Who the Hui are
The Hui are Chinese Muslims — ethnically and linguistically Chinese, descended largely from Silk Road traders, and spread across the country rather than concentrated in one province. They read and speak Mandarin, which means the entire Chinese Bible and the whole body of Chinese Christian material is already in their language.
And they are among the least reached peoples in China. The Chinese church has multiplied extraordinarily over seventy years, but that growth has largely passed the Hui by: Islam is the marker that distinguishes them from the Han majority, so becoming a Christian reads as becoming Han, which is to say ceasing to be Hui at all.
Signs of hope
No language barrier at all — the full Chinese Bible, and a very large Chinese church living alongside them.
The honest difficulty
Faith functions as ethnic identity, so conversion is read as assimilation; and religious activity of every kind is under increasing state surveillance.
What "Frontier" means
Fewer than 1 in 1,000 follow Jesus, and there is no indigenous movement large enough to grow on its own. Most people in this group will never meet a Christian.
This describes access to the Gospel, not the worth of a people or the sincerity of anyone's faith.
How to pray for the Hui
Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.
- Pray for the Hui — Chinese-speaking, surrounded by the church, and still unreached.
- Ask God to help Chinese believers see their Hui neighbours as reachable.
- Pray for Hui followers of Jesus who want to remain Hui.
- Pray for freedom to meet where religious life is increasingly watched.
Where the Hui live
Each nation profile carries church size, unreached peoples, what is going well, what is hard, and four prayer points.
Questions people ask about the Hui
Who are the Hui people?
The Hui (also called Chinese Muslim, Dungan) are a people group of roughly 11 million, living mainly in China. They speak Mandarin Chinese and are predominantly Islam (Sunni). They speak the language of one of the fastest-growing churches in history, and remain almost untouched by it. Population figures for people groups vary considerably by source and by how a group is defined.
Are the Hui an unreached people group?
The Hui are classified as frontier. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 follow Jesus, and there is no indigenous movement large enough to grow on its own. Most people in this group will never meet a Christian. Scripture status: Full Bible in Chinese.
How can I pray for the Hui?
Pray for the Hui — Chinese-speaking, surrounded by the church, and still unreached. Ask God to help Chinese believers see their Hui neighbours as reachable. Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.