Study Of The Arabic Teaching In China At The 20～(th) Century

Arabic is the common language of Arab nation and one of working language in the United Nations. In the same time it is the language of the Holy Quran, a main scripture of Islam and it therefore became the religious language of Muslims all over the world.Arabic is a carrier of Arab-Islamic culture since it has been, in the history, one of the most important academic languages for near about 1000 years starting from the 8 century (A.D) down to European Renaissance in the 16^th century. Along with spread of Arab-Islamic culture in the West and the East, Arabic language was so widely spread that the scope of studying and using was expanded to many continents, mainly to Asia, Africa and Europe.Relationship between China and Arab goes to very ancient times and it might be traced to two thousand years back. Therefore China is one of the countries in which Arabic entered in earlier times. In Han dynasty (206 B.C-220 A.D), the relation between China and Arab had been established and in Tang (618-907) and Song dynasty (960-1279), the bilateral relation was enhanced where a lot of Arabs came to China for trading while many of them settled and gradually formed a number of compact settlement called "Fan Fang"(foreigners sector) in coast cities where mosques were built. Islam was then brought to China.Because of deepening of Sino-Arab relation and entering of Islam in China, Arabic language naturally spread in China. When it was Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) Arabic had been widely spread and used and the study of Arabic language was gradually set off. Since then, Chinese people started learning and studying it and the activity has been continuing till today for about thousand years without interruption and has developed and expanded.It is obvious that the Arabic teaching in China has a long history with very rich experiences gained mainly in the 20^th century when it had reached a high level and made a great achievement.