Islam in China

The Huaisheng Mosque is one of the oldest Mosques in the world, built by Muhammad's companion, Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas

Islam in China has a rich heritage. China has some of the oldest Muslim history, dating back to as early as 650, Sa`ad ibn Abi Waqqas, was sent as an official envoy to Emperor Gaozong during Caliph Uthman's era. Throughout the history of Islam in China, Chinese Muslims have influenced the course of Chinese history.

History

Main article: History of Islam in China

Tang Dynasty

The Great Mosque of Xi'an, one of China's oldest mosques

According to China Muslims' traditional legendary accounts, Islam was first brought to China by an embassy sent by Uthman, the third Caliph, in 651, less than twenty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The embassy was led by Sa`d ibn Abī Waqqās, the maternal uncle of Muhammad himself. Emperor Gaozong, the Tang emperor who received the envoy then ordered the construction of the Memorial mosque in Canton, the first mosque in the country, in memory of Muhammad.

Puhaddin Mausoleum complex in Yangzhou

While modern historians say that there is no evidence for Waqqās himself ever coming to China, they do believe that Muslim diplomats and merchants arrived to Tang China within a few decades from the beginning of Muslim Era. The Tang Dynasty's cosmopolitan culture, with its intensive contacts with Central Asia and its significant communities of (originally non-Muslim) Central and Western Asian merchants resident in Chinese cities, which helped the introduction of Islam. The first major Muslim settlements in China consisted of Arab and Persian merchants. During the Tang and especially the Song eras, comparatively well-established, even if somewhat segregated, mercantile Muslim communities existed in the port cities of Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Hangzhou on China's southeastern seaboard, as well as in the interior centers such as Chang'an, Kaifeng, and Yangzhou.

Song Dynasty

By the time of the Song Dynasty, Muslims had come to play a major role in the import/export industry. The office of Director General of Shipping was consistently held by a Muslim during this period. In 1070, the Song emperor Shenzong invited 5,300 Muslim men from Bukhara, to settle in China in order to create a buffer zone between the Chinese and the Liao empire in the northeast. Later on these men were settled between the Sung capital of Kaifeng and Yenching (modern day Beijing). They were led by Prince Amir Sayyid "So-fei-er" (his Chinese name) who was reputed of being called the "father" of the Muslim community in China. Prior to him Islam was named by the Tang and Song Chinese as Dashi fa ("law of the Arabs"). He renamed it to Huihui Jiao ("the Religion of the Huihui").

Yuan Dynasty

During the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), large numbers of Muslims settled in China. The Mongols, a minority in China, gave Muslim immigrants an elevated status over the native Han Chinese as part of their governing strategy, thus giving Muslims a heavy influence. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims immigrants were recruited and forcibly relocated from Western and Central Asia by the Mongols to help them administer their rapidly expanding empire. The Mongols used Persian, Arab and Uyghur administrators, generically known as semu ("various officials") to act as officers of taxation and finance. Muslims headed many corporations in China in the early Yuan period. Muslim scholars were brought to work on calendar making and astronomy. The architect Yeheidie'erding (Amir al-Din) learned from Han architecture and helped to design the construction of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Dadu, otherwise known as Khanbaliq or Khanbaligh, the predecessor of present-day Beijing. The term Hui originated from the Mandarin word "Huihui" a term first used in the Yuan Dynasty to describe Central Asian, Persian and Arab residents in China.

Ming Dynasty

Statue of the Chinese Muslim Explorer, Zheng He.

During the following Ming Dynasty, Muslims continued to be influential around government circles. Six of Ming Dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang's most trusted generals were Muslim, including Lan Yu who, in 1388, led a strong imperial Ming army out of the Great Wall and won a decisive victory over the Mongols in Mongolia, effectively ending the Mongol dream to re-conquer China. Zhu Yuanzhang also wrote a praise of Islam, the The Hundred-word Eulogy. Additionally, the Yongle Emperor hired Zheng He, perhaps the most famous Chinese Muslim and China's foremost explorer, to lead seven expeditions to the Indian Ocean, from 1405 and 1433. However, during the Ming Dynasty, new immigration to China from Muslim countries was restricted in an increasingly isolationist nation. The Muslims in China who were descended from earlier immigration began to assimilate by speaking Chinese dialects and by adopting Chinese names and culture. Mosque architecture began to follow traditional Chinese architecture. This era, sometimes considered the Golden Age of Islam in China, also saw Nanjing become an important center of Islamic study.

Qing Dynasty

The rise of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) made relations between the Muslims and Chinese more difficult. The dynasty prohibited ritual slaughtering of animals, followed by forbidding the construction of new mosques and the pilgrimage to Mecca. The Qing rulers belonged to the Manchu, a minority in China. The Muslim revolt in the northwest occurred due to violent and bloody infighting between Muslim sects, the Gedimu, Khafiya, and Jahariyya, while the rebellion in Yunnan occurred because of repression by Qing officials. resulted in five bloody Hui rebellions, most notably the Panthay Rebellion, which occurred in Yunnan province from 1855 to 1873, and the Dungan revolt, which occurred mostly in Xinjiang, Shensi and Gansu, from 1862 to 1877. The Manchu government then committed genocide to suppress these revolts, killing a million people in the Panthay rebellion, several million in the Dungan revolt and five million in the suppression of Miao people in Guizhou. A "washing off the Muslims" policy had been long advocated by officials in the Manchu government.

However, many Muslims like Ma Zhan'ao, Ma Anliang, Dong Fuxiang, Ma Qianling, and Ma Julung defected to the Qing dynasty side, and helped the Qing general Zuo Zongtang exterminate the Muslim rebels. These Muslim generals belonged to the Khafiya sect, and they helped Qing massacre Jahariyya rebels. General Zuo moved the han around hezhou out of the area and relocated them as a reward for the Muslims there helping Qing kill other Muslim rebels.

In 1895, another Dungan Revolt (1895) broke out, and loyalist Muslims like Dong Fuxiang, Ma Anliang, Ma Guoliang, Ma Fulu, and Ma Fuxiang suppressed and massacred the rebel Muslims led by Ma Dahan, Ma Yonglin, and Ma Wanfu.

A Muslim army called the Kansu Braves led by General Dong Fuxiang fought for the Qing dynasty against the foreigners during the Boxer Rebellion. They included well known Generals like Ma Anliang, Ma Fulu, and Ma Fuxiang.

In Yunnan, the Qing armies only massacred the Muslims who had rebelled, and spared Muslims who took no part in the uprising.

Republic of China

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Sun Yat Sen, who established the Republic of China immediately proclaimed that the country belonged equally to the Han, Man (Manchu), Meng (Mongol), Hui (Muslim), the Tsang (Tibetan), and the Miao peoples.

During the rule of the Kuomintang party, the Kuomintang appointed the Muslim warlords of the family known as the Ma clique as the Military Governors of the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia. Bai Chongxi was a muslim General and Defence Minister of China during this time.

People's Republic of China

During the Cultural Revolution, mosques along with other religious buildings, were often defaced, destroyed or closed and copies of the Quran were destroyed along with temples, churches, Buddhist and Daoist monasteries, and cemeteries by the Red Guards. The government began to relax its policies towards Muslims in 1978. Today, Islam is experiencing a modest revival and there are now many mosques in China. There has been an upsurge in Islamic expression and many nation-wide Islamic associations have been organized to co-ordinate inter-ethnic activities among Muslims.

People

See also: Hui people, Uyghur people, Kazakhs, Dongxiang people, Kyrgyz, Salar, Tajiks of Xinjiang, Uzbeks, Bonan, Chinese Tatars, and Tibetan Muslims

Ethnic groups

Muslims live in every region in China. The highest concentrations are found in the northwest provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, and Ningxia, with significant populations also found throughout Yunnan province in southwest China and Henan province in central China. Of China’s 55 officially recognized minority peoples, ten groups are predominately Muslim. The largest groups in descending order are Hui (9.8 million in year 2000 census, or 48% of the officially tabulated number of Muslims), Uyghur (8.4 million, 41%), Kazakh (1.25 million , 6.1%), Dongxiang (514,000, 2.5%), Kyrgyz (161,000), Salar (105,000), Tajik (41,000), Uzbeks, Bonan (17,000), and Tatar (5,000). However, individual members of traditionally Muslim ethnic groups may profess other religions or none at all. Additionally, Tibetan Muslims are officially classified along with the Tibetan people. Muslims live predominantly in the areas that border Central Asia, Tibet and Mongolia, i.e. Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai, which is known as the "Quran Belt".

Number of Muslims in China

Worshippers leaving a mosque in Linxia City

China is home to a large population of adherents of Islam. According to the CIA World Factbook, about 1%-2% of the total population in China are Muslims, while the US Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report shows that Muslims constitute about 1.5% of the Chinese population. Recent census counts imply that there may be up to 20 million Muslims in China. However, the last three national censuses (1982, 1990, and 2000) did not include questions about religion. The number of religious believers can be inferred indirectly from census counts of the number of people who identify themselves as belonging to particular ethnic groups, some of whom are known to be predominantly members of certain religious groups. A 2009 study done by the Pew Research Center, based on China's census, concluded there are 21,667,000 Muslims in China, accounting for 1.6% of the total population. According to data provided by the San Diego State University's International Population Center to U.S. News & World Report, China has 65.3 million Muslims. The BBC's "Religion and Ethics" website gave a range of 20 million to 100 million (1.5% to 7.5% of the total) Muslims in China.

Historical estimates

An early estimate of the Muslim population of the then Qing Empire belongs to the Christian missionary Marshall Broomhall. In his book, published in 1910, he produced estimates for each province, based on the reports of missionaries working there, who had counted mosques, talked to mullahs, etc. Broomhall admits the inadequacy of the data for Xinjiang, estimating the Muslim population of Xinjiang (i.e., virtually the entire population of the province at the time) in the range from 1,000,000 (based on the total population number of 1,200,000 in the contemporary Statesman's Yearbook) to 2,400,000 (2 million "Turki", 200,000 "Hasak", and 200,000 "Tungan", as per George Hunter). He uses the estimates of 2,000,000 to 3,500,000 for Gansu (which then also included today's Ningxia and parts of Qinghai), 500,000 to 1,000,000 for Zhili (i.e., Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei), 300,000 to 1,000,000 for Yunnan, and smaller numbers for other provinces, down to 1,000 in Fujian. For Mongolia (then, part of the Qing Empire) he takes an arbitrary range of 50,000 to 100,000. Summing up, he arrives to the grand total of 4,727,000 to 9,821,000 Muslims throughout the Qing Empire of its last years, i.e. just over 1-2% of the entire country's estimated population of 426,045,305. Broomhall then uses his numbers for the "Moslem population of China [being]... possibly not less than the total population of Egypt or Persia" as an argument for greater Christian missionary attention to this community.

According to another population statistics of 1936, there were 48,104,240 Muslims in China, which accounted for 10.5% of the total population. "There are in China 48,104,241 Mohammedan followers and 42,371 mosques, largely in Sinkiang, Chinghai, Manchuria, Kansu, Yunnan, Shensi, Hopei, and Honan."

Religious practice

The vast majority of China's Muslims are Sunni Muslims. A notable feature of some Muslim communities in China is the presence of female imams.

Chinese Muslims and the Hajj

It is known that Admiral Zheng He (1371–1435) and his Muslim crews had made the journey to Mecca and performed the Hajj during one of the former's voyages to the western ocean between 1401-1433. Other Chinese Muslims may have made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in the centuries followed; however, there is little information on this.

The General Ma Lin (warlord), made a Hajj to Mecca.

General Ma Fuxiang along with Ma Linyi sponsored Imam Wang Jingzhai when he went on hajj to Mecca in 1921.

Yihewani Imam Hu Songshan went on Hajj in 1925.

Briefly during the Cultural Revolution, Chinese Muslims were not allowed to attend the Hajj, and only did so through Pakistan, but this policy was reversed in 1979. Chinese Muslims now attend the Hajj in large numbers, typically in organized groups, with a record 10,700 Chinese Muslim pilgrims from all over the country making the Hajj in 2007.

Sects

Islamic scholar Ma Tong recorded that among 6,781,500 Hui in China, 58.2 % were Gedimu, 21% Yihewani, 10.9% Jahriyya, 7.2 % Khuffiya, 1.4% Qadariyya, and 0.7 % Kubrawiyya.

Hanafi Sunni Gedimu

Gedimu or Qadim is the earliest school of Islam in China. It is a Hanafi non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. Its supporters are centered around local mosques, which function as relatively independent units. It is numerically the largest Islamic school of thought in China and most common school of Islam among the Hui. Since the introduction of Islam, first during the Tang Dynasty in China, it continued to the Ming Dynasty with no splits. At the end of the Ming and early Qing Dynasty Sufism was introduced to China.

Its members were sometimes extremely hostile to Sufis, Ikhwanis, and Wahhabis, like the Sufi Jahriyya and Yihewani. They engaged in fights and brawls against Sufis and Wahhabis.

Sufi Kubrawiyya

Kubrawiyya (in Chinese Kuburenye/Kubulinye) was a Sufi sect which is claimed to have arrived in China During the Ming dynasty, evidence shows that they existed since the Qing Kangxi Emperors reign. A descended of Muhammad, Muhuyindeni went to China, reaching the Dawantou village in Dongxiang around Linxia. The village was entirely composed of Han Chinese surnamed Zhang, all of the same clan. He converted several Zhangs in Yinwa to Islam, to his Sufi menhuan in Dawantou, while in Yangwa the Zhang family people did not convert, and continued to practice Chinese Religion. All the Han Zhangs and the Hui Zhangs, being of the same family, celebrated New Year together up to 1949.

Sufi Khafiya

Ma Laichi established the Hua Si school (menhuan) - the core of the Khufiyya movement in Chinese Islam. The name of the movement - a Chinese form of the Arabic "Khafiyya", i.e. "the silent ones" - refers to its adherents' emphasis on silent dhikr (invocation of God's name). The Khufiyya teachings were characterized by stronger participation in the society, as well as veneration of saints and seeking inspiration at their tombs.

Ma Laichi spent 32 years spreading his teaching among the Muslim Hui and Salar people in Gansu and Qinghai.

The Khuffiya is a Nashqbandi Sufi order.

Khuffiya Sufis were sometimes hostile to the Ikhwan and other Sufis like the Jahriyya and the Xidaotang, engaging in deadly brawls and fights against them. Its members also called the Xidaotang foundeer, Ma Qixi, an infidel.

Sufi Jahriyya

Jahriyya is a menhuan (Sufi order) in China. Founded in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin, it has been active in the late 18th and 19th centuries in the then Gansu Province (also including today's Qinghai and Ningxia), when its followers participated in a number of conflicts with other Muslim groups and in several rebellions against the China's ruling Qing Dynasty. Its members later cooled down, and many of them like Ma Shaowu became loyal to the chinese government, crushing other muslim rebels like the Uyghurs.

The Jahriyya order was founded by the Gansu Chinese-speaking Muslim scholar Ma Mingxin soon after his return to China in 1761, after 16 years of studying in Mecca and Yemen.

Jahriyya is a Naqshbandi Sufi order.

Its adherents were hostile to the other Sufi order, the Khafiya, engaging in fights. The rivalry was so intense that some members took it personally, Ma Shaowu, a Jahriyya had a rivalry against Ma Fuxing, a Khafiyya, even though they both worked for the chinese government.

Xidaotang

Xidaotang is a Chinese-Islamic school of thought. It was founded by Ma Qixi (1857–1914), a Chinese muslim from Lintan in Gansu, at the beginning of the 20th Century. Their teaching of Islamic faith is relatively strongly fused with traditional culture.

It is mainly distributed in Lintan and Hezheng County in northwest China's Gansu Province, and also has followers in the province of Qinghai, the Autonomous Region Xinjiang and the province of Sichuan. It is a Hanafi school of the Sunni tradition similar to Qadim (Gedimu) has included Jahriyya elements.

Its founder, Ma Qixi, was heavily influenced by Chinese culture and religion like Confucianism, and Daoism, taking heavily from the Han Kitab, and he even took cues from Laozi, founder of Daoism.

Khafiya Sufi leaders called the Xidaotang adherents infidels.

Yihewani

Yihewani (Ikhwan) is a Hanafi, non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. It is also referred to as "new sect" or "latest sect". It is mainly in Qinghai, Ningxia and Gansu (there in Linxia) and distributed in Beijing, Shanghai, Henan, Shandong and Hebei. It was the end of the 19th century when the Dongxiang imam Ma Wanfu (1849–1934) from the village of Guoyuan in Hezhou (now the Dongxiang Autonomous County was founded in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province) - who had studied in Mecca and was influenced by the Wahabi movement. After his return to Gansu and he founded the movement with the so-called ten major Ahong. The school rejected Sufism. It claimed that the rites and ceremonies not stand in line with the Quran and the Hadith should be abolished. It iss against grave and Murschid (leader/teacher) worship, and advocates against the preaching and da'wa done in Chinese.

The Khafiya Sufi Qing dynasty General Ma Anliang persecuted and executed Yihewani members, because they were considered part of the outlawed "New Teaching", in contrast to the Sufi Khafiya and Gedimu Sunni "Old Teaching".

Hu Songshan, a former Sufi who converted to the Yihewani sect, reformed the Yihewani, making it less hostile to Chinese culture, and integrated modern teaching, and Chinese nationalism into Yihewani teachings.

Wahhabi/Salafi

Wahabbism is intensely opposed by Hui in China, by the Hanafi Sunni Gedimu and Sufi Khafiya and Jahriyya. The opposition is so much so that even the Yihewani Chinese sect, which is fundamentalist and was founded by Ma Wanfu who was originally inspired by the Wahhabis, reacted with hostility to Ma Debao and Ma Zhengqing, who attempted to introduce Wahhabism/Salafism as the main form of Islam. They were branded as traitors, and Wahhabi teachings were deemed as heresy by the Yihewani leaders. Ma Debao established a Salafi/Wahhabi order, called the Sailaifengye (Salafi) menhuan in Lanzhou and Linxia, a completely separate sect.

Salafis have a reputation for radicalism among the Hanafi Sunni Gedimu and Yihewani. Sunni Hui avoid Salafis, even if they are family members, and they constantly fight.

Infighting between sects

Yaqub Beg's Uyghur forces declared a Jihad against Hui under T'o Ming during the Dungan revolt. The Uyghurs thought that the Hui Muslims were Shafi`i, and since the Uyghurs were Hanafi that they should wage war against them. Yaqub Beg enlisted non-Muslim Han Chinese militia under Hsu Hsuehkung in order to fight against the Hui. T'o Ming's forces were defeated by Yaqub, who planned to conquer Dzungharia. Yaqub intended to seize all Dungan territory.

As mentioned in the above sections on each sect, fighting between them is common. It was Muslim inter-sect fighting that led to the Dungan revolt of 1862-1877, the Dungan revolt of 1895, and other rebellions.

The Khafiya Sufi General Ma Anliang, especially hated the Yihewani leader Ma Wanfu, so much that when the Han general Yang Zengxin captured Ma Wanfu, Ma Anliang arranged to have him shipped to Gansu so he could execute him. As Qing authority broke down in China, the Gedimu Sunnis and Khafiya Sufis went on a vicious campaign to murder Ma Wanfu and stamp out his Wahhabi inspired teachings. The leaders of menhuans attacked Ma Wanfu, and the Gedimu requested that the Qing governor in Lanzhou inflict punishment upon Ma Wanfu.

The Kuomintang general Ma Bufang, a Sufi Hui who backed the Yihewani (Ikhwan) Muslims, persecuted the Salafi/Wahhabis. The Yihewani forced the Salafis into hiding. They were not allowed to move or worship openly. The Yihewani had become secular and Chinese nationalist, and they considered the Salafiyya to be "heterodox" (xie jiao) and followers of foreigners' teachings (waidao). Only after the Communists took over were the Salafis allowed to come out and worship openly.

Attitudes toward Non muslims

In contrast to his treatment of Salafi muslims, Sufi Muslim General Ma Bufang allowed polytheists to openly worship, and Christian missionaries to station themselves in Qinghai. General Ma and other high ranking muslim Generals even attened the Kokonuur Lake Ceremony where the God of the Lake was worshipped, and during the ritual, the Chinese national Anthem was sung, all participants bowed to a Portrait of Kuomintang party founder Dr. Sun Zhongshan, and the God of the Lake was also bowed to, and offerings were given to him by the participants, which included the Muslims. Ma Bufang invited Kazakh Muslims to attend the Ceremony honoring the God. Ma Bufang received audiences of Christian missionaries, who sometimes gave him the Gospel. His son Ma Jiyuan received a silver cup from Christian missionaries.

Representative bodies

Islamic Association of China

Main article: Islamic Association of China

The Islamic Association of China claims to represent Chinese Muslims nationwide. At its inaugural meeting on May 11, 1953 in Beijing, representatives from 10 nationalities of the People's Republic of China were in attendance.

China Islamic Association

In April 2001, the government set up the China Islamic Association, which was described as aiming to "help the spread of the Qur'an in China and oppose religious extremism". The association is to be run by 16 Islamic religious leaders who are charged with making "a correct and authoritative interpretation" of Islamic creed and canon.

It will compile and spread inspirational speeches and help imams improve themselves, and vet sermons made by clerics around the country. This latter function is probably the key job as far as the central government is concerned. It is worried that some clerics are using their sermons to spread sedition.

Some examples of the religious concessions granted to Muslims are:

• In areas where Muslims are a majority, the breeding of pigs is not allowed, in deference to Muslim sensitivities
• Muslim communities are allowed separate cemeteries
• Muslim couples may have their marriage consecrated by an Imam
• Muslim workers are permitted holidays during major religious festivals
• Chinese Muslims are also allowed to make the Hajj to Mecca, and more than 45,000 Chinese Muslims have done so in recent years.

Islamic education in China

Over the last twenty years a wide range of Islamic educational opportunities have been developed to meet the needs of China’s Muslim population. In addition to mosque schools, government Islamic colleges, and independent Islamic colleges, a growing number of students have gone overseas to continue their studies at international Islamic universities in Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, and Malaysia.

Culture and heritage

Although contacts and previous conquests have occurred before, the Mongol conquest of the greater part of Eurasia in the 13th century permanently brought the extensive cultural traditions of China, central Asia and western Asia into a single empire, albeit one of separate khanates, for the first time in history. The intimate interaction that resulted is evident in the legacy of both traditions. In China, Islam influenced technology, sciences, philosophy and the arts. In terms of material culture, one finds decorative motives from central Asian Islamic architecture and calligraphy and the marked halal impact on northern Chinese cuisine.

Taking the Mongol Eurasian empire as a point of departure, the ethnogenesis of the Hui, or Sinophone Muslims, can also be charted through the emergence of distinctly Chinese Muslim traditions in architecture, food, epigraphy and Islamic written culture. This multifaceted cultural heritage continues to the present day.

Islamic architecture

Main article: Chinese mosques

The Niujie Mosque in Beijing

Id Kah Mosque

The first Chinese mosque was established in the 7th century during the Tang Dynasty in Xi'an. The Great Mosque of Xi'an and the Great Southern Mosque in Jinan, whose current buildings date from the Ming Dynasty, do not replicate many of the features often associated with traditional mosques. Instead, they follow traditional Chinese architecture. Mosques in western China incorporate more of the elements seen in mosques in other parts of the world. Western Chinese mosques were more likely to incorporate minarets and domes while eastern Chinese mosques were more likely to look like pagodas.

An important feature in Chinese architecture is its emphasis on symmetry, which connotes a sense of grandeur; this applies to everything from palaces to mosques. One notable exception is in the design of gardens, which tends to be as asymmetrical as possible. Like Chinese scroll paintings, the principle underlying the garden's composition is to create enduring flow; to let the patron wander and enjoy the garden without prescription, as in nature herself.

On the foothills of Mount Lingshan are the tombs of two of the four companions that Muhammad sent eastwards to preach Islam. Known as the "Holy Tombs," they house the companions Sa-Ke-Zu and Wu-Ko-Shun—their Chinese names, of course. The other two companions went to Guangzhou and Yangzhou.

Chinese buildings may be built with bricks, but wooden structures are the most common; these are more capable of withstanding earthquakes, but are vulnerable to fire. The roof of a typical Chinese building is curved; there are strict classifications of gable types, comparable with the classical orders of European columns.

As in all regions the Chinese Islamic architecture reflects the local architecture in its style. China is renowned for its beautiful mosques, which resemble temples. However, in western China the mosques resemble those of the middle east, with tall, slender minarets, curvy arches and dome shaped roofs. In northwest China where the Chinese Hui have built their mosques, there is a combination of east and west. The mosques have flared Chinese-style roofs set in walled courtyards entered through archways with miniature domes and minarets (see Beytullah Mosque).

The first mosque was the Great Mosque of Xian, or the Xian Mosque, which was created in the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century.

Halal food in China

A typical Muslim restaurant in Linxia City.

Main article: Chinese Islamic cuisine

Due to the large Muslim population in western China, many Chinese restaurants cater to Muslims or cater to the general public but are run by Muslims. In most major cities in China, there are small Islamic restaurants or food stalls typically run by migrants from Western China (e.g., Uyghurs), which offer inexpensive noodle soup. Lamb and mutton dishes are more commonly available than in other Chinese restaurants, due to the greater prevalence of these meats in the cuisine of western Chinese regions. Commercially prepared food can be certified Halal by approved agencies.

Calligraphy

Sini

Main article: Sini (script)

Sini is a Chinese Islamic calligraphic form for the Arabic script. It can refer to any type of Chinese Islamic calligraphy, but is commonly used to refer to one with thick and tapered effects, much like Chinese calligraphy. It is used extensively in mosques in eastern China, and to a lesser extent in Gansu, Ningxia, and Shaanxi. A famous Sini calligrapher is Hajji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang.

Xiao'erjing

Main article: Xiao'erjing

A Chinese-Arabic-Xiaoerjing dictionary from the early days of the People's Republic of China.

Xiao'erjing (also Xiao'erjin or Xiaojing) is the practice of writing Sinitic languages such as Mandarin (especially the Lanyin, Zhongyuan, and Northeastern dialects) or the Dungan language in the Arabic script. It is used on occasion by many ethnic minorities who adhere to the Islamic faith in China (mostly the Hui, but also the Dongxiang, and the Salar), and formerly by their Dungan descendants in Central Asia.

Martial arts

Main article: Muslim Chinese martial arts

Muslim development and participation at the highest level of Chinese wushu has a long history. Many of its roots lie in the Qing Dynasty persecution of Muslims. The Hui started and adapted many of the styles of wushu such as bajiquan, piguazhang, and liuhequan. There were specific areas that were known to be centers of Muslim wushu, such as Cang County in Hebei Province. These traditional Hui martial arts were very distinct from the Turkic styles practiced in Xinjiang.

Chinese Muslim martial artist, Wang Zi-Ping was a member the Righteous and Harmonious Fists.

Chinese terminology for Islamic institutions

Qīngzhēn (清真) is the Chinese term for certain Islamic institutions. Its literal meaning is "pure truth."

In Chinese, halal is called qīngzhēn cài (清真菜) or "pure truth food." A mosque is called qīngzhēn sì (清真寺) or "pure truth temple."

Literature

The Han Kitab was a collection of Chinese Islamic texts written by Chinese Muslim which synthesized Islam and Confucianism. It was written in the early 18th century during the Qing dynasty. Han is Chinese for Chinese, and kitab (ketabu in Chinese) is Arabic for book. Liu Zhi wrote his Han Kitab in Nanjing in the early 18th century. The works of Wu Sunqie, Zhang Zhong, and Wang Daiyu were also uncluded in the Han Kitab.

The Han Kitab was widely read and approved of by later Chinese Muslims such as Ma Qixi, Ma Fuxiang, and Hu Songshan. They believed that Islam could be understood through Confucianism.

Famous Muslims in China

Explorers

• Zheng He, mariner and explorer
• Fei Xin, Zheng He's translator
• Ma Huan, a companion of Zheng He

Military

File:Bai-Chongxi.jpg

Bai Chongxi, general in the Republic of China army

• Founding generals of the Ming dynasty: Hu Dahai, Lan Yu, Mu Ying
• The leaders of the Panthay Rebellion in Yunnan and the Muslim Rebellion in Northwestern China: Du Wenxiu, Ma Hualong, Ma Zhan'ao
• Chang Yuchun Ming Dynasty General
• Dong Fuxiang Qing Dynasty General
• Liu Bin Di was a Hui Kuomintang officer who died while fighting against Uyghur rebels in the Ili Rebellion.
• Ma Julung Qing Dynasty General
• The Ma clique of warlords during the Republic of China era: Ma Bufang, Ma Chung-ying, Ma Fuxiang, Ma Hongkui, Ma Dunjing (1910-2003), Ma Hongbin, Ma Dunjing (1906-1972), Ma Lin, Ma Qi, Ma Hu-shan, Ma Zhan'ao, Ma Qianling, Ma Fushou, Ma Fulu, Ma Anliang, Ma Guoliang, Ma Buqing, Ma Bukang, Ma Jiyuan, Ma Chengxiang, Ma Haiyan

Chang Yuchun was a Muslim Ming Dynasty general who greatly contributed to overthrowing Mongol rule.

• Ma Zhancang, general in the Republic of China army
• Ma Zhanshan, guerilla warrior against the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Ma Fuyuan, general in the Republic of China army
• Ma Ju-lung Republic of China general
• Ma Sheng-kuei, a General of the 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army)
• Ma Xiao, Republic of China general in Liu Wenhui's army
• Ma Xinyi, official and a military general of the late Qing Dynasty in China.
• Ma Zhanhai Republic of China general
• Su Chin-shou,a General of the 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army)
• Bai Chongxi, general in the Republic of China army
• Pai Tzu-li, a General of the 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army)
• Ma Ching-chiang, Lt. General of the Republic of China Army
• Ma Shenglin, rebel during the Panthay Rebellion, great uncle of Ma Shaowu
• Zuo Baogui (左寶貴) (1837-1894), Qing Muslim General from Shandong province, was martyred in Pingyang in Korea by Japanese cannonfire in 1894 while defending the city. A memorial to him was built.

Religious

• Liu Zhi (ca. 1660 - ca. 1739), Qing Dynasty Islamic author
• Qi Jingyi (1656–1719), a Sufi master who introduced the Qadiriyyah school into China
• Ma Laichi (1681?-1766?), a Sufi master, who brought the Khufiyya Naqshbandi movement to China
• Ma Mingxin (1719–1781), the founder of the Jahriyya Naqshbandi movement
• Ma Wanfu, founder of the Yihewani
• Ma Qixi(1857–1914), founder of the Xidaotang
• Ma Yuanzhang, Jahriyya Sufi leader
• Hu Songshan (1880–1956), Yihewani reformer, and Chinese nationalist

Scholars and writers

• Bai Shouyi, historian
• Tohti Tunyaz, historian
• Yusuf Ma Dexin, first translator of the Qur'an into Chinese
• Muhammad Ma Jian, author of the most popular Chinese translation of the Qur'an
• Wang Daiyu, Master Supervisor of the Imperial Observatory during the Ming Dynasty. He was called ‘Master of the Four Religions’ because of his complete knowledge of China’s four religions: Islam, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.
• Zhang Chengzhi, contemporary author
• Ma Linyi Gansu Minister of Education
• Pai Hsien-yung, contemporary author, son of Bai Chongxi

Hui Liangyu, vice premier in charge of agriculture in the People's Republic of China

Martial arts

• Ma Xianda, martial artist.
• Wang Zi-Ping, member of an underground revolutionary group known as "The Righteous and Harmonious Fists" during the Boxer Rebellion.
• Chang Tung Sheng, martial artist and Shuai jiao teacher.

In politics

Highest ranking Muslim official in the People's Republic of China

• Hui Liangyu, vice premier in charge of agriculture in the People's Republic of China

Other

• Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang, calligrapher

See also

• Chinese Muslim cuisine
• Islam by country
• Religion in China
• Demographics of the People's Republic of China

References

• Broomhall, Marshall (1910), Islam in China: a neglected problem, China Inland Mission, OCLC 347514. A 1966 reprint by Paragon Book Reprint is available; written with a strong Christian missionary point of view, but contains valuable first-hand evidence and photographs.
• Keim, Jean (1954), "Les Musulmans Chinois", France-Asie, 10, OCLC 457005588
• Ting, Dawood C. M. (1958), "Chapter 9: Islamic Culture in China", in Morgan, Kenneth W. (ed.), Islam—The Straight Path: Islam Interpreted by Muslims, New York: The Ronald Press Company, pp. 344–374, OCLC 378570
• Reischauer, Edwin O.; Fairbank, John K. (1960), East Asia: The Great Tradition, Houghton Mifflin, OCLC 994133
• Barnett, A. Doak (1963), China on the Eve of Communist Takeover, Praeger publications in Russian history and world communism, vol. 130, New York: Praeger, OCLC 412125
• Ferm, Vergilius, ed. (1976), An Encyclopedia of Religion (reprinted ed.), Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, ISBN 9780837186382; first published as Ferm, ed. (1945), New York: Philosophical Library, OCLC 263969 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help). 1976 reprint is unrevised.
• American Water Works Association (1947), Journal of the American Water Works Association, Volume 39, Part 1, The Association {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Fairbank, John King; Liu, Kwang-ching; Twitchett (1980), Late Ch'ing, 1800-1911, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521220297 {{citation}}: Text "first3-Denis Crispin" ignored (help)
• Goldman, Merle (1986), "Religion in Post-Mao China", The Annals of the American Academy of Politica and Social Science, 483 (1): 146–156, doi:10.1177/0002716286483001013
• Gernet, Jacques (1996), A History of Chinese Civilization (2nd ed.), New York: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-49712-4
• Lipman, Jonathan Newman (1997), Familiar Strangers, a history of Muslims in Northwest China, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, ISBN 0-295-97644-6
• Esposito, John L. (1999), The Oxford history of Islam, United States of America: Oxford University Press, ISBN 00195107993 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
• Dillon, Michael (1999), China's Muslim Hui Community, Curzon, ISBN 0-7007-1026-4
• Gillette, Maris Boyd (2000), Between Mecca and Beijing: modernization and consumption among urban Chinese Muslims, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0804736944
• Uradyn Erden Bulag (2002), Dilemmas The Mongols at China's edge: history and the politics of national unity, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0742511448 {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Rubin, Barry (2000), Guide to Islamist Movements, M.E. Sharpe, ISBN 0765617471
• Israeli, Raphael (2002), Islam in China, United States of America: Lexington Books, ISBN 0-7391-0375-X
• Islam in China (650-present), Religion and Ethics, BBC, 2002, retrieved 2010-03-15
• Bulliet, Richard; Crossley, Pamela; Headrick, Daniel; Hirsch, Steven; Johnson, Lyman; Northrup, David (2005), The Earth and Its Peoples, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-618-42770-8
• Levene, Mark (2005), Genocide in the Age of the Nation-State, I. B.Tauris, ISBN 1-84511-057-9
• Stéphane A. Dudoignon, Hisao Komatsu, Yasushi Kosugi (2006), Intellectuals in the modern Islamic world: transmission, transformation, communication, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 00415368359 {{citation}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check |isbn= value: length (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Armijo, Jackie (2006), "Islamic Education in China", Harvard Asia Quarterly, 10 (1), archived from the original on 2007-09-28
• Giersch, Charles Patterson (2006), Asian Borderlands: The Transformation of Qing China's Yunnan Frontier, Harvard University Press, ISBN 1-84511-057-9
• Islam in China, Hui and Uyghurs: between modernization and sinicization, the study of the Hui and Uyghurs of China, Jean A. Berlie, White Lotus Press editor, Bangkok, Thailand, published in 2004. ISBN 9744800623, 9789744800626.

External links

• Asia Times Online: China News - Islam with Chinese characteristics
• Islam in China
• Islam in China
• Photos of "Islam in China" by Photojournalist Sean Gallagher
• The New York times
• islamawareness.net
• www.islamcn.net
• Islamic Chinese Art (Dru C. Gladney's photo album on Flickr.com)
• Islamic Architecture in China with lots of photographs