Spread of Islam causing tension in China

By Victoria Lee
Collegian Reporter
April 2, 2009

Out of China’s 1.3 billion population, 40 million of them are Muslims.

Jianping Wang, Ph. D. of Shanghai Normaal University, discussed the revival of Islam in China Monday in the first speech on Central Asia to be given at La Salle University as part of the Diplomat In-Residence Program.

“It is a new age for Chinese Muslims,” Wang said.

While Wang is not a practicing Muslim himself, he grew up next to a community of Chinese Muslims. In 1975 about 1,000 Muslims were killed near his village during a “culture erosion.” Ever since then, Wang, a Han-Chinese, has been educating himself about the Chinese Muslims and their effects on Chinese culture for the past 30 years.

Wang is a professor of Islamic Studies at Shanghai Normal University in Shanghai, China, but is on leave to teach at Cornell University where he will educate students on Islam in China and Muslim ethnic minorities.

Islam came to China in the year 651, which leaves China with a 1,400 year history with Islam. Wang said that there are four categories of Muslims: Turkic, Persian, Mongol, or Chinese which are based on their language. In China, many of the Muslim population are made up of minorities.

“The proportion of Muslim population is small, but funding of programs such as special universities for minorities can improve the economic status of minorities in China,” Wang said.

Another concern about the Muslim population in China is security. Since that many Muslims reside in Xinjiang, which closely borders the city of Beijing, and due to discrimination of Muslims having ties to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, there has been a lot of concern from the Han Chinese about separatist movements.

Wang said that the biggest challenge that Chinese Muslims face is that of their government, which is strongly communist and has no ties with the religious in China.

“A serious challenge,” Wang said, “is that the revival of Islam may potentially pose a challenge to the Chinese authoritarian regime.

“Particularly after Sept. 11, the Muslim Islamic fundamentalism gets press, especially in Beijing and Shanghai.”

The challenge here resides in keeping a peaceful coexistence in balancing Chinese and Islamic cultures. In Muslim communities across China, Wang said there is a concentration of military representation due to security issues that surround the present stigma of being a Chinese Muslim. The Preferential Policies, which resemble affirmative action here in the United States, are what foster Islamic fundamentalism and discrimination of Muslims in China.

“Muslims take a pragmatic approach towards the Communist Party,” Wang said. “Trying to get religious freedom from China’s governmental authority is another challenge that China faces.”

With all the challenges that face a Chinese Muslim, Wang said that the Muslim communities across China have strong economic links with restaurants, shops, hotels and factories run by Chinese Muslims. They even have Muslim magazines in China. Muslims there have a large networking community as well, organizing charity and relief work for poor communities.

When asked if there have been large numbers of converts to the Muslim faith over recent years, Wang said that those who convert the most are Chinese women who marry into Chinese Muslim families. In fact, there is a 300-400 year history of women “imams,” or Muslim leaders in China, and many of them have their own independent mosques.

leev1@student.lasalle.edu