Chinese Muslims And Their Education in The Ottoman Press in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Abstract

While the relationships with Chinese civilization, who is one of the oldest neighbours of Turks in Central Asia and whose history consists of the dynasties of the families, continued for Easterns Turks, there were limited relations, mainly based on legations and some economic concerns, for those Turks who moved to the west. In the period of Abdulhamit II, the interest in China increased due to the Muslims living there, and as part of Pan-Islamism policy followed by caliph; the influence of the caliph over Muslims were tried to be increased. During the Second Constitutional Era, the relationships were preserved and various news and newspaper articles were published in press to create a national awareness among the MuslimTurks of the region, various news and articles on the subject were published in the press at that time. Besides the news and the articles that enlighten us about the Muslim Chinese, the observations and the stories who visited the area give us important information. In our study, the news and articles appeared in Ottoman press on Chinese Muslims during the last years of the Empire have been investigated and some conclusions are obtained with the study of various resources on the issue.