The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China: The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750–1400 (New Approaches to Asian History) - Softcover

Chaffee, John W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1107684048 ISBN 13: 9781107684041

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2018

Synopsis

In this major new history of Muslim merchants and their trade links with China, John W. Chaffee uncovers 700 years of history, from the eighth century, when Muslim communities first established themselves in southeastern China, through the fourteenth century, when trade all but ceased. These were extraordinary and tumultuous times. Under the Song and the Mongols, the Muslim diaspora in China flourished as legal and economic ties were formalized. At other times the Muslim community suffered hostility and persecution. Chaffee shows how the policies of successive dynastic regimes in China combined with geopolitical developments across maritime Asia to affect the fortunes of Muslim communities. He explores social and cultural exchanges, and how connections were maintained through faith and a common acceptance of Muslim law. This ground breaking contribution to the history of Asia, the early Islamic world, and to maritime history explores the networks that helped to shape the pre-modern world.

About this title

Book Description

An engaging new history of the Muslim merchants who settled in China's port cities from the eighth to fourteenth centuries. As a far-flung trade diaspora bound by a common faith, they contributed greatly to the maritime trade that flourished across maritime Asia and which helped to shape the pre-modern world.

About the Author

John W. Chaffee is Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of History and Asian and Asian American Studies at Binghamton University, State University of New York. He also directs the Institute for Asia and Asian Diasporas. He co-edited with Professor Denis Twitchett Volume 5 of The Cambridge History of China: Sung China, 960-1279, Part 2 (Cambridge, 2015).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1107684048
• ISBN 13: 9781107684041
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224