A metaphorical study of the lifestyle behavior of Chinese minority Hui students in Ningxia

Little bits of behavior reveal a particular detail of culture, while metaphors are everywhere, and metaphorical behaviour carries much cultural information. This study examines the behavioral metaphors of Hui students, a minority ethnic group living in Ningxia and having received higher education. The study examines their lifestyles' behavioural metaphors of food, clothing, and relationships. Using data from a survey of 176 Hui students living in Ningxia Province, China, the study asks: Are there metaphorical representations of the cognitive behaviours of eating, dressing, and relationships between Muslims and non-Muslims who are Muslim and influenced by Islamic culture? Are there similarities between the cognitive metaphors in the lifestyles of Muslims and non-Muslims under the Hui identity? What are the influences on the metaphorical behaviours in the lifestyles of Muslim students who have received higher education? The study shows that the lifestyles of Hui students who have received higher education have changed with the Chinese-style modernization process and cultural integration and that some Hui students' lifestyles have contradicted the traditional Islamic lifestyle; whether or not they believe in the Islamic variable is not the main factor influencing the lifestyles of Hui students in Ningxia who have received higher education; education, social development, cultural integration, and ethnic integration are the main factors influencing the lifestyles of such The study will not only change the stereotypical image of the traditional lifestyle of these Hui students in Ningxia but also provide a scientific and experimental basis for ethnographic sociology as well as pedagogy to forge a sense of community among the Chinese nation.