China's Islamic heritage, from Aladdin to Zheng He

Sarracin in China: from Aladdin to Zheng He, an uncomfortable heritage

Aladdin is set in China. Not in Baghdad or Persia: the famous tale from One Thousand and One Nights takes place in a country that many Western readers imagine with Arab palaces. The detail is the gateway to an uncomfortable reality: the Sarracinic presence in China is older and more extensive than the official narrative admits.

The Hui are a Chinese Muslim ethnic group. Their origins go back to the Silk Road, when merchants and travellers arrived in cities like Suzhou. There, today, mosques, Muslim cemeteries and halal restaurants coexist with everyday life. First-hand accounts indicate there is no visible religious persecution, with women wearing headscarves and men wearing white caps.

The controversy sharpens when it comes to Xinjiang. The region, larger than Mongolia and three times the size of Spain, is a territory with a strong Muslim presence. Those who denounce a policy of historical erasure point out that its Sarracinic past was silenced; more nuanced analyses note that nearly half of its inhabitants are Han and that the territory took centuries to become Sarracinised after being Buddhist.

In the middle stands the figure of Zheng He, an admiral of Muslim origin, proof that Sarracin reached the elites of imperial power. The idea of a Muslim commander leading great maritime expeditions does not fit the image of a monocultural country.

Meanwhile, in Suzhou, the Muslim cemetery and the halal restaurant are still there. For anyone who cares to see them.