as XUAR) to the coastal cities, like the City of Shenzhen, to improve their economic situation. In comparison to other coastal cities, the migration of Uyghur to the City of Shenzhen is a relatively new phenomenon (Kaltman 2007:12). In the year 2007, the following statement was made by Kaltman (2007:12): “In Shenzhen, the Uighur population is significantly smaller than in other cities because of the development of Shenzhen as a modern city began only in 1980, when it was designated a “special economic zone.” This statement was made on the basis of a qualitative research about Uyghur migrants living in coastal cities like the cities of Beijing and Shenzhen. According to Kaltman (2007), in the year 2007, the City of Shenzhen had no Uyghur enclave and the Uyghurs told him “that they did not know anyone outside their family or the friends they moved to the city to be with” (Kaltman, 2007:21). Between 2007 and 2011 the number of Uyghurs living in coastal cites, like the City of Shenzhen, increased (Rayila, 2011:45). This means that the City of Shenzhen also could have a bigger population than Kaltman (2007) described in the year 2007.
According to Rayila (2011:47), the Uyghur living in urban China, which includes the City of Shenzhen, can be divided in the following four categories: Uyghurs who were born and grew up in urban China, Uyghur students who are studying in universities in urban China, the floating Uyghur population, and Uyghurs who are working in factories. The first two categories are Uyghurs who generally are fluent in Chinese and the second two categories are Uyghurs who generally have limited ability in speaking Chinese (Rayila, 2011:47). Most of the Uyghur migrating to urban China are part of the floating Uyghur population, which mainly are “(…) young to middle-aged man, often having no more than a high school education” (Kaltman, 2007:21). These Uyghur mainly work in restaurants or as unlicensed street vendors. According to Guo & Zhang (2010:49) and Rayila (2011:46) Uyghurs, in general, are having a hard time to adapt to urban life and are being blocked from the labour market. Because of this economic exclusion, which will be discussed in the next section of this theoretical framework, a large share of the Uyghur migrants can’t obtain a legitimate job (Kaltman, 2014:85).
2.3 The Economic Exclusion of Uyghur Urban Migrants
On the official website of the Shenzhen government, the City of Shenzhen is described as follows, “As a city of migrants, Shenzhen is open-minded, tolerant and innovative. It is an ideal place for domestic and international talent to start businesses” (Shenzhen Government, n.d.). This description sounds nice, but according to the literature and online news articles, lots of ethnic minority migrants living in coastal booming cities, like the City of Shenzhen, feel or are economically excluded from the Han Chinese majority. For example, in an online news article is stated that Uyghur “(…) feel left out of China’s economic boom” (The Economist, 2015). According to The Economist (2015), minorities in China, like the Uyghur ethnic minority, don’t enjoy the same ready access to the job market as the Han Chinese do.
The economic exclusion of Uyghur migrants living in coastal booming cities, like the City of Shenzhen, was also examined by Kaltman (2007). According to Kaltman (2007:31), a large share of the Uyghur migrants living in costal booming cities think “(…) that the Han have limited their opportunities for legitimate employment”. This limitation is, according to Uyghur respondents interviewed by Kaltman (2007), mainly caused by cultural marginalization, criminal stigmatization and institutionalized racism. The Han Chinese, interviewed by Kaltman (2007), largely disagree with this statement. According to them, the problem of limitation is mainly caused by a huge language gap, many cultural differences and
a relatively low education level. These factors highly contribute to the bad reputation of Uyghur people, which is present among a large share of the Han Chinese, namely the reputation of Uyghur being backward people who are fierce, primitive and criminally minded (Kaltman, 2007:12). The so called Xinjiang conflict, which is briefly described in a previous section, can be seen as an important factor creating this reputation. According to an Uyghur respondent interviewed by Kaltman (2007:81), this reputation makes it hard for Uyghur to gain trust from Han Chinese in order to be able to obtain a job or conduct business.
According to Kaltman (2007), the situation of the Uyghur ethnic migrant can differ between cities. Due to a lack of respondents he wasn’t able to conduct research in the City of Shenzhen as he did in other cities, like the City of Beijing. Concerning the City of Shenzhen and its Uyghur population, Kaltman (2007) did make some statements based on the relatively view interviews he conducted. Concerning the City of Shenzhen, Kaltman (2007:102) states that the Uyghur living in the City of Shenzhen are viewed suspiciously by local Han Chinese and Hui people. Most of the Uyghur migrated to the City of Shenzhen in order to find better economic opportunities, but a large share of them haven’t found what they were looking for. According to the Uyghur respondents interviewed by Kaltman (2007:90,), the Han Chinese employers prefer to hire Han Chinese employees, which makes it unable obtaining a job when being Uyghur.
In order to understand the economic exclusion, faced by the Uyghur ethnic minority living in the City of Shenzhen, the concept of “social exclusion” has to be defined and explained. The concept of social exclusion can be defined as “(…) exclusion or marginalization of one group by another group in society because of different group identity” (Dertwinkel, 2008:7). As can be seen in “Figure 01”, which is shown below, the concept of social exclusion can be divided into the following three dimensions; political exclusion, cultural exclusion and economic exclusion. These dimensions will be defined in the following two subparagraphs.
Figure 01: The three dimensions of “social exclusion”. Source: Dertwinkel (2008:7)
2.3.1 Political and Cultural Exclusion
In this section the concepts of “political exclusion” and “cultural exclusion” will be defined. Because the focus of this master thesis report is on economic exclusion, this section will be kept relatively short. The concept of “political exclusion” can be defined as “the lack of equal voting or political participation rights as compared to the majority of the population” (Dertwinkel, 2008:9). The concept of “cultural exclusion” can be defined as the exclusion of minority groups from society because of different values, norms and ways of living. According to Dertwinkel (2008:9), speaking another language than the ethnic group which controls the state can be seen as the most important factor contributing to cultural exclusion. The existence of a language barrier could namely block the integration with the broader community. This factor “becomes especially severe for new minorities in the form of migrants, because language distances are normally large between these groups and the ethnic group that forms the majority in a state” (Dertwinkel, 2008:9). In the following section the concept of “economic exclusion” will be defined and important overlap of the 3 dimensions (Figure 01), concerning this thesis, will be indicated.
2.3.2 Economic Exclusion
The concept of “economic exclusion” can be defined as the “(…) non participation in or blocked access to the labour market, public services, finance, housing, educational and health sector, among other possibilities” (Dertwinkel, 2008:7) and can be divided into consumption
Social exclusion
Political
exclusion
Cultural
exclusion
Economic
exclusion
and production. The consumption side of economic exclusion can be defined as, “the capacity to purchase goods and services and the capacity to generate income and savings” (Dertwinkel, 2008:9) and the production side of economic exclusion can be defined as, “the participation in economic activities through the labour market” (Dertwinkel, 2008:9). The focus of this master thesis project lies on the production part of economic exclusion and thus on the non-participation in or blocked access tot the labour market of an ethnic minority. According to Dertwinkel (2008:9), this part of economic exclusion can be seen as a key point to address during studies concerning ethnic minorities.
Economic exclusion can be seen as a group-level phenomenon and is a question of being in or out (Dertwinkel, 2008:10). According to Justino & Litchfield (2003:2), the most important factor of economic exclusion is “discrimination”. Besides this important factor, there are other factors which could play a contributing role within the “economic exclusion” of a minority group. The first factor that will be addressed is poverty. According to Justino & Litchfield (2003:10), an ethnic minority is generally poorer than the ethnic majority. According to Dertwinkel (2008:10), economic exclusion can be fostered by income poverty, but it can also occur the other way around. The second factor that will be addressed is low educational attainments. According to Justino & Litchfield (2003), “minorities and indigenous peoples struggle to achieve equal levels of education with majority groups” (Justino & Litchfield, 2003:11). The level of education of a potential employee can be seen as an important factor when accessing the labour market. If a minority group is relatively lower educated than its majority counterpart, their labour market opportunities could also be lower. An important side effect of the low educational attainments of ethnic minorities is the disability of speaking the language of the majority. If a minority group isn’t educated well enough, the change on not speaking the majority language is lower. This makes it more difficult to access the labour market, which is mainly controlled by the ethnic majority. As described in the previous section, the disability of not being able to speak the major language can also be addressed as being an important part of cultural exclusion. Thus it can be stated that, cultural exclusion has a high degree of overlap with economic exclusion. Ethno-linguistic fractionalization can namely be seen as an important factor fostering the economic stagnation of a minority group (Woolcock, 2012:12). The third and also last factor that will be addressed is social cohesion. The concept of social cohesion can be described as the bonding of members from one group to another group. No or little social cohesion between a minority group and a majority group could foster the economic exclusion of the minority group. If there is no or little social cohesion, the ability to foster social capital through the majority can
be difficult. According to Dertwinkel (2008:10), social capital can be seen as an important factor in preventing economic exclusion. In the following sections this concept will be defined and linked to the economically excluded Uyghur Muslim minority. Besides the factors indicated above, the economic exclusion of a certain minority group could also be fostered by self-exclusion. This occurs when a minority group isn’t interested in living together with the majority group. Based on available literature, it is hard to say whether this is the case when it comes to the Uyghur population. According to Kaltman (2007:11), a considerably share of the Uyghur population living in coastal cities don’t want to assimilate. Many respondents interviewed by Kaltman (2007) expressed resentment at having to learn Chinese (Kaltman, 2007:22). Uyghurs who are making effort to assimilate into Han society are sometimes called “Chinese Uyghur” by other Uyghurs. According to Kaltman (2007), this expression can be seen as a derisive term.
2.4 Social Capital
According to Lancee (2012), “people are embedded in the social networks that they form and these networks affect their lives” (Lancee, 2012:17). A social network can be described as a network of social interactions and personal relationships. According to Lancee, “one’s social network can be treated as capital” (Lancee, 2012:17). This capital is also known as social capital and can be divided, as can be seen in “figure 02”, into the following dimensions: bonding, bridging and linking capital (Putnam, 2000:20; Hawkins & Maurer, 2010:1780). These dimensions of social can be explained as following: Firstly, bonding capital, this dimension refers to social capital which can be described as “inward looking and tend to reinforce exclusive identities and homogeneous groups” (Putnam, 2000:20). According to Putnam (2000:20), bonding capital can also be described as exclusive capital. Secondly bridging capital, this dimension refers to social capital which is “outward looking and encompass people across diverse social cleavages” (Putnam, 2000:20). According to Putnam (2000:20), bridging capital can also be described as inclusive capital. Thirdly linking capital, this dimension refers to social capital which individuals can gain by building “relationships with institutions and individuals who have relative power over them” (Hawkins & Maurer, 2010:1780).
Figure 02: The three dimensions of “social capital”. Source: Putnam (2000); Hawkins & Maurer (2010).
2.4.1 The Economic Advantages of Social Capital
According to Brook (2005:113), social capital can be seen “as a positive asset for those who are seeking to find work or change jobs within the labour market”. This is also stated in an article written by Piracha et al. (2013). The article gives a description of the relation between social capital and the labour market performances of immigrants in Australia. According to Piracha et al. (2013:5), immigrants generally have a smaller social network than natives, although they can economically benefit from their relatively small social network. The economic advantages of social capital are also described by Putnam (2000:347). According to Putnam (2000:347), social capital can be seen as an important factor when it comes to the development of someone’s economical status. Therefore, in this thesis the role of social capital in surviving the economic exclusion, faced by Uyghur migrants living in the City of Shenzhen, is investigated. According to Kaltman (2007:84), “migrant Uyghur tend to rely on their social networks”. Most of the Uygur migrants follow their family members or friends in order to conduct business together.
2.5 Social Capital and the Mosque
The social network of a Muslim immigrant mainly consists of people and institutions linked to their own ethnic and/or religious background. If looking at institutions, a mosque can be considered as an important institution for Muslim immigrants in general. The primary
Social Capital Bonding Capital (Exclusive) Bridging Capital (Inclusive) Linking Capital
function of a mosque is a place of worship, but in addition to this function it also can have non-religious functions, like a social function. The social function of the mosque can be important for Muslim immigrants when it comes to building their social network and thus generating social capital. According to Foley & Hoge (2007:91), the mosque can be described as “a prime source of social capital for recent immigrants”. The ability of Muslim immigrants to generate social capital from a mosque is described in various literature. For example, according to Dekker et al. (2011:15) & Brook (2005:114), a place of worship, like a mosque, is an example of a place where people could generate social capital. By being an active member of a religious organization an individual can “(…) strengthen and extend networks which may assist in acquiring a job” (Brook, 2005:114). An example of Muslim migrants generating social capital from a mosque can be found in an article written by Cenker (2010:224). In this article the functions of a mosque situated in Bratislava are described. About the mosque as a source of social capital for Muslim migrants in Bratislava the author stated the following: “It became clear to me very quickly that the “mosque” is a rich source of social capital. Not only can the visitors find personal support and company for leisure, but they can benefit from capabilities and capacities of others. There are businessmen, employers and ambassadors, who attend the meetings regularly. Those looking for a job or a professional consultation have a good opportunity to get one” (Cenker, 2010:224). The importance of religious institutions, like a mosque, as a place for believers to foster their social capital is also stated by Putnam (2000:67). According to Putnam (2000:69), religious people can be seen as unusually active social capitalists when they regularly present during meetings.
Based on the literature used above, it can be stated that a mosque can be seen as an important place for its worship community to generate social capital. But, also in this case the distinction between bonding, bridging and linking social capital, which was created earlier, must be taken into account. According to Dekker et al. (2011:16), a lot of religious institutions and their communities, like mosques, mainly foster bonding capital and aren’t always able or willing to foster bridging and linking capital. This disability or unwillingness could lead to stronger social isolation of a community linked to a religious institution (Foley & Hoge, 2007:10 & 233). The level of fostering bridging and linking capital varies by religious institution and its community. According to Foley & Hoge (2007:111), this level mainly depends on the socioeconomic composition of a worship community and the way a worship institute is organized. About the influence of the socioeconomic composition of a worship community, the following can be stated: “A community that is diverse in income
levels and occupational niches would provide greater potential resources to members than a uniformly poor community” (Foley & Hoge, 2007:32). According to Foley & Hoge (2007:32), high-income members are richer in social capital and thus could contribute strongly tot the social capital of members with a lower socioeconomic status. About the influence of the way a religious institution is organized, the following can be stated: The influence of an institution, like a mosque, depends on the way and to what extent the institution is linked to other institutions and how and to what extent social gatherings are organized (Foley & Hoge, 2007:99). According to Foley & Hoge (2007:46), some religious institutions can just be seen as “houses of worship” only focusing on religious activities. Other strive to organize social gatherings, like youth programs, besides their religious activities in order to strengthen bonds among members and non-members. These social gatherings can be seen as moments where members have the opportunity to strengthen their social capital.
Besides the socioeconomic composition, the level of fostering bridging and linking capital could also depend on the ethnic composition of a worship community (Foley & Hoge, 2007:98). According to Foley & Hoge (2007), greater diversity makes possible a more diverse array of ties and resources (Foley & Hoge, 2007:98). An important factor within these ethnical diverse communities is a common language. If a visitor isn’t able to communicate with visitors having another ethnic background, the possibility to benefit from the diversity of the community disappears. About the importance of a common language Foley & Hoge (2007:98) stated the following: “common language often serves to bridge differences in national origin and provide the basis for bonding among members” (Foley & Hoge, 2007:98). In multi-ethnic communities of religious institutes, the ethnic majority mostly takes the leading role. If this group is mainly focussed on itself, other ethnic groups being part of the community could be forgotten or ignored.
Besides social capital a mosque could also foster the economic activity in its direct surrounding area. This aspect will be discussed in the following section.
2.6 The Mosque and its Direct Surrounding Area.
A mosque can have an impact on its direct surrounding area. An example can be the fostering of commercial or economic activity. The economic activity that can be fostered by a mosque mainly consists of activities concerning the visitors of the mosque. An example of a mosque fostering economic activity can be found in an online article published by PlaceMatters (n.d.).
According to the article, a mosque situated in England was able to foster economic activity in its surrounding area. Concerning the size of the economic activity the article states the following: “There are now roughly 30 stores owned by Muslims and members of the congregation nearby. Several of these stores are located right next to the mosque and sell items such as prayer rugs, kufis (Muslim skull caps), clothing, books, tapes and oils ” (PlaceMatters, n.d.). Another example can be found in an article concerning a mosque situated in Indonesia. According to Rachmawati (2012), the mosque has an effect on the economic activity in its surrounding area.
The importance of a mosque and its direct surrounding area is also noted by Kaltman (2007). During several interviews with Uyghur migrants conducted by Kaltman (2007), the direct surrounding area of the mosque has been appointed as important area to conduct business. According to these Uyghur respondents, the mosque attracts a lot of people who can be seen as highly potential costumers. “Here I do better business because the mosque is nearby”, a middle-aged Uyghur street vendor selling honey cake, which was interviewed by Kaltman (2007:82), stated.
Based on the literature used above, it could be stated that the surrounding area of the mosque can be seen as an important area to conduct business for Uyghur migrants living in coastal cities, like the City of Shenzhen. In the following section will be described to what extend these Uyghurs visit the mosque.
2.7 Uyghur Migrants and the Mosque
As indicated in the introduction of this master thesis report, most of the Uyghurs are Muslim. An important activity of a practising Muslim could be going to the mosque on a regular basis. According to Kaltman (2007:65), Uyghur migrants living in coastal cities, like the Cities of Beijing and Shanghai, go to the same mosque as the Hui people and other Muslim ethnic groups. Several respondents interviewed by Kaltman (2007) stated that a lot of the Uyghur migrants don’t attend during prayers because they can’t or don’t want to leave their business. “It isn’t that Uyghur don’t have access to mosques. But the truth is, in modern society, there isn’t enough time to pray” (Kaltman, 2007:65), an Uyghur professor interviewed by Kaltman (2007) stated. Another factor of Uyghur not attending during prayers is fear. According to several Uyghur respondents interviewed by Kaltman (2007), many Uyghur don’t attend during prayers because they have the feeling that Han Chinese will look down on them. This mainly because Han people think that religion is something for primitive and/or ignorant
people (Kaltman, 2007:45). According to several Hui respondents interviewed by Kaltman (2007), many Uyghur don’t attend mosque because they are less interested in practising their faith than most of the Hui people.
2.8 Conclusion Literature
All 56 ethnic minorities which are officially recognized by the Chinese government are represented in the City of Shenzhen. One of these ethnic minorities are the Uyghur. The Uyghur mainly migrate from Xinjiang to the City of Shenzhen in order to better their economic position. Based on several literature and articles, it could be stated that, a large share of the Uyghur migrants living in coastal cities, like the City of Shenzhen, are economically excluded by the Han Chinese majority. The economic exclusion of ethnic minorities, like the Uyghur living in the City of Shenzhen, could be caused by several factors. According to Justino & Litchfield (2003), the most important factor is discrimination.
The concept of economic exclusion can be seen as a dimension of social exclusion. Besides economic exclusion, the concept of social exclusion can be divided into the dimensions called political exclusion and cultural exclusion. According to Dertwinkel (2007:11), the concept of social exclusion gradually developed more and more to what we call economic exclusion, due to factors like the process of modernization. Based on this statement it could be said that, the concepts of political exclusion and cultural exclusion could be seen as secondary dimensions. According to Dertwinkel (2007:11), economic exclusion is more relevant because it could prevent people “(…) to generate an income fore food, health and housing, or to get basic education for one’s children” (Dertwinkel, 2007:11), which can be defined as “basic needs”. Despite political exclusion and cultural exclusion could be seen as secondary dimensions, their importance need to be acknowledged. Within studies about ethnic minorities this is especially the case when it comes to the dimension of cultural exclusion. According to Dertwinkel (2007:9), the dimension of cultural exclusion could namely overlap the dimension of economic exclusion. In dimensions “might be present if minority groups are excluded form society because they speak another language as compared to the one spoken by the ethnic group that controls the state” (Dertwinkel, 2007:9). Because, the economic dimension of social exclusion can be seen as more relevant and important and because many Uyghur people living in coastal cities are feeling themselves economic excluded, the focus of this study will be on the dimension of economic exclusion.
Part of the economic exclusion is the the non-participation in or blocked access to the labour market. According to Putnam (2000), an important factor to get better access to the labour market is social capital, which can be divided into bonding, bridging and linking capital. Because social capital can be seen as an important factor in obtaining economic inclusion, the focus of this study will be, besides economic exclusion, on social capital. Since the Uygur people can be divined as a Muslim ethnic group, the mosque can be seen as an important place for them to foster their social capital. According to Foley & Hoge (2007:111), the strength of the role of the mosque in fostering social capital highly depends on the composition of the community of the mosque and the way a mosque is organized. If the composition of the community is socioeconomic and ethnic diverse the level of fostering social capital could be greater than when it isn’t. According to Foley & Hoge (2007:98), an important factor of an ethnic diverse community is a common language. This is needed in order to connect the different groups whit each other. Concerning the organization of a mosque, it can be stated that the ability of a mosque to foster the social capital of it’s visitors depends on the willingness and ability to organize social gatherings for all its members in addition to the usual religious activities.
Besides social capital a mosque could also foster economic activity in its surrounding area. Based on several literatures, it could be stated that the economic activity fostered by the mosque mainly consist out of Muslim orientated businesses. According to Kaltman (2007), many Uyghurs conducting business in coastal cities, like the City of Shenzhen, see the surrounding area of a mosque as an ideal place to conduct business and earn money. Because the surrounding area of the mosque could be seen as an important place for Muslim people to earn money and thus overcome economic exclusion, the focus of this study will also be on the Muslim orientated economic activity fostered by the mosque.
In concluding on the theories discussed above, the focus of this study is on the following concepts: Economic exclusion, social capital and economic activities. The first concept will be used to divine the economic exclusion faced by Uyghur people living in the City of Shenzhen. Within this economic exclusion the focus will be on the non-participation in or blocked access to the labour market of the City of Shenzhen. The usage of the second two concepts will give insights in the way a mosque could foster the economic inclusion of an economically excluded Uyghur. In the following chapter the research question of this master thesis project will be divined and illustrated, which is based on the concepts and theory described in the introduction and theoretical framework of this thesis report.
3. Research Question
In this section the main question and sub-questions concerning this master thesis project are presented and illustrated. The main question can be seen as the methodological point of departure of this master thesis research. The conclusion, which will be given at the end of this report, will be based on answering this main question. The sub-questions, which are more narrow than the main question, are formulated in order to provide an answer to the main question in a structured way.
The main question of this research project is: “What is the role of the Mei Lin Mosque and
the Muslim Hotel, in overcoming the economic exclusion faced by the Uyghur Muslim minority living in the City of Shenzhen?”
In order to answer this main question, the following sub-questions are formulated:
Sub-question 1: How can the economic exclusion of Uyghur Muslim migrants living in
Sub-question 2: To what extent do the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque pay
attention to the economic exclusion of the Uyghur Muslim minority living in Shenzhen?
Sub-question 3: To what extent do both mosques and their workers foster the social capital
of an economically excluded Uyghur Muslim living in Shenzhen?
Sub-question 4: To what extent do other Muslims visiting the Mei Lin Mosque or the Muslim
Hotel Mosque foster the social capital of an economically excluded Uyghur Muslim living in Shenzhen?
Sub-question 5: How can the Muslim Oriented economic activity in the direct surrounding
area of both mosques be defined?
Sub-question 6: To what extent is the economic activity in the direct surrounding area of
both mosques fostered by the mosque?
Sub-question 7: To what extent does the economically excluded Uyghur Muslim minority
living in Shenzhen economically benefit from the economic activity taking place in the area surrounding the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque?
In this master thesis the focus lies on the role of the urban mosque in overcoming the economic exclusion faced by Uyghur Muslim migrants living in the City of Shenzhen. As already stated in the conclusion of the theoretical framework, the main concepts, which are used in this master thesis, are economic exclusion, social capital and economic activities. The indicator for economic exclusion are the feelings and experiences, concerning the economic exclusion, of the Uyghur ethnic minority living in the City of Shenzhen. The indicator for social capital is social networks, which can be divided into bonding, bridging and linking capital. The indicator of economic activity is the Muslim orientated economic activity which take place around both mosques. The first question is formulated to find out to what extent and why Uyghur migrants living in the City of Shenzhen feel themselves economically excluded, mainly concerning the non-participation in or blocked access to the labour market of the City of Shenzhen. Sub-question 2 until and including 4, are formulated to find out whether and to what extent the mosques, their workers and visitors foster the social capital of an economically excluded Uyghur Muslim, making use of the Mei Lin mosque or the Muslim Hotel Mosque. The last three sub-questions, sub-question 5 until and including 7, are formulated to describe the economic activity taking place in the direct surrounding area of the mosque, to find out to what extent this economic activity is fostered by the Mei Lin mosque or the Muslim Hotel Mosque and to what extent Uyghur migrants are able to take part in the
economic activity. The sub-questions will be answered in chapter 7 “Results”. In the following chapter, the methods used in order to address these questions will be defined.
4. Methods
This chapter provides information concerning the research methods used during this research project. The research methods are formed on the basis of Bryman (2012). In order to collect data a field trip to the City of Shenzhen was organized. This field trip lasted about 6 weeks and took place from the beginning of April 2016 until mid-May 2016. This chapter is organized as follows. Firstly, the conceptual scheme will be presented and illustrated. Secondly, the choice of research design will be explained. Thirdly, the research population will be divined. Fourthly, the choice of research instruments will be explained. Fifthly, the data collection and analysis will be explained and illustrated. Finally, there will be looked at the limitations and ethic aspects occurred during the data gathering process of this master thesis project.
4.1 Conceptual Scheme
In this section the conceptual model, which can be seen in “Figure 03”, is presented and illustrated. In this model it is visible that this master thesis project concerns two cases, namely the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque, both situated in the City of Shenzhen. As indicated in the theoretical framework, the Uyghur Muslim ethnic minority living in the coastal cities of China are feeling themselves economic excluded. Part of this economic
exclusion is the non-participation in or blocked access to the labour market, in this case of Uyghurs living in the City of Shenzhen. Also indicated in the theoretical framework is that the mosque and its community and direct surrounding area could contribute to better access to the labour market for its economically excluded Uyghur visitors. This could be achieved by fostering the social capital, which can be divided into bonding, bridging and linking capital, of their Uyghur visitors and by fostering economic activities in its direct surrounding area. The fostering of both of these aspects could eventually contribute to the economic inclusion of the Uyghur ethnic minority. Part of this economic inclusion is the participation in or better access to the labour market of the City of Shenzhen.
4.2 Research Design
As indicated before, the City of Shenzhen has two mosques which are acknowledged and partly funded by the government, namely the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque. Both mosques are frequently used by people from the Uyghur ethic minority living in the City of Shenzhen. Due to their importance within the Uyghur community, the decision was made to involve both mosques in this research project by using a comparative case study design. This research design was chosen in order to be able to compare both cases and to reveal possible differences. The description of both cases and the comparison will be used to form a conclusion and thus an answer to the main question of this master thesis project.
In order to be able to conduct a comparison, concerning the cases mentioned above, it was necessary to gather data. The data gathering was carried out on the basis of a qualitative research strategy. This research strategy was chosen in order to be able to get a detailed description of the feelings and behavioural patterns of the research population, which is described in the following paragraph. Due to the application of a qualitative research strategy in relation to a comparative case study design, this research project took the form of a multiple-case study (Bryman, 2012:74).
4.3 Research Population
As indicated before, this research project is about the Uyghur ethnic minority living in the City of Shenzhen. The Uyghur can be identified as the target population of this research and most of the interviews were conducted with people from this group. Besides these interviews, there were also interviews conducted with Han Chinese, Hui people, Salah people and foreign Muslims with different ethnic backgrounds. The respondents were selected through nonprobability sampling techniques, namely “snowball sampling” and “purposive sampling”. The snowball sampling technique can be defined as a technique whereby a respondent can refer to other individuals, which could become a respondent too. The purposive sampling technique can be defined as a technique whereby respondents are specifically chosen on the basis of a certain characteristic. The collecting of respondents mainly took place by visiting the Mei Lin Mosque, the Muslim Hotel Mosque, Muslim oriented restaurants and by approaching Uyghur street vendors. The following paragraph gives a description of the research instruments used during this research project in order to collect data concerning the research population indicated above.
4.4 Research Instruments
The data for this research project was gathered by conducting two primary research instruments, namely “semi-structured interviews” and “observations”. The first primary research instrument, semi-structured interviews, was chosen in order to be able to cover every topic and thereby to ensure the possibility for interviewees to talk freely about the topics (Bryman, 2012:12). Because of the sensitivity, concerning anything that has to do with the Uyghur ethnic minority population, none of the interviewees gave the permission to record the conversation. In order to continue the data gathering by use of semi-structured interviews, all of the conversations were written down by use of a laptop or a notebook and a pen.
The second primary research instrument, observations, was chosen in order to give a clear description of the mosques, their direct surrounding area, events taking place in the mosques and interactions between visitors of the mosques. The observations that were conducted can be divided into non-participant observations and participant observations. During the non-participant observations, small interviews were conducted, pictures where taken and the surrounding area of the mosques were mapped. The mapping was conducted by use of a paper pad holder, paper, a map of the respective district and pencils. The non-participant observations were conducted in and around the mosques, at Muslim orientated businesses and nearby Uyghur street vendors. Most of the observations were conducted before approaching a potential respondent, during an interview or after conducting an interview.
Besides the non-participant observations, I was also able to conduct several participant observations. These observations were conducted in both mosques during and around prayer time. During these participant observations, I pretended to be a visitor of the mosque. By pretending to be a visitor I was able to observe the mosque, its workers and its visitors while being part of the community. It was easy to pretend to be a visitor, because lots of Muslim foreigners visit one of the mosques in order to pray during their stay in the City of Shenzhen. During the participant observations I used my smartphone to take notes. By using my smartphone, I was able to take notes openly and without blowing my cover.
4.5 Data collection
As already indicated in the research instruments part of this chapter, the data collection was conducted through multiple semi-structured interviews (See Appendix A), one structured interview (See Appendix B) and multiple observations. The semi-structured interview where
mainly conducted in and around the temporary prayer rooms of the Mei Lin Mosque and the Muslim Hotel Mosque. The semi-structured interviews conducted with Uyghur, mainly took place in restaurants or, in case of a street vendor, on the street. In case an interviewee was only able to speak Chinese, I received assistance of translators from Shenzhen University and/or Peking University. In case an interviewee was able to speak English or Turkish, I conducted the interview by myself. The interviewees who were able to speak English were mainly foreigners from Muslim countries visiting or living in the City of Shenzhen, like Turks, Pakistani and Indians. The interviewees who were able to speak Turkish were people from Turkey visiting or living in the City of Shenzhen and a large share of the Uyghur respondents.
The structured interview was conducted with a sociology professor of Peking University. The interview took place via mail, because the professor had no time to meet me personally. The questions to the professor and the answers to these questions provided by the professor were translated form English to Chinese and from Chinese to English by one of his student assistants. This was needed because the professor wasn’t able to speak or write in English.
In “Table 02”, which can be found in the chapter “Results”, an overview of the interviewed people is given. I was able to conduct interviews with 32 persons. Based on ethnicity, these respondents can be divided as follows: 15 Uyghur, 5 Hui, 1 Salar, 3 Han-Chinese and 8 foreign Muslims with different ethnic backgrounds. Within these groups there are also some key stakeholders, namely the following: The imam of the Mei Lin Mosque, the imam of the Muslim Hotel Mosque, the owner of the Muslim Hotel, a sociology professor of Beijing University and the Secretary of the World Uyghur Congress. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to conduct an interview with someone from the government of Shenzhen and the government of Xinjiang.
Some of the semi-structured interviews, listed in “Table 02”, were conducted in association with another master student from the University of Amsterdam. This means that the data obtained from these semi-structured interviews might also be used in another master thesis report. This report is called “Muslim Migrant Entrepreneurship: How forms of capital shape entrepreneurial activity and businesses in Shenzhen” and is written by Huis (2016). The collaboration between me and Huis (2016) during these semi-structured interviews came about because we sometimes were aiming for the same person to interview. Both studies namely concern the Muslim population living in the City of Shenzhen.
