The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China

The History of a Maritime Asian Trade Diaspora, 750–1400

John W. Chaffee

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781107012684
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108640091
• Topic: Geschichte
• Subtopic: Asiatische Geschichte

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Maps
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Merchants of an Imperial Trade
• 2 The Reorientation of Trade
• 3 The Maturation of Merchant Communities
• 4 The Mongols and Merchant Power
• 5 Endings and Continuities
• Bibliography
• Index