Overview

This book offers an intimate ethnographic window into the ways Chinese Muslims produce, maintain, and transmit religious, cultural, and historical knowledge through their everyday practices of heritage literacy. Sino-Muslims in China inhabit a unique landscape of religious and spiritual expression, shaped by the intersections of the Islamic faith with Chinese cultural traditions, and where the spoken and written word plays a vital role in sustaining Islamic heritage across generations. Drawing from multiple personal narratives across diverse regions — including Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, Jilin, Henan, and Hong Kong SAR — this book illuminates the lived experiences of Chinese Muslims as they navigate the intersections of faith, language, and identity. These accounts trace practices of heritage literacy shaped by migration, linguistic-semiotic ideologies, life-cycle rituals, and forms of artistic expression. The authors show how practices of heritage literacy, rooted in Islamic traditions yet responsive to contemporary shifts, tether Sino-Muslims to a broader sense of Muslimness while also anchoring them in local Chinese cultural and historical milieus and diverse linguistic traditions. This interdisciplinary study offers new insights into the significance of heritage literacy in linguistic anthropological study, and the vital role of narrative in preserving and articulating Islamic heritage in China’s evolving sociocultural landscape.

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9781350497535

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Reviews

In a globalised, fast-paced world, it is easy to get swept up by the sound and fury of media, platforms, and AI. But, as literacy researchers, it is important to pause and move into cultures set in place and time brought to life by dialects, symbols, and scripts. Heritage Literacy in the Lives of Chinese Muslims gives researchers a chance to slow down to carefully consider how Sino-Muslims in China live and story their lives and heritage through language. Something important and deeply human is captured through Bhatt’s account of the rich diversity within multilingual, indigenised practices. * Jennifer Rowsell, Professor of Digital Literacy, University of Sheffield, UK *

In a globalised, fast-paced world, it is easy to get swept up by the sound and fury of media, platforms, and AI. But, as literacy researchers, it is important to pause and move into cultures set in place and time brought to life by dialects, symbols, and scripts. Heritage Literacy in the Lives of Chinese Muslims gives researchers a chance to slow down to carefully consider how Sino-Muslims in China live and story their lives and heritage through language. Something important and deeply human is captured through Bhatt’s account of the rich diversity within multilingual, indigenised practices. * Jennifer Rowsell, Professor of Digital Literacy, University of Sheffield, UK * Bringing to bear deep engagement and a masterly use of telling examples, Ibrar Bhatt and Heng Wang show how history and the day-to-day intertwine in the literacy practices of Sino-Muslims. Their skilled, exceptionally well-informed ethnographic approach results in an erudite, insightful and accessible book that articulates and exemplifies a new theory of heritage literacy. * James Simpson, Professor Division of Humanities, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong * In this insightful and timely book, Bhatt and Wang trace the evolving identity of Sino-Muslims through the lens of heritage literature. By highlighting everyday literacy practices, they show how the Han Kitab tradition continues to shape community life in contemporary China. A valuable contribution to heritage studies, sociolinguistics, and Sino-Muslim scholarship. * Yuting Wang, Professor of Sociology, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates *

Author Information

Ibrar Bhatt is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. Heng Wang is a Chinese language and classical Chinese dance teacher, working at the Chinese Language School NI and Queen's University Belfast, UK.

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