Concentration and Dispersion of Islam in the Chinese Inland
During the first two hundred years of the Ming Dynasty (around the late 14th century to the early 16th century), the coverage of Islam further expanded in China. New compact communities with mosques as center emerged one after another. The Muslims inthe inland moved to medium and small cities, towns and countryside in various ways, and led to the birth of comparatively stable compact communities of Muslims in places, even in some remote areas, where there were no such communities before, such as Jining, Linqing, Dezhou, Botou and Cangzhou which are located on the northern bank of the Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou, Changping, Tianjin, Qian"an, Yixian, and Baoding around Beijing, and Lingzhou, Tongxin and Guyuan in Ningxia. Also in this case were Guizhou Province and Tibet. And Weishan, Baoshan, Tengchong, Songming, Zhanyi, Qujing, Yuxi, Mengzi and Shiping in Yunnan Province were also places where Muslims moved in only since the early Ming Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.), the Muslim population grew fastest in Nanjing, capital of the Ming Dynasty. Nanjing was called Jiankang Lu in the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368
A.D.), having jurisdiction over Lushi Si (now southern part of Nanjing) and five counties Jiangning, Shangyuan, Jurong, Lishui and Liyang. By the 27th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1290 A.D.), there were 163 households of Se Mu (one of the four classes into which China"s population was divided in the Yuan Dynasty) in Lushi Si, Jiangning and Shangyuan. The Hui Huis were only a part of Se Mu people at that time, whose population did not even reach one thousand atlthough it accounted for one third of the Se Mu population.
In the early Ming period however, the population of the Hui Huis increased greatly. By the 2nd year of Wanli (1592 A.D.), the total number of households in Jiangning, a county of Nanjing, was 3239, among which 9230 persons were Hui Huis. By the period of Hongwu, the Hui Hui population in Jiangning grew to100,000, ten times as many as that in the period of Wanli. If other counties of Nanjing were taken into account, the total population of the Hui Huis in Nanjing was quite large. The main reason why the Hui Hui population increased at such a sharp speed in Nanjing was that a large number of the Hui Huis movedin from other places in various ways.
Firstly, many Hui Hui generals and soldiers who had joined the Ming army and those of the Yuan army who surrendered to the Ming moved to Nanjing. In the last years of the Yuan Dynasty, many Hui Huis participated in the wars to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty, and some of them were promoted to very high positions for their merit. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, many Hui Huis such as Chang Yuchun, Mu Ying, Lan Yu, Feng Sheng, Hu Dahai, Tang He, Deng Yu, were ranked among princes and marquises. The surrendered Muslim generals of the Yuan army also settled down in Nanjing, about which we can find evidence in the stele inscription titled “Building the Jing Jue Mosque andthe Li Bai Mosque by Imperial Order in the South of Ying Tian (Nanjing was called Ying Tian in the Ming Dynasty)“ written by Wang Ao in the 5th year of Hong Zhi, which says that Zhu Yuanzhang (Ming"s first emperor) had the Jing Jue Mosque built in the 21st year of Hong Wu (reign title of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang) to arrange the surrendered Muslim generals and facilitate their religious life. However, they were permitted to practise Islam and perform prayers only, not to participate in politics.
The Jing Jue Mosque is the only ancient mosque still in existence in Nanjing today. As it was located in the San Shan Jie Street, it was called the San Shan Jie Mosque at first. In accordance with historic documents the Jing Jue Mosque was built in the Ming Dynasty, and covered an area of 67 hectares with its southern edge at Lin Guan Jie, western edge at Ma Xiang, eastern edge at San Shan Jie and northern edge at Sha Zhu Xiang. In later years, it was repeatedly damaged and reduced in area after renovations. According to legend the name of the Jing Jue Mosque is connected to Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty (on the throne 1368-1398 A.D.)? Legend has it that among the Hui Huis in Nanjing: Chang Yuchun, Hu Dahai and other Muslims generals often went to the San Shan Jie Mosquefor prayer. One day, Zhu Yuanzhang went to the Mosque to look for them for an important matter. Seeing them performing prayer in the hall, he stepped in without thinking. According to Islamic Law, no one could enter prayer hall with shoes, so the mosque server standing aside asked him to take off his shoes, and Zhu Yuanzhang took his foot back. After that, the Mosque wasrenamed Jing Jue when he ordered to rebuilt it. ("Jing Jue‘ literally means clean and conscious, its pronunciation is similar to "Jin Jiao’ (pronounced as Jin Jue in the Nanjing dialect) which means to step foot inside)
Secondly, Hui Hui craftsmen, traders, warriors andvarious professionalsmoved to Nanjing.
During the early period of the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing was the political, economic, commercial and cultural center of the country. A large number of Hui Hui craftsmen andtraders moved here. It is written in the preface of the family tree of Mr. Liang, a bone doctor living in Nanjing now, that hisearliest ancestor, an expertat resetting broken bones, moved from Hulongdi in the Western Region to Biandu in the period of Xi Ning (1068-1077 A.D.) of the Song Dynasty, and the emperor of Song bestowed upon him the family name of "Liang‘? In the period of Hong Wu (1368-