Islam during the Yuan Dynasty
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The establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in China had dramatically benefited Islam in China in contrast to previous dynasties. Muslims in China were given an elevated status in the hierarchy of the new regime. The impact on China by its Muslims at this time, including the advancement of Chinese science and the designing of Beijing is vast and largely unknown. It is estimated that in the fourteenth century, the total population of Muslims was 4,000,000.[1]
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[edit] History
[edit] Elevated Status
Though the Yuan Dynasty was the only Khanate not to convert to Islam, the Mongol rulers of the Dynasty elevated the status of Muslims versus the Chinese, and placed many foreign and non-Han Chinese Muslims in high-ranking posts instead of native Confucian scholars. The state encouraged Muslim immigration, as Arab, Persian and Turkic immigration into China accelerated during this period. The Mongol emperors brought hundreds of thousands of Muslims with them from Persia to help administer the country. Many worked in the elite circles arriving as provincial governors. They were referred to as Semu.
China proper was administered in 12 districts during the reign of Kublai Khan with a governor and vice-governor each. Of these 12 governors, 8 were Muslims. In the remaining districts, Muslims were vice-governors.[1]
Over 10,000 Muslim names can be identified in Yuan historical records. The standard word used to denote Muslims in Chinese language documents of the late Yuan period is "HuiHui". The Muslims were overseen by a 'HuiHui' named Amir al-Din who designed Qionghua island which sits in the lake of Beihai Park in central Beijing.[2] This was part of a larger strategy of the Mongol dynasties to divide subject peoples from an administrative class. In addition, native Chinese and their descendants were sent out of China to administer other parts of the Mongol Empire, including West Asia, Russia and India (as Mughal dynasty) in successive centuries. In the fourteenth century, the total population of Muslims was 4,000,000.[3]
[edit] New Communities
The Yuan Dynasty saw the formation of Muslim communities in North China and Yunnan. The descendants of these communities who were to merge completely with the local Han Chinese, nevertheless sought down to our own day to preserve their own personality and were to show a marked tendency to autonomy.[4]
[edit] Muslim Influence
[edit] Science
Muslim scientists were brought to work on calendar making and astronomy. Kublai Khan brought Iranians to Beijing to construct an observatory and an institution for astronomical studies.[5] Jamal ad-Din, a Persian astronomer, presented Kublai Khan with seven Persian astronomical instruments.[6]
Muslim doctors and Arabic medical texts, particularly in anatomy, pharmacology, and ophthalmology, circulated in China during this time. The Chinese emperor, Kublai Khan, who suffered from alcoholism and gout, accorded high status to doctors. New seeds and formulas from the Middle East stimulated medical practice. The traditional Chinese study of herbs, drugs, and portions came in for renewed interest and publication.[5]
[edit] Economy
The Mongols used Persian, Arab and Uyghur administrators to act as officers of taxation and finance. Muslims headed most corporations in China in the early Yuan period but as the Chinese bought shares, most corporations acquired mixed membership, or even complete Chinese ownership.[5]
It was during the Yuan Dynasty that the port of Quanzhou flourished. Led by the Chinese Muslim tycoon Pu Shougeng they submitted to the Mongol advance. This was in stark contrast to the port of Guangzhou that was sacked. Quanzhou was made famous on account of the accounts of the famous travelers Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo who visited the port. Today a large number of stone inscriptions can be seen at Quanzhou, such as 300 stone inscriptions on tombs, graves and mosques. The earliest date records the death of a Hussayn ibn Muhammad of Khalat, Armenia in the year 1171.
[edit] Designing Dadu
Muslims were among the architects of the city of Dadu, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty. The construction of the walls of the city began in 1264 and was completed in 1292, while the imperial palace was built from 1274 onwards. The design of Khanbaliq followed the book Zhouli, in that the rules of “9 vertical axis, 9 horizontal axis”, “palaces in the front, markets in the rear”, “left ancestral worship, right god worship” were taken into consideration. It was broad in scale, strict in planning and execution, complete in equipment.[7].
[edit] Other Events in this Period
Marco Polo also met Nasaruddin who was the son of the conqueror and governor of Yunnan Sayid Ajjal of Bokhara, as appointed by the Mongols.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Israeli (2002), p. 285
- ^ Yang Huaizhong, "Yeheidie'erding" (Amir al-Din) in Bai Shouyi, Zhongguo Huihui minzu shi, op. cit., pp.813-818.
- ^ Israeli (2002), p. 285
- ^ Gernet, Jacques. A History of Chinese Civilization. 2. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-521-49712-4
- ^ a b c Richard Bulliet, Pamela Crossley, Daniel Headrick, Steven Hirsch, Lyman Johnson, and David Northrup. The Earth and Its Peoples. 3. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. ISBN 0-618-42770-8
- ^ Zhu (1946)
- ^ 《明史纪事本末》、《纲鉴易知录》卷八
