Pursuing the idea further, the use of a kinship term in this context suggests the idea of a conversion, since there can be kinship only between members of the same religion, and nobody will accept such an idea since religious belonging is transmitted within patrilineage.ġ4We should also note that the words gufu and jiujiu designate people whose children could marry. Moreover the term gufu marks a form of superiority, for it affirms that the speaker belongs to a generation older than that of his interlocutor. These terms of address, which in ordinary circumstances are unremarkable, become insulting between a Han and a Hui, for they affirm the existence of an unacceptable and unimaginable kinship between the interested parties, either because one is Muslim and the other not, or because they belong to two different minzu.
That is to say that the terms gufu, jiujiu or laogandie are used equally by young and old, whatever the age of the interlocutor. This term is used by both Han and Hui.ġ3As far as we know, the terms of address involved in joking relationships do not take into account the generations of individuals. Where the word jiujiu is concerned, some state that it is only used by the Hui to a Han, others only the opposite.ġ2“ Oh! lao gan die!” (Hey, dry father!) between two people who meet. In response the Hui or the Han will answer with an insult or make a significantly insulting gesture.ġ1“ Jiujiu ni qu nar?” (Where are you going, uncle?) 18, “Xiao jiu le!” (Little uncle!). For example:ħA Han says to a Hui (or the other way round): “ jiao wo gufu!” (Call me uncle), the Hui answers: “ bu jiao, weishenme jiao ni gufu!” (No, why should I call you uncle).ĨOr else “ gufu, gufu lai le!” (Uncle’s coming!), “ gufu zai…(name of the Hui or Han village)” (Your uncle is from…). The most common term is gufu: uncle (husband of the father’s sister). Educated circles cannot use them nor even provide any examples of them, retired professors (both Han and Hui) emphasise the lack of culture in peasant circles ( meiyou wenhua) to explain these differences of language. The only indication given is that they must not concern the interlocutor’s mother or daughter. One can imagine what these expressions are, coarseness being as popular in China as it is in the rest of the world. Sometimes the gesture is sufficiently evocative. Besides these words connected to the terminology of kinship, there are others, probably spoken more spontaneously, which are called “dirty” ( zang) by those who use them, and to which this researcher, being both female and foreign, could not gain access, either orally or in writing, all the more so as these expressions are generally in dialect.
What makes these terms insulting is the fact that they are used between people from two groups who are supposedly unable to have any links of kinship by alliance, because they are of different religions in our day people talk of the difference of “ minzu” (nationality) 15.
The terms we have found are always linked to the terminology of kinship 14. They generally know of the existence of these kinds of relationships, they may be present, but they never actively participate. 6First of all we must specify that the joking relationships observed or described by villagers (both Han and Hui) concern only men women are completely excluded from them.
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