China's Muslims, divided into Uyghurs, Kazaks of the Turkic language family, and Hui of the Chinese language family, straddle Chinese culture and Islamic culture. The study of Chinese Islam and Muslims in the West has become an increasingly rich field for study, though there is little understanding of the history and scope of the existing research. Furthermore, the field remains relatively marginal when compared with Chinese studies or Islamic studies. This book explores the historical development of Chinese Islamic studies in the West in different periods, as first missionaries and then orientalists engaged with the region and sought to understand its Muslim populations. Each period is defined by its own sociological and ideological background, reflecting the development of Sino-foreign relations, the history of cultural exchanges, and more. An Appendix summarizes the parallel history of research in Japan.
