Muslim in China
http://www.islamicpopulation.com/china_muslim.html - http://www.islamicpopulation.com/china_muslim.html

According to population statistics of 1936, the then Kuomintang Republic of China had an estimated 48,104,240 Muslims. Below is a reference from about the Muslim population before Communist Revolution:

"There are in China 48,104,241 Mohammedan followers and 42,371 mosques, largely in Sinkiang, Chinghai, Manchuria, Kansu, Yunnan, Shensi, Hopei, and Honan. "Ferm, Vergilius (ed.). An Encyclopedia of Religion; Westport, CT: Greenwood Press (1976), pg. 145. [1st pub. in 1945 by Philosophical Library. 1976 reprint is unrevised.]

Under the pretext of unification of national education, Islamic schools were closed and their students transferred to other schools which taught only Marxism and Maoism. Other outrages included the closing of over 29,000 mosques, the widespread torture of imams, and executions of over 360,000 Muslims. Aside from the physical annihilation, Muslims have been subjected to a constant attack on their Islamic identity especially during the so-called Cultural Revolution (1966-76). For instance, posters which appeared in Peking (later to be called Beijing) in 1966, openly called for the abolition of Islamic practices. Muslims were also barred from learning their written language which incorporated the Arabic script and was influenced by Arabic, Turkish and Farsi. This change was critical as it distanced Muslims from the Arabic language, the language of the Qur'an and their Islamic aspirations. During this era many Mosques were closed down and waqf properties were confiscated. (Yusuf Abdur Rahman)

Since religious freedom was declared in 1978, the Chinese Muslims have not wasted time in expressing their convictions. There has been an increased upsurge in Islamic expression in China, and many nationwide Islamic associations have been organized to coordinate inter-ethnic activities among Muslims. Islamic literature can be found quite easily and there are currently some eight different translations of the Qur'an in the Chinese language as well as translations in Uygur and the other Turkic languages (Yusuf Abdul Rahman). There are now some 34,000 mosques and 400 Islamic organization in the entire People's Republic of China (Beijing, Rabi Awwal 28/June 20 (IINA). Muslims are allowed to perform Hajj and the number of pilgrimage from China is about 3000 per year.

At present, according to official statistics there are 28 million Muslim in China but in1936 it was estimated that the Muslim population was 48 million. By this time total population has increased 3-4 fold. So we can conclude that the total Muslim population has increased minimum by that same proportion. Therefore, now the total Muslim population is at least 150 million.

I have a friend who visits China quite often and spends a lot of time there. She has been learning Mandarin for many years now and is over there on a 6-month exchange right now.

She and I were discussing the different ethnic groups found in China, including the Uigurs of West China. She commented that they actually are surprisingly free to keep their traditional practices, but that many, many of them cannot speak Chinese, just their traditional language.

I asked her if these people are mostly very poor (she said yes) and if she thought this "freedom" was actually the government's way of making sure that the people actually stayed poor and powerless. If people cannot speak the language of their country and are, therefore, stuck in the middle of nowhere with no possibility of leaving, then those people are not going to be able to make much trouble, are they?

What do you think?

Kim...

Hi,

Acctually, Muslims in China are made up of ten ethnic groups.

They are Hui, Uighurs, Khazaks, Kyrgys, Uzbek, Tatars, Tajiks, Salar, Sartars, and Bao'ans. The most distinctive features among these ethnic groups are 'language'.

Hui   speak Madarin.

Uighurs, Khazaks, Kyrgys, Uzbek, Tatars, Tajiks and Salar speak Turkic languages. All these ethnic groups lives in Sinkiang Uighur Autonomous Region, excep Salar living in Qinghai Province.

Sartars and Bao' ans speak Mongolian language, living in Gansu Province.

Most of the China Muslims live in the northwest of China. But Hui Muslim communities can be found in each big cities of China.

By the way, I belongs to the Hui community.

I've researched Muslims of the "Far East" for a number of years now, and I have found their plight to be the most widely ignored in the Muslim world. Almost all Muslims around the world know about Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir and Iraq, but almost no Muslims, probably as low as 30% know about East Turkestan. For instance, East Turkestan was an independant republic twice in the 20th century, originally between 1933-36, and latter between 1944 and 1949, the former being called the Islamic Republic of East Turkestan, the latter, the East Turkestan Republic. The extensive history of Muslims in China and South East Asia is virtually unknown in the Muslim world. The very capable president of the 2nd East Turkestan republic Alihan Tore went missing in the Soviet Union, while his deputies were mysteriously killed in a plane crash over the Soviet Union on their way to negotiate the status of East Turkestan with the newly formed communist government in Beijing. Semar tells it correctly when he wrote about the persecution that Chinese Muslims have faced under the Communist regime. However, the biggest threat by far to the Islamic identity of East Turkestan is the rampant immigration of Han Chinese into East Turkestan. The Chinese govts. official policy is to swamp the Muslim of East Turkestan with Han settlers, who now control the East Turkestan economy almost entirely. From a once 90% majority in East Turkestan, Muslims have been reduced to as low as 50% in some parts of the province.  And that is just the case in East Turkestan, not to mention the other parts of China, where Muslims are routinely discriminated against by the piggish Han majority, unless the Muslims pretty well abandon their religion and cultural traditions and assimilate into Han culture.

Assalamu alaikum,

Thanks to all the posters on this thread - this is most interesting!  This is the kind of sharing of information that makes this forum worth visiting.  Alhamdulillah!

Peace, ummziba.

Assalaamuralaikum?

My name is mehtaab, me, my husband and my daughter we are looking to establish ourselves in China, Foshan City. We worried about the food, what if we do not get Muslim Halal Food there.

Also, my daughter is only 3 years old and what will happen to her eduction, islamic. Please if you something please reply. Allah will help you.

Wassalaam,

Mehtaab.

I think it will be difficult for you to find halal....also they eat a lot of pork I think.

Why don't you go to malaysia?

Wa A'ssalam alekum,

 My sister Mehtaab. Foshan City lies in GuangDong Province, and it is not far from Shenzheng city and Guangzhou ity. I believe in these two cities you can find a lot of Muslims and Halal restaurant.

In addition, in most part of China, the Halal restaurants are not marked with "Halal", but with "Islamic Food/Restaurant" in Arabic.

In Madarin, Halal is "Qing Zheng", pronounced as "Ching Jeng
".

Very good and interesting information.

Any body from china would please add more detailed information for the benefit of all muslims?

Thanks in advance.

Kashif

schwester wrote: in soviet times not only muslims, but also christians had to forget/hide their faith.

Yes, you are right. China Muslims also experienced a hard and difficult time. But now, the situation is becoming easy for Mulims. Every year there are about 3 to 5 thousand new Hajjs go to Makka from China.

In today's China, there are almost fifty Private Arabic Schools, thousands of Young Muslim are studying there. In addition, there are 7 or 8 Islamic Academy supported by the government, under the administration of China Islam Association.

But what I am worrying about is our next generation. If someone hope his/her children to join the main stream society in the future, he/she has to send his/her children to the public schools, in which Materialism and marxism are taught. Children are losing their faith........

Asalaam alaikum

Meh, are you or your husband fluent in the local Chinese languages? If so, you are more inclined to locate Halal stores/shops in any given city.

According to my Christian mother who recently visited China, should relied some interesting info.  She visited a list of cities with a group. Her guide was in fact a Muslim woman from the Han.  Nothing would have physically revealed this to her since the guide didn't cover with hijab. But apparently my mother was discussing me and my Muslim family to one of her friends and the guide overheard her. In any case, the guide went about the various cities pointing out halal shops/restaurants which were indicated in the various languages.  I don't recall the actual method of revealing this, but certain Mandarin and Cantonese symbols/words indicate "halal".  The guide was a Muslim woman from the Han as was her husband and extended family. She did not cover and thus did not bring attention to herself.  She mentioned that there is a large Han population of Muslims which are otherwise unreported because of the Communist party/govt strategy of underreporting Muslim presence/heritage in China. 

In fact, the large Muslim minority can partially be contributed to the Han Muslim segment which has existed for some time. The Han segment has continued through marriage as well as conversion, which is increasing as traditional Confucian family influence is diminished as the population diaspora and migration increases and traditional family heritage is overcome by economic forces. 

Muslim history in China reaches back 1300 years and many weary nonMuslim Chinese might be encouraged to look more favorably on a Chinese converting to Islam rather than Christianity since Christianity is linked to the British/Western colonization/occupation of China and China's weakest era. This should be identified.

However, the growing capitalization/westernization of China can likely lead to a growing influence of Christianization of the Chinese middle and upper class as those western oriented Chinese look to the west for guidance rather than to Chinese heritage.

Any case, Meh, I hope you read this post and may Allah protect you and your family- fi amana Allah.

According to Chinese records the Persians (Po'ssi) and Arabs (Ta'shish) dominated the maritime trade with China at the height of the Tang Dynasty ^{http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Quanzhou#_note-0" title=" - [1]} .The Persians and the Arabs displaced the trade that was previously dominated by Indians and Malay Merchants ^{http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Quanzhou#_note-1" title=" - [2]} . They brought goods from http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Java&action=edit" class="new" title="Java - Java and http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Sumatra&action=edit" class="new" title="Sumatra - Sumatra and spices from the http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Moluccas&action=edit" class="new" title="Moluccas - Moluccas . This was confirmed by http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Masudi&action=edit" class="new" title="Masudi - Masudi in http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=956&action=edit" class="new" title="956 - 956 CE (344 AH) in the book http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Muruj_al-Dhahab&action=edit" class="new" title="Muruj al-Dhahab - Muruj al-Dhahab

http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Image:Cquote1.png" class="image" title="Quanzhou">

The ships from Basra, Siraf, Oman, India, the islands of Zabaj and Sanf came to the mouth of the river of Khanfu (Guangzhou, old Canton China) with their merchandise and their cargo (before AD 877-878). Then the trader went by sea to the land of Killah (Kedah) which is approximately half way to China. Today this town is the terminus for Muslim ships from Siraf to Oman, where they meet the ships which come down from China, but it was not so once... This trader then embarked at the city of Killah on a Chinese ship in order to go to the port of Khanfu. http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Quanzhou#_note-2" title=" - [3]

http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Image:Cquote2.png" class="image" title="Quanzhou">

Large Merchant communities in the 8th century in http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Guangzhou" title="Guangzhou - Guangzhou , http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Yangzhou&action=edit" class="new" title="Yangzhou - Yangzhou .

• http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/755" title="755 - 755 CE (137 AH) http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=An_Lushan_rebellion&action=edit" class="new" title="An Lushan rebellion - An Lushan rebellion
• http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/758" title="758 - 758 CE (140 AH) Persians and Arabs in http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Guangzhou" title="Guangzhou - Guangzhou pillaged the warehouses and sailed fo with the loot.
• http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/760" title="760 - 760 CE (142 AH) Tang army plundered http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Yangzhou&action=edit" class="new" title="Yangzhou - Yangzhou killing thousands of Persian and Arab merchants. ^{http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Quanzhou#_note-3" title=" - [4]}

By 794 traded had recovered until in http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/878" title="878 - 878 CE (264 AH) during the Huang Chao rebellion, Huang captured http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Guangzhou" title="Guangzhou - Guangzhou and massacred all of the foreigners, Muslims Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. According to the Arab geographer http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Abu_Zaid&action=edit" class="new" title="Abu Zaid - Abu Zaid

http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Image:Cquote1.png" class="image" title="Quanzhou">

No less than 120,000 Muslims, Jews, Christians and Parsees Perished http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Quanzhou#_note-4" title=" - [5]

http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Image:Cquote2.png" class="image" title="Quanzhou">

The trade again flourished under the various warlords between the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty who controlled the ports of http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Guangzhou" title="Guangzhou - Guangzhou and http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Fuzhou&action=edit" class="new" title="Fuzhou - Fuzhou

Rise of Quanzhou

Along with http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/Guangzhou" title="Guangzhou - Guangzhou and http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Fuzhou&action=edit" class="new" title="Fuzhou - Fuzhou under various warlords at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Quanzhou sprung up. This rise in trade was partially fueled by the cut off of trade through the http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Silk_Road&action=edit" class="new" title="Silk Road - Silk Road .

various FanFang (foreigners streets) were established and large tracts of land wer allocated by the governmnet for residence of the various foreign communities. These communities were allowed to establish community courts

• http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=1136&action=edit" class="new" title="1136 - 1136 CE (530 AH) http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Pu_Luoxin&action=edit" class="new" title="Pu Luoxin - Pu Luoxinan Arab merchant was awarded an honarary rank in recognition of his contribution to the http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Frankinsense&action=edit" class="new" title="Frankinsense - Frankinsensetrade .

• http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php/1233" title="1233 - 1233 CE (630 AH) http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Pu_Kaizong&action=edit" class="new" title="Pu Kaizong - Pu Kaizong father of http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Pu_Shougeng&action=edit" class="new" title="Pu Shougeng - Pu Shougeng recieved an honorary rank
• http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=1274&action=edit" class="new" title="1274 - 1274 CE (672 AH) http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Pu_Shougeng&action=edit" class="new" title="Pu Shougeng - Pu Shougeng along with his brother gained offical ranks for suppressing pirates.

http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=1276&action=edit" class="new" title="1276 - 1276 CE (674 AH) http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Pu_Shougeng&action=edit" class="new" title="Pu Shougeng - Pu Shougeng given trade superintendancy and millitary command in http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Fujian&action=edit" class="new" title="Fujian - Fujian and http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Guangdong&action=edit" class="new" title="Guangdong - Guangdong as part of the Song initiative against the http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Mongol&action=edit" class="new" title="Mongol - Mongol . However http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Pu_Shougeng&action=edit" class="new" title="Pu Shougeng - Pu Shougeng negotiated with the Mongol and set a trap for the Song who sailed into Quanzhou. Suspecting the trap the Song captured 400 of Shougengs ships and left. He reacted by slaughtering around 3,000 members of the Song Imperial family and soldiers who resided in Quanzhou.

• http://muslimwikipedia.com/mw/index.php?title=Pu_Shougeng&action=edit" class="new" title="Pu Shougeng - Pu Shougeng an Arab trade was assigned superintendent of Quanzhou.