Islamic China

Rian Thum’s Islamic China: An Asian History reframes the history of Chinese Muslims by showing their ordinary, transregional connections across the Ming, Qing, and Republican eras.

Drawing on Persian, Arabic, and Chinese sources, Thum traces pilgrims, merchants, and scholars to demonstrate deep engagement with wider Muslim intellectual and religious worlds.

He challenges portrayals that cast Chinese Islam as an isolated, Confucianized outlier, arguing instead for its integration with global Islamic discourses and networks.

The book foregrounds multilingual textual traditions and diasporic movements that shaped religious education and authority in China.

Thum’s work combines archival research and biographical vignettes to reveal the diverse experiences of Muslim communities within China’s historical landscape.