Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t3.2

v1.c7.s9.t3.2

Born in 1794, Ma belonged to the Hui ethnic minority from Yunnan province of China. The Hui are Chinese speaking and have been culturally similar to Han except for their religion, which is mostly Islam. In fact, the Chinese character for Hui [回] also signifies Islam. The educated among the Yunnan Hui learned Arabic along with Chinese. Ma is known to have acquired excellent proficiency in Arabic and Persian as well as in Islamic texts.