Sino-Muslims' Identity and Thoughts during the Anti-Japanese War : Impact of the Middle East on Islamic Revival and Reform in China(Culture and Communication, Middle East Studies from East Asia) (original) (raw)

JapanAssociation forMiddle East Studies resulted in vain. 'Ihey never tried to study why SiReMuslims had strong nationalistic se" ' ' timent toward China and thus had no reason to supportJapan. '' 'Ilieir "failures" can be attributed to the improvised plan cerresponding to Japan's military policy. Severa1 Japanese fortune-seekers (1;gin-ku Ronin) in China had corrverted to Islam during the 1920s and 30s as}d their vague knowledge of Islam was utilized to conduct further Islamie study. 'IIiey shared, kowever, the same biased 'impressions toward Islam in China. Fbr instance, tihey believed that Sino-Muslims should be anti¢ omamunists, since eommunists asserted atheisrn ar}d extemiination of religions. 'lhey aiso considered that Sino-M"slims could be on Japan's side because of ethnic dl$crimination by the Han. In addition, they were alsu caught by the precokception that all the ethnic tninorities should have a tendency of calling for political independence against the ruling ethnic group. After WWII, Isiamic studies in Japan shifted from China and Southeast Asia to the Middle East Studies on Islam in Chifia were aimost abandoned and neglected until the 1980s. The "tradition" and the accumulation of Islamic studies in China were not taken into consideration even in the field of Chinese studies. Accordingly, researchers on Islam didn't emphasize that Sino-Muslims also fought against the Japanese Army during the Anti-Japanese War. The historical fact that the AntiJapanese War was also "IslamJapanese War" in sorne means has been hidden, discarded, and forgotten intentionally. During the war, Sin}Muslims persisted in Islamic protection and promotion within the framework oi the state of China, represented by a popular slogan ofAigaso Aijiao er "Loving our country is equivalent to loving our religien". This paper discusses how ethnicity building of the Hdei conducted by inte11ectuals of Sino-Muslims in the Repttblican era (1912-l949) was active ar}d why they were extremely patriotic toward their hemeland China during the AntiJapanese War. Islamic intexpreta= tions brought from the Middle East, in particular from Egypt, had authority to modify their ethni,city as a political subiect. rlhey also changed eld-fashioned Chinese Islam so far into "aut/hentic" Islam in order to catch up to the standard of the "advamced" lslamic world, ancl gave eoncrete reasen$ of the resistance against the aggressor; Japan. Because of this Middle Eastern impact, most Sino-Muslims had the reasons of disobedience to Japan'$ intrigue, quite difterent from Japan's partial sttccess of the divicieand-rule policy in Imier Mongolia during the 3es and 40s. IE. Sino-Mustims' Que$t tor ldentity and the Reason d'Otre 1. Discrimination amplified in the Modern Era AJAMESno.