A Tentative Study of the History and Cultural Background of Huihui Philosophy During the Ming and Qing

The Hui is an ethnic group of China formed upon Moslem immigrants who as a whole were named Huihui. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, after a long nativization, the Hui came to a key moment in their development of national culture and consciousness. During this period, there appeared a group of Hui intellectuals ( Hui Confucian scholars) who had a good command of Islamic and Chinese cultures and who were of double cultural makings of the Hui and the Han Chinese. It was these scholars who, at the base of Islamic philosophy and under the full influence of the Confucian philosophy of the Song and the Ming, created a new philosophy: Huihui Philosophy. This philosophy was a great contribution to both the Hui and the Chinese race, and provided better evidence for the intimate relationship between the Hui and Han Chinese.