Release of Dr. Chen Bin's New Book, Hui Muslims in the Shaping of Modern China: Education, Frontier Politics, and Nation-State

Dr. Bin CHEN’s new book, Hui Muslims in the Shaping of Modern China: Education, Frontier Politics, and Nation-State, has been published by Routledge.

This study draws on archival sources and newspapers to examine the Chinese Nationalist government's distinctive support for private Muslim teachers schools between the 1920s and 1940s, exploring the complex relationship between these institutions and the Chinese state during the Republican period.

In 1933, the government issued the Teachers Schools Regulations, mandating that all teachers schools be state-run. However, the Nationalists viewed private Muslim teachers schools as valuable allies in their efforts to assert influence in China’s Muslim-dominated northwestern frontier region and deliberately refrained from enforcing the 1933 Teachers Schools Regulations on them. Instead, the government applied the 1933 Amended Private Schools Regulations, which did not specifically address teachers schools, to govern Muslim teachers schools. By charting the evolving dynamics between the Nationalist state and Chinese Hui Muslims, this book reevaluates the Hui Muslims’ role in shaping modern China.

Offering crucial context on the role of Islam in modern China, this book is a valuable resource for scholars and students of Chinese history, as well as for policymakers and journalists interested in religion in China.

Bin CHEN is a Research Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received his PhD from Pennsylvania State University, and his research interests include China’s modern transition and religion in China. His publications have appeared in The Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Modern Chinese History, International Journal of Asian Studies, Anhui shixue, and others.