We Huizu have a genetic link to the Quran, so we are Muslims whether or not we practice the teachings of Islam." -Mr. Ding, 61, retired Kunming city employee, September 2010 "Ethnicity is irrelevant. What matters is that one believes in Allah and faithfully practices the teachings of Islam." -Mr. Ma, 58, administrator of the Shadian Great Mosque, May 2011 As the two quotations above illustrate, what constitutes Islamic "authenticity" in Yunnan Province varies ontologically in different localities. During my two years of fieldwork among Hui Muslims there, my interlocutors in both the provincial capital of Kunming and the rural

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