Hao hat and headkerchief of Hui Ethnic Group

The men of the Hui nationality generally wear white Chinese-style short gown on the upper body, and slip over it with a black Chinese-style sleeveless jacket, wear white or black little round hat with no brims, which is called as the “Huis hat”, “Hao hat” and “worshiping hat”. In the past times, the hat was worn only when they worshiped, now they also wear it at ordinary times. The hat has become the most striking characteristics of their clothing and decorations. The Hao hats are divided into two types, one is the universal white or black hat with flat top, the other is the black hat with six corners (in some regions and for some denominations, it was with five or eight corners) that are worn by the followers of Zhehelinye official group. The white Hao hats are generally made of cotton cloth and worn and used in spring and summer, the black hats are mostly made of wool fabric and worn and used in autumn and winter. When wearing the black hat, some people wear a small white hat as liner to absorb sweat. 

Most of the women of the Hui nationality wear the headkerchief to cover the head and protect the face. The colors of headkerchief are different according to the ages, the old women use white headkerchief, the middle-aged and young women used black headkerchief, and the girls use green headkerchief. Some carry white cloth or towel on the head.

The Hui nationality is the same as Dongxiang, Sala, Bao’an and other Islamic nationalities, their clothing and decoration culture have distinguished religious traces. It was said that Mohammed was fond of white clothes, and he ever said many times to his followers: “You should often wear white clothes, because white clothes are the purest and most beautiful.” So, the Hui, Dongxiang and other nationalities have long been upholding white, they like to make white hats, headkerchief, shirts and even trousers. Even when the people die, the corpses are all bound and wrapped by white cloth, showing “coming purely and leaving purely”, the corpses absolutely cannot be bound and wrapped by colored cloth or silk.

The Hao hats of men are also related with Islam. Because the worshiping practice—one of the “five practices” of Islam, demands the worshiper that they cannot expose their heads, and must cover them, and their foreheads and tips of noses must touch the ground when they kowtow. Thus, if they do not wear hats to worship, it does not accord with the doctrines. While if they wear the hats with brims, the forehead and tip of nose cannot touch the ground, only the small white hats with no brims can meet both the requirements concurrently. The headkerchief of women is also so. In the ancient times, to adapt to the living environment in desert regions, Arabian women used veil to cover their chest and prevent the attack of wind, sand and dust.

Afterwards, this custom became the rules of Islam. The Koran provides: “You tell the female followers to lower their line of vision, cover the lower part of the bodies, not to show the jewels, unless the natural. Tell them to use the veil to cover their chest, not to show the jewels, unless to their husband, father or sons.” Though most of the Muslim women in our country have given up veil, they still use headkerchief to cover their hair, ears and neck, which not only accord with the provision of Islamic doctrines, but also formed unique national clothing and decoration style. In the clothing and decoration patterns of the Hui, Dongxiang and other Islamic nationalities, there are scarcely those of figures and animals, but mostly those of flowers and Arabian words. This is also for that Islam objects to worshiping idols and forbids the emergence of idols.