Talk by Dr Jacqueline Armijo, NYU Shanghai on  ‘Of Turbans, Prayer Boards, Canals, and Persian Words among Muslims in Southwest China: Long-term Influences of a Muslim from Bukhara Serving in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty’

Cambridge Central Asia Forum in collaboration with the Centre of Development Studies, University of Cambridge invites you to a talk by


Jacqueline Armijo, NYU Shanghai

on 

‘Of Turbans, Prayer Boards, Canals, and Persian Words among Muslims in Southwest China: Long-term Influences of a Muslim from Bukhara Serving in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty’

Date: 12 November 2021

Time: 11am-1pm (UK time)

Venue: Room S1 (Alison Richard Building)

Online: Zoom Registration https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJModuyrpzIsHtAqgAhiw_rippO-pyTBVt6z

Everyone is welcome.

Abstract: When Chinese Muslims graduate from Islamic colleges in southwest China, as part of the ceremony they don a tall traditional Central Asian pointed turban, whose origins are believed to be with the first civilian governor of the region, Sayyid ‘Ajall Shams al Din (1211-1279). In 1219, as Chinggis Qan swept across the heart of Central Asia, Sayyid ‘Ajall, the young son of a prominent Bukharan official, was one of the hundreds of elite hostages brought back to Mongolia. Raised within the Mongol inner court, this boy was to become one of the most important military and administrative leaders in the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), the first civilian governor of the province of Yunnan, and one of the most influential individuals in the history of Islam in China. The relative ease at which he was able to experience a series of radical transformations, from Central Asian elite, to foreign hostage, Mongol servant, and later Chinese imperial official, reflect the highly fluid nature of identities during this period of global history. Most of these hostages from prominent families, as well as the tens of thousands of primarily Muslim artisans, architects, physicians, engineers, astronomers, and others who recruited by the Mongols to help establish a foundation for their rapidly expanding empire, eventually settled across China, forming communities that over the centuries evolved into China’s present Hui (Chinese Muslim) population numbering over ten million. The canals that run through the city of Kunming today in southwest China, are ones dating back to the late 13th century, when hydraulic engineers from Central Asia were recruited to come to southwest China to help develop the region. In addition to inviting experts from Central Asia to the region, Sayyid ‘Ajall also invited Confucian scholars, as well as Buddhist and Daoist priests, to introduce traditional Chinese customs and values. This talk will focus on southwest China, and how a native of Bukhara came to have such an impact on the region, as an extraordinary example of the dynamic exchange of ideas, cultures, technologies, and religious traditions that flowed back and forth across Asia during this period.

Biography: Jacqueline Armijo is a Visiting Associate Professor of History at New York University’s campus in Shanghai. She has carried out extensive fieldwork in China, primarily in Yunnan where she lived for five years. Her research interests include: Islam in China; the growing importance of China-Gulf relations and their rapidly developing cultural and educational links; the Chinese Muslim (Hui) diaspora around the world; and China’s use of education and research initiatives to strengthen regional relationships related to the Belt and Road Initiative across Asia. She has also taught at the Asian University for Women (Bangladesh), Qatar University, Zayed University (UAE), and Stanford University.

For more information please go to https://centralasia.group.cam.ac.uk/events/cambridge-central-asia-forum-gcrf-compass-centre-development-studies-seminar-series

This seminar series is organised in collaboration with UKRI GCRF COMPASS Project & School of International Studies at Jeonbuk National University (Republic of Korea)