The Characteristics of Academic History on the Studies of Chinese Islam by Western Academic Circles

Western studies on Islam and Muslims in Mainland China can be divided into two parts according to geographical and linguistic boundaries:

1. Research in British and American, written in English; and 
2. The European continent, mainly the research written in French, Russian, and German. 

Regarding the collection of academic achievements in these aspects and the staging of Western Islamic studies, the main purpose of my research is to comment on the key academic achievements in each period.

This research mainly deals with the study of Islamic Chinese literature. Generally speaking, foreign scholarly research on Islam and Muslims in Mainland China clearly includes the Uyghur and other Turkic languages and the Hui nationality in Chinese. Due to the differences in history, language and culture of these nationalities, inevitable variations occur in research results and methods.

The study of Chinese Islam in Western academic circles can be roughly divided into four stages, which will be discussed in chronological order and its characteristics.