Chinese Islam

The Tang and Song Dynasties are the initial stages of the introduction of Islam into China. In the second year of Yonghui period in the Tang Dynasty, the Dashi State sent an envoy to pay tribute to the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty. The historical field of our country generally takes this year as the symbol year when Islam was introduced into China.

During the Yuan Dynasty, Islam had reached a considerable scale in China. The mode of Chinese Islam had also been basically established and Muslim groups that believe in Islam had also been developed. The Muslim settlement centering on the mosques had appeared in the vast cities and rural areas.

The late Ming and early Qing Dynasties are the mature period of Chinese Islam. At that time, Islam had been accepted by several national minorities besides the Hui Nationality. The Muslim of the Hui Nationality as the members of Chinese society and important carriers of Chinese Islam played an important role in all aspects of social life.

After the foundation of new China, under the lead of Chinese Communist Party, the policy on freedom of religious belief has been comprehensively implemented and the religious belief and religious life of Chinese Muslim have been under the protection of constitution, law and policy. At present, there are ten nationalities that believe in Islam in our country. They are the Hui nationality, the Uygur nationality, the Kazak nationality, the Uzbek nationality, the Khalkhas nationality, the Tartar nationality, the Tadzhik nationality, the Dong Xian g nationality, the Salar nationality and the Bao’an nationality. The total population of Islamists is about twenty million. The distribution of Muslim population in our country has been dispersal in large-scale communities and concentration in small-scale communities. Now the whole country has more than 34000 mosques and more than 45000 Adian (Party branch secretaries) and Maola (abbots). Muslim of our country belongs to the Sunni Sect in belief and complies with Hanafiyah School in religious doctrines.