The history of Islam in China dates back to 1,300 years ago.. Currently, Chinese Muslims are a minority group in China, representing between 0.45% to 1.8% of the total population according to the latest estimates.For China Family Panel Studies 2017 survey results see release #1 (archived) and release #2 (). The tables also contain the results of CFPS 2012 (sample 20,035) and Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) results for 2006, 2008 and 2010 (samples ≈10.000/11,000). Also see, for comparison CFPS 2012 data in p. 13, reporting the results of the CGSS 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011, and their average (fifth column of the first table). Although Hui Muslims are the most numerous group, the greatest concentration of Chinese Muslims are located in Northwestern China, mostly in the autonomous region of Xinjiang, which holds a significant Uyghur population. Lesser but significant Chinese Muslim populations reside in the regions of Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai. Of China's 55 officially recognized minority peoples, ten groups are predominantly Sunnī Muslim.
Origin of Islam in China
The history of Islam in China goes back to the earliest years of Islam. According to Chinese Muslims' traditional accounts, Muslim missionaries reached China through an embassy sent by ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (644–656 CE), the third rāshidūn caliph, in 651 CE, less than twenty years after the death of Muhammad (632 CE). Saʿd ibn Abī Waḳḳāṣ, the maternal uncle and second cousin of Muhammad, was sent with a delegation to meet the Chinese Gaozong Emperor. The construction of Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou, the first mosque in the country, is attributed to him.
According to traditional Chinese Muslim legendary accounts, the history of Islam in China began when four companions of Muhammad (Ṣaḥābā)—Saʿd ibn Abī Waḳḳāṣ (594–674 CE), Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib, Jaḥsh ibn Riyāb, and another one sailed from the shores of the Aksumite Empire in 615–616 CE, reached ancient China by sea and preached there from 616 to 617 onwards, after their arrival following the Chittagong-Kamrup-Manipur route. Saʿd ibn Abī Waḳḳāṣ again headed for China for the third time in 650–651 CE, after ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (644–656), the third rāshidūn caliph, sent him with an embassy in 651 CE, which the Chinese Emperor received warmly.
China-Arab trade relations Trade existed between pre-Islamic Arabia and South China, and flourished when Arab maritime traders converted to Islam. It reached its peak under the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. Muslims in China have managed to practice their faith in China, sometimes against great odds, since the 7th century CE. Islam is one of the religions that is still officially recognized in China.
China's long and interactive relationship with the various tribes and empires of the Eurasian Steppe through diplomacy, trade, war, subordination, and/or domination paved the way for a large sustained Muslim community within China. Islamic influence came from the various steppe peoples who assimilated into the predominant Han-Chinese culture. Muslims who were transferred to China from Persia and Central Asia to administer the empire served as administrators, generals, and in other leadership positions.
History Emperor Gaozong, the Tang emperor who received the envoy ordered the construction of the Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou, the first mosque built in the country, in memory of Muhammad. Hui legends seem to confuse the 651 visit of Waḳḳāṣ with the introduction of Islam as early as 616–617 by earlier visits of the four companions of Muhammad (Ṣaḥābā).
While modern historians state that there is no evidence for Waḳḳāṣ 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 the Muslim era. The Tang dynasty's cosmopolitan culture, with its intensive contacts spread across 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.Israeli, Raphael (2002). Islam in China. United States of America: Lexington Books, page 291, .
Tang dynasty
Arab people are first noted in Chinese written records, under the name Ta shi in the annals of the Tang dynasty (618–907) (Ta shi or Da shi is the Chinese rendering of Tazi—the name the Persian people used for the Arabs). Records dating from 713 speak of the arrival of a Da shi ambassador. The first major Muslim settlements in China consisted of Arab and Persian merchants.Israeli (2002), pg. 291
The first encounter between the Tang Chinese and the Umayyad Arabs occurred in 715 AD when Ikhshid, the king of Fergana Valley, was deposed with the help of the Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate and a new king Alutar was installed on the throne. The deposed king fled to Kucha (seat of Anxi Protectorate), and sought Chinese intervention. The Chinese sent 10,000 troops under Zhang Xiaosong to Ferghana. He defeated Alutar and the Arab occupation force at Namangan and reinstalled Ikhshid on the throne.*Bai, Shouyi et al. (2003). A History of Chinese Muslim (Vol.2). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. ., pp. 235–236 In 717 AD the Arabs attacked Transoxiana again hoping to capture the Tang dynasty's Four Garrisons of Anxi district. The Arabs were again routed in the Battle of Aksu. Subsequently, with Chinese backing, the Turgesh launched punitive attacks into Arab territory eventually wresting all of Ferghana from the Arabs with the exception of a few forts.
Despite conflict between the Tang and the Abbasids during the Battle of Talas in 751, relations between the two states improved soon after. In 756, a contingent probably consisting of Persians and Iraqis was sent to Gansu to help Emperor Xuanzong in his struggle against the An Lushan Rebellion. Less than 50 years later, an alliance was concluded between the Tang and the Abbasids against Tibetan attacks in Central Asia. A mission from the Caliph Harun al-Rashid (766–809) arrived at Chang'an.Gernet, Jacques. A History of Chinese Civilization. 2. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
It is recorded that in 758, a large Muslim settlement in Guangzhou erupted in unrest and the people fled. The community had constructed a large mosque (Huaisheng Mosque), destroyed by fire in 1314, and constructed in 1349–51; only ruins of a tower remain from the first building.
During the Tang dynasty, a steady stream of Arab (Ta'shi) and Persian (Po'si) traders arrived in China through the silk road and the overseas route through the port of Quanzhou. Not all of the immigrants were Muslims, but many of those who stayed formed the basis of the Chinese Muslim population and the Hui ethnic group. The Persian immigrants introduced polo, their cuisine, their musical instruments, and their knowledge of medicine to China.
Song dynasty
Many Muslims went to China to trade, and these Muslims began to have a great economic impact and influence on the country. During the Song dynasty (960–1279), Muslims in China dominated foreign trade and the import/export industry to the south and west.
In year 1070, the Song emperor, Shen-tsung (Shenzong) invited 5,300 Muslims from Bukhara, to settle in China. The emperor used these men in his campaign against the Liao empire in the northeast. Later on these Muslims were settled between the Song capital of Kaifeng and Yenching (modern-day Beijing). The object was to create a buffer zone between the Chinese and the Liao. In 1080, 10,000 Arab men and women migrated to China on horseback and settled in all of the provinces of the north and north-east.Israeli (2002), pg. 283-4 The Arabs from Bukhara were under the leadership of Prince Amir Sayyid "So-fei-er" (his Chinese name). The prince was later given an honorary title. He is reputed of being 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") (Tashi or Dashi is the Chinese rendering of Tazi—the name the Persian people used for the Arabs). .Israeli, Raphael (2002). Islam in China. United States of America: Lexington Books. . He renamed it to Huihui Jiao ("the Religion of the Huihui").Israeli (2002), pg. 284
The Chinese materia medica 52 (re-published in 1968–75) was revised under the Song dynasty in 1056 and 1107 to include material, particularly 200 medicines, taken from Ibn Sina's The Canon of Medicine.
Pu Shougeng, a Muslim foreign trader, stands out in his work to help the Yuan conquer Southern China, the last outpost of Song power. In 1276, Song loyalists launched a resistance to Mongol efforts to take over Fuzhou. The Yuanshih (Yuan dynasty official history) records that Pu Shougeng "abandoned the Song cause and rejected the emperor...by the end of the year, Quanzhou submitted to the Mongols."In abandoning the Song cause, Pu Shougeng mobilized troops from the community of foreign residents, who massacred the Song emperor's relatives and Song loyalists.Pu Shougeng and his troops acted without the help of the Mongol army. Pu Shougeng himself was lavishly rewarded by the Mongols. He was appointed military commissioner for Fujian and Guangdong
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty of China continued to maintain an excellent relationship with other nomadic tribes on the Mongolian Plateau. The ethnic Mongol emperors of the Yuan dynasty elevated the status of foreigners of all religions versus the Han, Khitan, and Jurchen, and placed many foreigners such as Muslim Persians and Arabs, Turkic Christians, Jews, Tibetan Buddhist Lamas, and Buddhist Turpan Uyghurs in high-ranking posts instead of native Confucian scholars, using many Muslims in the administration of China. The territory of the Yuan was administered in 12 districts during the reign of Kublai Khan with a governor and vice-governor each. According to Iranian historian Rashidu'd-Din Fadlu'llah, of these 12 governors, 8 were Muslims; in the remaining districts, Muslims were vice-governors.Islam the Straight Path: Islam ... – Google Book Search at books.google.co.uk
At the same time the Mongols imported Central Asian Muslims to serve as administrators in China, the Mongols also sent ethnic Han and Khitans from China to serve as administrators over the Muslim population in Bukhara in Central Asia, using foreigners to curtail the power of the local peoples of both lands.
The state forced massive numbers of Central Asian Muslims to move into China during the Yuan dynasty. In the 14th century, the total population of Muslims was 4,000,000.Israeli (2002), p. 285 It was during this time that Jamal ad-Din, a Persian astronomer, presented Kublai Khan with seven Persian astronomical instruments.Zhu (1946) Also, The Muslim architect Yeheidie'erding (Amir al-Din) learned from Han architecture and helped to design and construct the capital of the Yuan dynasty, Dadu, otherwise known as Khanbaliq or Khanbaligh.
In the mid-14th century, the Ispah Rebellion against the Yuan dynasty led by Chinese Persian Muslims broke out in South Fujian. After the rebellion was suppressed, the local Han people in Quanzhou turned against the Semu people and great misery was brought upon Muslim population. Quanzhou itself ceased to be a leading international seaport.