The Making of Sino Muslim Identity: Han Kitab in the Chinese Xidaotang

Abstract

The seemingly oxymoronic term Sino Muslim has a historical relevance of more than 1,300 years in China. Historically, migration and intermarriage gave rise to a Sinophone Muslim population, upon which a body of Islamic literature written in Chinese three hundred years ago, known as Han Kitab, had played an instrumental role in shaping a distinct Sino Muslim identity. Despite dramatic transformations of modern Chinese society, we found that the Han Kitab tradition continues to be alive today in China’s grassroots-level Muslim society. This article documents, for the first time with a probability sample, an extensive exposure to the Han Kitab literature among ordinary followers of a major Chinese Islamic sect, Xidaotang. More importantly, such exposure—in both private and public spheres of life—simultaneously contributes to the core Islamic religiosity as well as distinctive affinities to their fellow Chinese people regardless of religion (in comparison to foreign Muslims). These findings have profound implications given the increasing significance of China as an agent of globalization.