Marisa DeAngelis on Fusion of Religion in China

By: Marisa DeAngelis

March 16, 2010

While there may be no official religion in China, there is certainly no lack of spirituality here. Since I arrived in February, I have encountered a surprising level of religious diversity which has led me to question my own misconceptions about religion in China. Chinese culture references the "Five Religious Beliefs"—Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity—all of which are believed to exist in varying degrees of harmony in China. Intersecting the shrines and temples that are testaments to these ancient religions, I also came upon a thriving Jewish community in Beijing; its presence as an integral component of the city landscape gave pause for reflection. Truly striking is the way the symbols and images are often fused and adapted to local culture and customs, creating a blend of different faith backgrounds.

My first real experience with Chinese Islamic culture was on a trip to the small city of Yangzhou, a couple of hours from Nanjing. Famous for its Slender West Lake and rich cuisine, Yangzhou is also one of the most important cities in the history of Islam in China and the burial site of an influential Muslim, Puhaddin. Puhaddin, a sixteenth generation descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, came to China during the early Song dynasty, by which point Islam was widely accepted and practiced in China. He built the Xianhe Mosque, one of the four great masjids in southeast China.

One of the most interesting aspects of the area around Puhaddin's tomb is the fusion of traditional Chinese art and Islamic architecture. The tomb was built underground in the center of a five-story pavilion, with intricately carved arches in each direction, the interior is built in the Persian tradition, with a brick dome and Arabic engravings in the Kufa style, but the exterior has an upturned roof, in the Chinese tradition. There is a traditional Chinese garden built around the tombstones of ancient Arab traders and Chinese Muslims. Moreover, a stone staircase connecting the prayer room with the rest of the compound has symbolic engravings from traditional Buddhist stories and Chinese folklore. I asked about this to our tour guide, an ethnic Chinese Muslim, who explained that this is a very common demonstration of the synthesis of Arabic and local Chinese culture.

After Buddhism, Islam is the second most widely practiced faith in China; yet it is often believed that all Chinese Muslims live in the westernmost province of Xinjiang, a place lately so mired with controversy and violence. I hadn't realized that most mosques in eastern China resemble Chinese pavilions, rather than the Persian architecture I am more familiar with. Also in Yangzhou is the Xianhe Mosque, which Puhaddin so famously built in 1275 to serve the needs of Arab traders and the Hui (Chinese Muslim) community that was quickly emerging. Here too, I was impressed by the seamless integration of Chinese culture into the Islamic architecture. The shape of the mosque is supposed to resemble a crane, which later became the national bird of China, with the main entrance as the head, wells on either side as the eyes, the left-hand path as the neck, and the prayer halls as the body and wings of the crane. The crane is revered in Chinese culture as a representation of longevity, lasting spirit, health, and happiness; one ancient Chinese legend holds that a mortal rode a crane to heaven.

I also enjoyed seeing Arabic scrolls hanging in one of the halls drawn in the honored Chinese calligraphic style. I find the use of the crane in the design of an Islamic place of worship and the use of calligraphic style to recreate Arabic scrolls symbolic of a culture that was open and accepting of religious beliefs. The Ming and Song dynasties (960-1279 CE, 1368-1644 CE) witnessed a high level of religious freedom during which Muslims fully integrated into Han society by adopting Han names and some daily customs. It was not until the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that anti-Muslim sentiments took root, and then resurfaced during the Cultural Revolution’ (1948) campaign to eradicate religion. Despite the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution, Islam continues to thrive in China. Today there are some 3,600 practicing Hui in Yangzhou and up to 20 million Chinese Muslims.

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