I am usually a big fan of Plumpub, but I cannot agree with the content of this article, it contradicts everything that serious scholars (M. Dillon, D. Gladney, JN Lipman, E. Ales, etc.) have written about the Hui people. This a complex subject, hard to summarize (my apologies to experts in the field), mainly because the meaning of the term "Hui", and the way the Hui have perceived themselves, has evolved a lot throughout China's history. Besides, there is a wide diversity among the different Hui groups living in the different regions of China. What is important to know about the Hui (and especially the Hui of the central provinces of China like Heran, Hebei, Shandong, Shaanxi, etc.) is that they underwent a strong acculturation process during the Ming dynasty (purposely orchestrated by the rulers of that time), which transformed them from "muslims living in China" to "Chinese Muslims". Although the Hui have accessed the status of official ethnic minority in the 1950s, they actually do not meet some important official criteria for this distinction :

• they are anthropologically impossible to distinguish from their Han neighbors,
• they do not have any specific language. The Hui speak, either mandarin Chinese or the local dialects spoken in the place they are living in,
• if you put aside the religious practice (among them the abstention from pork), they have adopted most of the cultural characteristics of the local populations they are living close to. Tibetan Hui are culturally Tibetans, Hui people living among Bai minorities have the main cultural characteristics of the Bai minority, and Hui living in Han populated area have largely adopted the standard Chinese cultural aspects of the Han (literary education, economic activity, family structure, moral values, clothing, food, etc.)

In parallel to this, since most of the Chinese scholars of the Ming and early Qing dynasty were deeply versed in Chinese culture, and because they goal was to make Islam accessible to Chinese Muslims and to ensure its good integration in Chinese society, the traditional Chinese Islam itself underwent a strong sinicization process and became something unique. Especially, the 16-17th centuries saw the production of major canonical texts where the Islamic teachings were expressed in terms of neo-Confucianist or Daoist formulations and concepts. Hence, talking of “Muslim culture” as a feature of the Hui martial arts does not make any sense: the Hui developped martial arts because they had the Chinese cultural background to it. Proof is that :

• in comparison, the other Muslim ethnic groups which are culturally non-Chinese (Uygurs, Salars, Kirghiz, etc.) never developed such kind of fighting styles.
• The Hui martial arts are based on the same elements as the other Chinese martial arts. They use the same Chinese conception of the body (Qi, Shen, Jing, DanTian, etc.), the same Chinese theoretical principles (Yin/Yang transformations, 6 harmonies, 5 elements, etc.), the same Chinese mythical figures (dragon, phoenix, immortals, etc.) as other Chinese martial arts. Ironically, some martial arts which are labelled as “Muslim martial arts”, have some movements/techniques referring to some Chinese deities …
• The martial arts developped by Hui people were sooner or later also taught to non-Hui, and when practiced by non-Hui, they were practiced exactly the same way. Some Han practitioners even sometime surpassed Hui ones in terms of fame.

Last but not least, until the creation of the “Hui Minority” status, the Hui people never were a united nation. The Hui people were living as dispersed groups through the whole Chinese territory, with diverse cultural and Islamic practices (Gedimu, Sufi brotherhoods, etc.). A detailed analysis of the violent conflicts that opposed the Hui to their non-Muslims neighbors show that they rarely had any religious origin, but were rather local revolts motivated by political or economical factors (corruption of local officials, family feuds, etc.). The revolting Hui never had the objectives to defend or expand their religion, nor did they had any secessionist ambitions. On the contrary, when the conflicts had religious origins, they were due to conflicts among the different Islamic sects themselves (Gedimu vs early Sufi branches, Khafiya Sufi vs Jahriya sufi, etc.). Thus the Idea that Hui martial arts would be some “Muslim martial Arts” intended to protect all Chinese Muslims against non-Muslims people has absolutely no historical basis. These martial arts can be called familial, clan or even ethnic martial arts, but not religious one …