Beijing to host congress on China and the Muslim World

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) are jointly organizing a congress on China and the Muslim world in late summer.

This conference titled “China and the Muslim World: Cultural Encounters” will be held in the capital Beijing with the main concept proposed by IRCICA, reported Taqrib News Agency (TNA).

The concept adopted for the congress focuses around the following considerations: China and the Muslim world, two major civilizations with distinct collective identities, have each for their part played active roles in the progressive history of world civilization.

Governance of life and social administration, the sciences, arts and techniques and economic activities acquired peculiar characters in their realms under the influence of their respective mainstream faiths and philosophies.

Meanwhile over history these two worlds cultivated communications and interactions with each other via varying channels of cultural exchanges and trade of commodities and know-how.

Furthermore, for about ten centuries from the spread of Islam until the period of European expansion, the Muslim world and China were leaders of global commercial and economic activity. May the global future as well bring bright prospects to both.

Studies about the Chinese civilization and the Islamic civilization respectively have in a similar way generally approached these worlds with categorical, compartmental and for their largest part “orientalist” and “West-centered” perspectives.

The theme promises to open multifold avenues for research on the history of each of these two civilizations, the relations having taken place between them, their relations with the rest of the world, and for exploring vectors of cooperation between them in facing the global challenges at present and in future.

Specialists of the subject have been invited from the OIC Member States, universities in other countries and China itself with a view to provide as comprehensive coverage as possible of themes including, Historical processes in relations between China and the Muslim world, Relations between modern China and the Muslim world and also Historiography, the state of studies.

Chinese capital Beijing will host the congress on 28-30 June 2012.