Chinese Heirs to Muhammad

J. Lilu Chen
Hardback, 194 pages
9781463239251

Writing Islamic History in Early Modern China

How was the past imagined by Hui Muslims in late 19th and early 20th century China? Chen argues that this was a productive time for historical thought, bookended by the establishment of a robust Sino-Islamic knowledge base by Liu Zhi on one end and Republican China on the other end. This book explores histories that unify vast stretches of time and place: from genesis to the modern era, from Arabia to China. Hui historians create narratives that transform China into an Islamic space and Islam into a Chinese religion.