Muslim Transnationalism in Modern China - (Columbia Studies in International and Global History) by Hale Eroğ & lu (Hardcover)

About the Book

"This book explores how a minority Muslim community in twentieth-century China connected intellectually to other zones of Islam; simultaneously worked to redefine its identity within a largely non-Muslim country; and negotiated with the majority ethnic group, other Muslim communities, and the hegemonic discourse of the Nationalist government. This book thus mainly investigates the thought of Chinese Muslim intellectuals who either visited or studied in other Muslim countries or had a keen interest in transmitting the knowledge produced about Islam and Muslims by reformist circles around the world. Their transnational interests focused mainly, but not exclusively, on Egyptian, Turkish, and Indian reformulations of nation and Islam. These transnational Chinese Muslims played a pivotal role in Chinese Muslim intellectual and organizational activism, dedicated to "awakening" the Chinese Muslims whom they considered to be uneducated "blind followers" and whom they considered to be what the author calls "reluctant citizens." In order to devise the best interpretation of Islam, one that would fit the modern conditions of China, these intellectuals selected, adopted, and appropriated ideas and materials from different sources of Islam and various perspectives of the reformists, in conversation with the Han intellectuals and policymakers. In so doing, they sought to transform Muslims into agents of change in China as the carriers of universal Islamic principles. By putting Muslim spirit and ideals into practice, these reformers sought to benefit China in its struggle for equal status in the international world"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In the early twentieth century, as the multiethnic Qing empire transformed into the Republican Chinese nation-state, Chinese Muslims faced new challenges, confronting competing visions of nation-building, religion, secularism, democracy, and modernity. In this book, Hale Eroğlu explores how a group of key figures navigated this complex landscape, offering a transnational intellectual history of Chinese Muslim thought.

Muslim Transnationalism in Modern China provides a portrait of underrecognized reformists who aimed to turn Muslim subjects into active Chinese citizens and revive "true" Islam in order to aid China's development and promote peace. Eroğlu examines reformists' engagement with local and transnational Muslim currents, spanning "orthodox," "heterodox," reformist, secular, and socialist movements from Egypt, Britain, India, Turkey, and the Soviet Union. She reveals their varied strategies and highlights how they adapted global ideas to address local challenges such as the policies of the Nationalist and Communist parties, the antireligion discourse of the New Culture Movement, and the anti-Islam rhetoric of Christian missionaries. Drawing from Republican and early Communist-era journals, Chinese translations of Islamic sources, and memoirs and travelogues, this book offers a nuanced understanding of Chinese-speaking Muslim intellectuals' efforts to balance local and global influences in shaping their community's future.

Review Quotes

"Eroğlu reveals the remarkable diversity and transnational connections of reformist Sino-Muslim intellectuals in the twentieth century. Seeking a path to Islamic integrity and belonging in modern China, they turned to Kemalist Turkey, the Lahore Ahmadiyya of India, Al-Azhar University in Cairo, and the international socialist discourse of the 1950s, as well as Chinese nationalism. An imaginative, valuable book!--Jonathan Lipman, author of Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China

With great attention and precision, Eroğlu places and recasts China's Sinophone Muslims on the global map of modernity. A must-read in transnational and modern Chinese history.--Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, author of The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China

The definitive account of how Chinese-speaking Muslims were transformed into an ethnic group called "Hui." Eroğlu deftly traces Chinese Muslim intellectuals' engagements not just with the various states that have held power in modern China but with other Muslim communities across Eurasia, including the Ahmadis, Kemalists, and Egyptian reformists. The result is a transformative contribution to our understanding of China and Islam in the twentieth century.--Rian Thum, author of The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History

About the Author

Hale Eroğlu is assistant professor of history at Boğaziçi University.