Islamic China: An Asian History
Islamic China: An Asian History
Islamic China: An Asian History
Description
Description
A deeply learned reassessment of the history of Chinese Muslims, who since the fourteenth century have been subject to a constant program of minoritization.
For more than a millennium, Islam has been a Chinese religion, and native-born Chinese Muslims have played important roles in their homeland--as butchers, merchants, and farmers; diplomats, scholar-officials, and royal astronomers. Yet the Muslims of China have often been understood as inherently foreign, incompatible with Chinese culture. In this reappraisal, Rian Thum recaptures the ordinariness of Chinese Muslims. In doing so, he suggests that these communities, whose classification has so often been seen as problematic, can teach us about the ways social categories are made and maintained in the first place. Firmly rooted in Chinese and long-neglected Perso-Arabic sources, Islamic China traces the interlinked histories of twenty Chinese Muslims, some famous and some obscure, spread across multiple ethnicities, sects, and centuries. Their stories--emphasizing the diversity of Chinese Muslim communities and their continuous exchanges with other groups both within and beyond China--cut through the flattening narratives that have obscured China's Muslim heritage. Taken together, the experiences chronicled here offer a fresh view of Islamic China, stretching across Central, Southeast, and South Asia--and of China itself. While focused on the Ming, Qing, and early Republican eras, Thum also harkens back to earlier centuries and traces the inheritances of this history to the present. Islamic China makes the compelling argument that the abstractions brought to bear on the past have practical implications in today's People's Republic of China, where the state enforces an oppressive regime of differentiation and control aimed broadly at Muslims and is routinely exposed for atrocities committed against particular subgroups.
Critical Reviews
Critical Reviews
Beautifully written and on the cutting edge of scholarship, Islamic China is the rare book that is perfect for both those new to the subject and those deeply immersed in it.--Valerie Hansen, author of The Year 1000: When Globalization Began
In recent decades, historians have increasingly incorporated the history of Islam in China into the broader narrative of China's past. Rian Thum takes us to the next phase with this book, by treating this history as Asian history. Transcending linguistic and historical boundaries across Asia, Islamic China stands out as a significant accomplishment and signals a paradigm shift in the field.--Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, author of The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China
Readers searching for insights into doctrine and religious education of China's Muslims need go no further. A deep dive into Sino-Islamic culture.-- "Kirkus" (9/27/2025 12:00:00 AM)
Intellectually, linguistically, and technically virtuosic, this beautifully written book is an astonishing journey around the diverse, interconnected landscapes of Islamic China. A vivid, deeply erudite history of Chinese Muslims, it is essential reading for anyone interested in religion, culture, and society in Asia.--Julia Lovell, author of Maoism: A Global History
Islamic China is a fundamental reconceptualization of Islam in China that folds both back into a larger, Inter-Asian history and geography of continuous connections, rather than eras of isolation and exceptionalism. This is a fresh, agile, and adventurous book that knocks open the wooden box of minority studies in China and shines a clear light for others to follow.--Engseng Ho, author of The Graves of Tarim: Genealogy and Mobility across the Indian Ocean
Thum is meticulous in providing historical, religious, social and religious context...Although for the most part scholarly, Thum also includes long passages of on-the-ground reportage and interviews (among other things, he likes hunting down copies of these books). Whether Thum succeeds in making the Muslims of China 'ordinary', I will leave to others. What he does do is imbue selected personages with personality, intellectual depth and fascination.--Peter Gordon "Asian Review of Books" (1/4/2026 12:00:00 AM)
Thum is a beautiful writer...[he] enlivens [this book] with storytelling about individuals and also about objects, about the circulation of books from different places and different sets of maps. He tracks the way that books flowed in and out of China, and how different languages could be used by the people involved in this.--Jeffrey Wasserstrom "Five Books" (12/30/2025 12:00:00 AM)
Publishing Information
Publishing Information
Publisher:
Harvard University Press
Pub date:
2025-11-25
Length:
304 pages
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