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  Educational and Cultural Development


The Brief History of Islamism in R.O.C. (Chang-Kuan Lin)
2013-03-28


 

          According to historical recordings, Islam, since the Tang Dynasty, was brought to China by Muslims via different routes, and the Muslim community was primarily formed during the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasty era.  After the Mongolians conquered westward to the Islam world, they brought in massive numbers of Muslims who served in China. After they conquered the southern Soong Dynasty, they established the Great Yuan Empire, and the Muslims followed the Mongolian army to fight. Therefore they were stationed at various posts in Northwest and Southwest China and formed Muslim tribe clusters; nowadays we still can see the remnants and relics of “Muslim camps” and “Muslim villages”. Since the Yuan Dynasty, Muslims have served as officials in the court and made trades and moved to the inland areas of China thus forming Muslim communities characterized by “large dispersion with small concentration”.  During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was found that Muslims gradually entered the Chinese Northwest through Tariqah from Central Asia and established themselves as “Menhuan (A unique Muslim system)” communities.  Muslims who entered China, especially those who migrated to the central plain region, underwent long-term immersion in the Han cultural society. Therefore, they were localized Chinese. Along with intermarriage with Chinese, their surnames were also converted to Chinese, and they were formed into the so called “Chinese-language Muslims”, i.e. “Chinese with Muslim beliefs”.

           During late Qing, “Muslim incidents (or Muslim uprisings)” occurred in the Shaanxi and Gansu Yunnan regions, and they caused the Chinese-speaking Muslims to be suppressed and massacred by the Qing government. The remaining Muslim population was less than 50 million, and they were banished to remote regions such as the Northeast, Xinjiang or served as domestic slaves for Han’s officials. After the Muslim uprising, their status suffered greatly and they were also discriminated against socially. Their Islam mission and Mosque education (based on three centers in Gansu, Yunnan and Shandong) were thus interrupted and disconnected. The Chinese-speaking Muslims were also compelled to further integrate into the Han society with Confucian culture at its core. The ethics, social and patriotic values within the Confucian cultural system were firmly planted within the minds of “Muslims” as a result.

         After the Republic of China was established, Chinese Muslim history turned a new leaf, and Chinese-speaking Muslims were able to walk out the shadow cast from the so called late 19th century’s “dark ages”.  Since the Republic was formed, Chinese-speaking Muslims also benefited from an “open door policy” and communicated with Muslims located in the Islam mainland regions such as Hajj at Mecca, or they went to study in Egypt, the Ottoman Turkey, and in Islamic countries. This instigated ongoing reformation movements by Muslim religious scholars and intellectuals and enabled them to understand the movements. The Republic was devoted to modernization (i.e. westernization), and this also prompted Muslims to study in Japan and western advanced countries. After these Muslims witnessed progress made in Japan and the West and after Muslim countries implemented the “purified Islam way of life (Din al-Islam)”, they started to reflect on their Muslim status in China as well in the form of cultural crises experienced by Muslim communities; hence they dedicated themselves to Islamic reformation movements within China. At this point, Dr. Sun Yat-sen promoted the “unification of the five peoples: Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hui (mainly Muslim Uighur), Tibetans and the joining of hands to strive for the betterment of the Republic”, the so called New Nationalism, and this was widely received in the new generation of Chinese and also in Muslim communities, especially in the case of those who advocated secularist thoughts.  

           Generally speaking, the Chinese local Muslim reformation movement originated in the late Qing dynasty during the late 19th century, whereas this movement was initiated at a time when Chinese-speaking Muslims went to study in Japan. Although during the same period of time, in the Chinese Northwest region, there also existed the Brotherhood (al-Ikhwani) and reformation movement championing Fundamentalism (al-Salafiyyah). However, the objective of this article is to explore topics such as the Chinese modern Islamic reformation movements that cut in from the educational perspectives. As far as Muslims are concerned, the “concept of al-Khilafah” of traditional political and religious alliances ceased to exist, and most of the Chinese-speaking Muslims in China led a life of considerable secularization.

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

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