Islam in China

Brief Bio:
Wang Daiyu is a doctoral student and the editor of the Islam in China webzine.
He also maintains the blog Islam and China.


http://islaminchina.wordpress.com/


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December 31, 2011 by Wang Daiyu
Source: Asian Age

‘Earliest’ Quran in Chinese, from 1912, found
Dec 18, 2011 – K.J.M. Varma | PTI | Beijing

Researchers in China’s north-western Gansu prov-ince have found a hand-written copy of the Quran completed in 1912, which is said to be the earliest Chinese language version of the Muslim holy book.

The Quran, found among old archives by researchers with the Muslim Culture Institute of Lanzhou University, is believed to have been translated into Chinese by Sha Zhong and Ma Fulu, two noted imams and Arabic calligraphers in Lanzhou, Ding Shiren, head of the institute said.
Sha and Ma began translating the Koran in 1909 and completed their work in 1912, Ding said.
Sha then copied out the Chinese text and made three hand-written books, which were widely used in Lanzhou, Xinhua reported.
China has about 20 million Muslims spread out in Xinjiang and Ningxia Autonomous provinces. While the Muslim of Xinjiang were largely Uygurs of Turkik origin, Ningixa Muslims belonged to Hui community.
Ding said two other Chinese versions of the Koran were finished in Gansu in the 20th century. Ding and his colleagues are still making a comparative study of the three versions.
He said the translation by Sha and Ma is faithful to the Arabic version, though parts of the Chinese text used Lanzhou dialect.
Experts say Islam was introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). But ancient Chinese scholars did not translate the Koran, out of fear they might misinterpret its text, Ding said. — PTI

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Sino-Islamic Map of the World – Now Lost
November 5, 2010 by Wang Daiyu

Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty, took many people from Central Asia and made them work for him. One of these people was the Persian Muslim astronomer Jamal-ad-din (known in China as Zhamaluding). He proposed to the Khan that he  could create a world map by combining many Chinese and Islamic maps of the world and create a world map. The result was  Tianxia Dili Zongtu. Unfortunately this map has been lost by the ravages of time but we know for a fact that this is just one instance of Sino-Islamic cross-cultural fertilization that took place in this era.



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The Descendants of Grandmaster Wang Ziping

September 9, 2011 by Wang Daiyu

(Image: Master Wu Xiaoping with her grandfather Grandmaster Wang Ziping)

I have talked about the legendary Muslim Martial Artist Grandmaster Wang Ziping a few times before.  The grandchildren of Grandmaster Wang Ziping have carried on the family tradition. The website Wu Yi Jie He Family System of Chinese Healing and Martial Arts has some information about members of his family who have carried on the tradition. Interestingly enough they have now dispersed to other parts of the globe so that some of the family members now reside in Canada and the US. In fact Master Wang Ziping’s wife moved to Texas later in her life and was instrumental in the development of Wushu in the United States. The granddaughters of Master Ziping also teach martial arts in Canada and thus it is possible for people based in Toronto to directly learn from an important family in the recent history of Wushu.

Site: http://www.wuyijiehe.com/

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Travel China guide..

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/great_mosque.htm





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