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Muslims in yuan dynasty
The establishment of the Yuan dynasty in China in the 13th century dramatically increased the number of Muslims in China. Foreigners in China were given an elevated status in the hierarchy of the new regime. The impact on China by its Muslims at this time, including the advancement of Chinese science and the designing of Dadu, is vast and largely unknown. It is estimated that in the 14th century, the total population of Muslims in China was 4,000,000.[1] Though the Yuan dynasty, unlike the western khanates, never converted to Islam, the Mongol rulers of the dynasty elevated the status of foreigners of all religions from west Asia like Muslims, Jews, and Christians versus the Han, Khitan, and Jurchen, and placed many foreigners such as Muslim Persians and Arabs, Jews, Nestorian Christians, Tibetan Buddhist Lamas, and Buddhist Turpan Uyghurs from Central and West Asia in high-ranking posts instead of native Confucian scholars. The state encouraged Muslim immigration, as Arab, Persian and Turkic immigration into China accelerated during this period. The Mongol emperors brought hundreds of thousands of Muslims with them from Persia to help administer the country.[citation needed] Many worked in the elite circles arriving as provincial governors. They were referred to as Semu. |
