The Chinese Islamic Root Islamic in Arabic!

Tianfang Xingli is considered to be a classic islamic text in the Chinese language. It is divided into three parts and one of the parts is known as the Root classic. Recently I was surprised to find out that the Root Classic was translated into Arabic in 1898 by a Chinese Muslim scholar Ma Lianyuan [...]

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

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 [...]

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Arabization in Xi’an

I was reading an article about Fashion amongst Chinese Muslims when I came across the following paragraph which I found particularly striking. It talks about the phenomenon of Arabization amongst some Hui in China. It is basically the confusion amongst some people of equating being a better Muslim with adopting Arab cultural norms.
When Lanlan had [...]

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Hui Muslims in Beijing in 1928

I am currently reading “The Development and Decline of Beijng’s Hui Muslim Communitty” by Zhou Chuanbin and Ma Xuefeng. It has a some statistical data on the history of the Muslim community in Beijing. I will be posting this info here from time to time. Here is  the first post.
According to the 1928 Chinese census [...]

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Belated Eid Mubarak and other updates

(Image Source: Camel’s Nose Blog)
First of all a belated Eid Mubarak to everyone. I have not been posting that often in the last couple of months or so mainly because of the demands of academic work and also because of some travelling. However the good thing is that I have met other Chinese Muslims in USA [...]

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Xinjiang Crackdown and Changing Perceptions of China in the Islamic World?

How the recent events in China have changed its image in some Muslim countries.
Source: http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=35370
August 5, 2009
Xinjiang Crackdown and Changing Perceptions of China in the Islamic World?
……
Views from the Muslim World
In light of the recent events in Xinjiang, observers of China’s increasingly expanding and multifaceted relationship with the Middle East and the greater Islamic [...]

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Chinese Government Launches Arabic Language TV Channel

via Xinhua
China state TV broadcaster to launch 24-hour Arabic channel
BEIJING, July 24 (Xinhua) — China’s state TV broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV), will launch its Arabic channel on Saturday, an official with the TV station said here Friday.
The channel would mainly focus on news programs but would also feature entertainment and education programs, Zhang Changming, [...]

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China to allow 2,700 Muslims to visit Mecca: report

via AFP. The numbers do not add up since a couple of years ago the Chinese government allowed 10,000 pilgrims to perform hajj but this news story is saying that only 30,000 Muslims from China have performed hajj in the last 20 years. I am guessing that this is a mmisprint and they actually mean [...]

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Xinjiang: Commentaries and Links

The perspective of the Chinese Government

Woman behind Xinjiang riot caught self-contradictory via Xinhua
Uygur official condemns riot, calls for healing in Xinjiang Xinhua
Islamic college thanked for sheltering civilians in Urumqi riot Xinhua

The perspective of the International Media

Behind the Violence in Xinjiang New York Times Open Ed (USA)
Xinjiang: one of Asia’s great prizes Telegraph (UK)
Deadly riots in [...]

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Why so silent – Uyghurs in China

Many people have complained in the past that one thing that is conspicuously missing from this blog is any discussion of the Uyghur people in China. Uyghur are predominantly Muslims and make up about half of all the Muslims in China. Some people have even left rather negative comments about this blog that the blog [...]

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