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John Chen is a doctoral candidate in History at Columbia University. His dissertation examines knowledge transformation among Chinese Muslims and their counterparts throughout the Islamic world, particularly Egypt, in the early to mid-twentieth century. He has published a preliminary article on this topic in Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. His research interests lie at the intersection of Islamic history, history of science, and the transnational intellectual history of the Middle East and East Asia. Before starting at Columbia, he studied at the American University in Cairo’s Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) with the support of a Fulbright fellowship, received additional training in translation with the support of a Critical Language Enhancement Award, and worked as a research associate at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. A native of Massachusetts, he received his B.A. in History and Arabic from Harvard University.
When Islam Was an Ally: China’s Changing Concepts of Islamic State and Islamic World
For many at present, the phrase “China and Islam” connotes conflict and oppression. This is due to a preponderant focus on the security situation in the Muslim-majority northwestern province of Xinjiang. Chinese policies in Xinjiang—particularly restrictions placed on Xinjiang’s Turkic Uighurs regarding beards, veils, and fasting during Ramadan—have been perceived as targeting Muslims as Muslims, exacerbating the security concerns they were meant to address. Moreover, the pursuit of stability in Xinjiang has led the Chinese government to adopt an anti-terrorism rhetoric reminiscent of its American counterpart.
