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List of contents
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
1. Muslim Origins inChina
2. Muslim Transplantation in EarlyChina
3. Muslim Entrenchment in MedievalChina
4. Muslim Renaissance and Resistance in Late ImperialChina
5. Muslim Nation-Building in Post-ImperialChina
6. Muslims and the State inCommunist China
7. Muslim Diversity in ContemporaryChina
8. Chinese Muslims, Global Islam, and the Global Power ofChina
Notes
Bibliography
About the author
James D. Frankel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies and Director of the Centre for the Study of Islamic Culture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Summary
In China there are up to 25 million Muslims living in the country, representing over 1200 years of Chinese-Islamic relations. However, little is known about the historical and contemporary geopolitical relations between China and the Muslim world, or the situation for the diverse groups of Muslims living in China today.
In this book, James Frankel studies the rich and dynamic history of Muslims in China from the Tang dynasty (618-907) to the present day. He shows that Muslims in China remain an internally diverse population separated geographically, ethnically, linguistically, economically, educationally, and along sectarian and kinship lines. But despite having its own local flavours and accents, Islam in China is recognisable as the same religious tradition practiced by approximately 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide and Muslims in China are inextricably part of society, living alongside other minorities and amongst the great Han Chinese majority.
Tracing 1200 years of history, this book shows that Muslim communities in China have undergone tremendous change, touched by the forces of Chinese history, the development of Islamic traditions outside China, and geopolitics. In highlighting the paradoxical situation in which Chinese Muslims have found themselves - living as both insiders and outsiders to Chinese society and state - the book examines why after so many centuries of habitation and naturalisation, Muslims in China are still stigmatized by their perceived alien origins. The book follows the ‘yin and yang’ of compatibility and difference and the connections and ruptures between two great civilisations.
Foreword
Traces the 1200-year history of Muslims in China and shows how tremendous changes in the country impacted Chinese Muslim communities
Additional text
James Frankel has accomplished the difficult task of synthesizing the narratives of multiple communities, conflicting political bodies, and diverse literary archives to offer a detailed history of Muslims in China. Islam in China will likely remain the most comprehensive account for the foreseeable future.
