A Review on the Huiru Movement and Key Terms of Traditional Chinese Thought Used in Wang Daiyu’s Work

Abstract

The locations of some geographies are exclusive in the history of the world. These geographies have a special place with the belief and thought systems that they generated on their own. China, the prominent one among these geographies, is one of the most rooted civilizations in history. Many great philosophers, notably Laozi and Confucius, appeared in Chinese civilization. Another specific geography is the Middle East. This geography has been the cradle of civilization of many religion and belief systems. Islam had arisen
in the Arabian Peninsula and shortly became a universal religion spreading throughout the world. In the middle of the 7th century, Islam reached China, a faraway country to the Arabian Peninsula. For an official date, we could claim the year of 651 when Caliphate Uthman sent messengers to China. On this date, Tang Dynasty was ruling in China. Islam, which entered China in the period of Tang Dynasty, has spread throughout China. Especially in the period of Yuan Dynasty, Muslims aggregately migrated from the western
border of China to the inner regions of China. Over time, Muslims dropping Chinese lands as a little seed turned into a giant forest. Thus, after centuries, the Huizu ethnic group, an indispensable component of Chinese social structure, emerged. As for the Chinese and Islamic civilizations, they have been in interaction with one another from the very beginning. However, the beginning of the exact intellectual interaction was during the end of the Ming Dynasty. This interaction was then named as Huiru (回儒) in the meaning
of dialogue between civilizations. This term is of critical importance for our study since the interaction between these two civilizations caused the Chinese Islam understanding to emerge. Huiru has become the richness of both Chinese Muslims and Chinese society. Huiru movement has been carried to present day by Chinese Muslim Scholars mainly. One of the leading names in the Huiru
movement, Chinese Muslim scholar Wang Daiyu is of significant importance for our work. Therefore, our study will be in the form of a review and evaluation on the key terms of traditional Chinese thought used by the Huiru movement, in particular by the Chinese Muslim scholar Wang Daiyu. This period, when the intellectual interaction started will be the focus of our study.