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Young Chinese Muslims Enthusiastic about Learning Arabic
Chinese Muslims, particularly younger ones, have displayed growing enthusiasm towards learning Arabic since western China increased its contacts with Arab countries in the development drive to accelerate China's west.
More than 23,000 Muslims are studying Arabic and general knowledge concerning Islam at China's 10 leading Islamic institutes and mosques, said Ma Yunfu, vice-president of the Islamic Association of China, adding, "They are likely successors of Islam."
In the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, home of the largest Muslim community in China, 500 Muslims study at regular universities and 3,000 imams take part in advanced courses run by 3,000 mosques for a good command of Koran and Islamic history. Nearly 5,000 Manla, or young Islamic disciples, began to study Arabic and doctrines of Allahon on their own initiative.
The Ningxia Economic Institute in Yinchuan, the regional capital of Ningxia, has opened four-year and three-year Arabic courses as well as special training classes which enroll a total of 300 students from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Shandong, Shanxi and Yunnan Provinces each year, said Ma Mingxian, head of the institute.
The Ningxia University set up an Arabic department as from this year. Some private Arabic schools have coming into being, attracting a large crowd of youngsters.
"There is an urgent need to train a huge number of professionals in the fields of trade, foreign affairs, tourism and enterprise management along with increasing economic and trade contacts with Arab countries," said An Chunren, dean of the Foreign Language Department under the Ningxia University.
Islam entered into China along the ancient Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty. The total population of the ten Muslim minorities in China now stands at 20 million, mostly in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, and Qinghai regions and provinces. Muslims are also scattered throughout China's vast interior areas.
Since China quickened the pace of developing its western region in 1999, these regions and provinces have strengthened economic and trade ties with the Arab countries because they share similar customs and religion.
Ningxia has 1.78 million Muslims, making up one third of its total population. It has expanded its market share in neighboring countries. Its trade volume with the Arab countries registered a year-on-year increase.
Ma Yuren, a 28-year-old trader of Hui ethnic group, said learning to speak Arabic made it convenient for him to export his handicrafts to Arabic countries. The Arabic language will play a bigger role as a result of more trade contracts between Muslims in other countries.
Tian Xiping, a Muslim from Tongxin County, the largest Muslim community in Ningxia, said systematic study of Arabic enables me to have a good command of Islam instructions and religious terms. I plan to advance my study abroad after graduation from the Ningxia Islamic Institute.
Ma Jing, a female student at an Arabic school in Tongxin said, " I'd like to learn Arabic and expect to become an Arabic translator in future. As an Islamic intellectual, it is a must to study religious theory as well as commanding professional skills," she added.
More than 300 students have graduated from her school. Over 20 have been to Sudan, Yemen, Kuwait, Egypt or Saudi Arabia for study or translation.
By the end of last year, some 2,000 Muslims had traveled to Mecca, Islam's holiest site in Saudi Arabia, to participate in the hajj ritual. Only seven people in Ningxia could afford the pricey trip in 1978, when China began its economic reforms.
In southwest China's Yunnan Province, the home to 600,000 people of Hui ethnic group, 70 percent of the 800 mosques have opened Arabic schools, serving thousands of students.
Ma Zeqiu, a 16 year old girl in Juming Village, goes to a nearby mosque to attend Arabic classes everyday at 7:30 p.m. She has never missed a single class despite rain and snow.
A scholar of Hui nationality attributed the popular trend of learning Arabic among Chinese Muslims to their ardent love of Arabic. "More and more young Muslims have cultivated a strong desire to study the Koran through learning Arabic with the implementation of the policy on freedom of region," he said.
Ma Mingli, president of the Yunnan Province Islamic Association, said, "Arabic study among young people will help them have a better understanding of the tenet of Islam and carry forward the fine tradition of Islam."
Currently, Yunnan has more than 2,000 imams, 70 percent of whom are young men.
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