Dr. Mitsumasa Hirayama was invited to deliver a speech at the 2nd conference room of Humanities Center, Social Sciences Information Center, National Chengchi University, at 10 a.m. on 16 Nov., 2014. And the topic was “Islamic Youth Movement or Mobilization of Islamic Youth? – Discourse on its Activities, Features and Identity of Ethnic Group”

Dr. Mitsumasa Hirayama is a doctor of Chuo University, Japan, and a postdoc at Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica. He concentrates on the issues associated with Muslims in China for a long time.

Under the influence of the May Fourth Movement and the Christian youth movement, Islamic intellectuals promoted the Islamic youth movement after the early stage of the Republic era. Compared with the Christian youth movement, the consciousness of politic and nations of Islamic youth movement were more manifest. Those Islamic intellectuals organized the Islamic youth groups and placed emphases on their own political demands and national identity as well as the reform of Islam. Before the Anti-Japanese War the Islamic youth groups kept their distance from the government while after the outbreak of the War the Islamic youth movement was subsumed under the system of the party and government. After the Chinese Civil War the activities of the Islamic youth movement once again prosperously developed while after 1949 the Islamic youth movement came back to the system of the party and government. Additionally, the Chinese Youth Association of Islam was established in Taiwan and it took part in political affairs and civil diplomacy and also stressed on the national identity. The key point of this speech was to discuss the historical track of the Islamic youth movement after the earlier days of the Republic era.