Change in Beijing’s Muslim Population Over Time (1959-2000)

· by · in Chinese Islam, Chinese Muslims. ·

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I would be posting quantiative data about Muslims in Beijing. (This of it as a Razib style post.) The table below shows changes in Hui Muslim population over time. The source of information is the same as before (Beijing’s Hui Muslim Community). One can definitely see some general trends e.g., while the Muslim population has increased by 75,000 in terms of absolute numbers but its percentage of the overall population has declined. Many districts show a decline in Muslim population, Chaoyang, Haidian and Fengtai are exceptions though. Another interesting thing is that if we compare the absolute numbers of many districts in 1959 nad 2000 then the numbers are more or less the same. Since these numbers should increase by natural birthrate then this actually means a relative decline because of migration.

District 1959 1964 1977 1982 1990 2000
Dongcheng 15,141 17,468 16,059 19,488 17,845 15,035
Xicheng 16,884 19,089 18,344 21,470 20,510 18,202
Chongwen 9,535 11,525 10,582 12,789 11,720 8,350
Xuanwu 28,024 31,442 28,014 32,102 31,090 27,668
Chaoyang 15,915 18,754 22,175 27,037 36,108 50,185
Haidian 8,467 10,567 10,228 14,037 20,702 28,981
Fengtai 5,720 5,082 5,424 6,880 11,200 21,563
Shijingshan   1,462 1,736 2,247 3,322 5,145
Mentougou 716 1,165 1,009 1,089 891 767
Yanshan       893    
Hui Population 100,402 116,554 113,571 138,032 153,388 175,896
% of Beijing’s 2.35 2.49 2.40 2.47 2.33 2.04

 Given below is the same data but in a graphical form to make comparison between different districts and eras more comprehensible.

beijing_muslims

4 responses to “Change in Beijing’s Muslim Population Over Time (1959-2000)”

  2. salam Tugrul and welcome to the blog, There could be combination of factors. One is people moving from one district to another district. This seems to be the case for Chaoyang. Another reason could be the assimilation of Hui Muslims into the larger population especiall during the cultural revolution. Thus a decline is observed between 1964 and 1977. Another reason could be migration to other areas.

  3. Dear sir

    Are there any Han Muslims in China? They are the largest ethnic group. But no data seems available about conversions among Han.

    I had always believed there were over 10m Muslims (mostly Han) in the coastal provinces of China.

    Regards,
    Sadat

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