Rediscovering and Reconnecting: How the Hui Muslims of China Encountered their Co-Religionists

Studies of 19th and 20th century Chinese history often focus on Christian missionary activities in China. But the same period saw members of China’s Hui (or Sino-Muslim) community reconnect with their co-religionists overseas. Armed with knowledge of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, and trained in new religious schools overseas, these Hui scholars began to "rediscover" aspects of Islam and in the process rewrite the history of Islam in China both for audiences within China and for non-Chinese audiences elsewhere. In this episode, we examine why these Sino-Muslim exchanges with colonial India and Egypt took place and explore some of the implications for Islam in China. Yiming Ha of the Chinese History Podcast talks to Nile Green, the regular host of Akbar’s Chamber, about some of the themes of his new book, How Asia Found Herself: A Story of Intercultural Understanding (Yale University Press, fall 2022). This episode is a collaboration with The Chinese History Podcast.