Studies on Chinese and Islamic Inner Asia

This book brings together the most important articles of the late Joseph F. Fletcher (1934-84), a scholar widely acclaimed for the breadth and brilliance of his historical thought and for his almost unequalled linguistic competence. Fletcher’s mastery of the major languages and historical traditions of East Asia, the Middle East and Europe gave him a unique ability to trace historical movements across the cultural boundaries of Eurasia. The articles in this collection summarize his researches on the relation of China to its neighbours, the history of nomad society, and the interconnections among the great empires of the early modern age. Fletcher’s highly important research into the Islamic revival movements of China and Inner Asia is collected here for the first time, including his most complete, but previously unpublished study of the subject, The Naqshbandiyya in Northwest China .

Contents: Preface; A source of the Erdeni-yin erike; China and Central Asia, 1368-1884; An Oyirod letter in the British Museum; Central Asian Sufism and Ma Ming-hsin’s New Teaching; Confrontations between Muslim missionaries and nomad unbelievers in the late 16th century: notes on four passages from the ’Diya’ al-qulub’; The Naqshbandiyya and the dhikr-i arra; Turco-Mongolian monarchic tradition in the Ottoman Empire; The biography of Khwush Kipäk Beg (d. 1781) in the Wai-fan Meng-ku Hui-pu wang kung piao chuan; The Mongols: ecological and social perspectives; Integrative history: parallels and interconnections in the early modern period, 1500-1800; The Naqshbandiyya in northwest China; Index.

Joseph F. Fletcher