The purpose of this talk is to present Islamic heritage in China, with a focus on the Han Kitabtradition that emerged between the 16th and 19th centuries AD. Since its introduction into China in 651 AD, Islam has mostly flourished among immigrant Muslim groups. China saw a rise in the Muslim population following the Mongol conquest. By around the 15th century AD, Chinese Muslims began to become accustomed to using Chinese language, and more and more non-Muslims in China were converting to Islam. In this context, Muslim intellectuals in China started attempting to spread Islamic knowledge through Chinese. In the process of writing, these scholars used a wide range of concepts from the Confucian tradition. From this, Han Kitab began to take shape. Han Kitab is a term that combines the Chinese word Han (meaning Chinese) and a transliteration of the Arabic word Kitab, meaning “books written in Chinese”.
