126 The Han Kitab Authors
the two lists.^17 By the seventeenth century, a considerable number
of books in Persian and Arabic were available in China, some of
which had been translated into Chinese by Chinese Muslim schol-
ars.^18 The importance of translating grew during this period as the
rapid expansion of the Chinese Muslim educational network cre-
ated a greater demand for accessible versions of these texts.
This demand was the result, it is safe to assume, of two seemingly
contradictory processes. Although fewer Chinese Muslims could
read, let alone write, Arabic or Persian, more were entering the
newly created education system. The fact that instruction in Chi-
nese Muslim schools was now carried out in Chinese signaled the
increasingly indigenized nature of the educational system, just as the
translation of these texts into Chinese points to their increasing in-
corporation into a specifically Chinese version of Islamic knowl-
edge. We should also not exclude the possibility that these texts, like
as other Han Kitab texts, were intended for non-Muslim readers.
As we have seen, teachers and students in the network empha-
sized learning and using Arabic and Persian. One of the main
scholarly qualities deemed important by Zhao Can was the ability
to read and communicate in these Islamic languages.^19 During its
formation, the educational system was based solely on texts com-
posed in foreign languages, and it is clear that access to them was
vital. Later, even after these texts had been translated into Chinese,
knowledge of their original languages remained an attribute of the
well-educated scholar. The number of direct participants in the
educational network and the greater number of the members of its
constituency suggest that there was a sizable audience for Chinese
translations of Islamic texts. Knowing that the results of their labor
were in demand, translators could ask for financial support while
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17. Attempts to recover the original titles of the Persian and Arabic books
mentioned began in the nineteenth century with Archimandrite Palladii. He was
followed by a long series of scholars and travelers who worked on Chinese Islam.
For more on this issue, see Leslie and Wassel, “Arabic and Persian Sources Used
by Liu Chih,” pp. 78 – 81.
18. See Tazaka, Chūgoku ni okeru Kaikyō, pp. 1261 – 66 , for a list of twenty-five
that may had been translated.
19. See, e.g., his story about Feng Tongyu, discussed in Chapter 2 of this book,
pp. 000 – 00.