On November 21, 1955, the China Islamic Institute was established in Beijing. The purpose of the Institute was to foster Imams who were both patriotic to the country and faithful to Islam. The students of the Institute were mainly prospective Muslim youths who had learnt a little about Islam in mosques. By graduation, they were to be in possession of considerable Islamic knowledge and high school level Chinese language ability, and could handle religious matters within mosques, beable to read Arabic scriptures and simple oral and written translation. The major courses offered at the Institute were: theology, the Holy Qur"an (including Qur"an recitation and annotation), Hadith, Islamic Law and Arabian literature. Chinese (mainly for Uighur classes), history, geography and politics were also taught as minor courses in the Institute.
In the beginning and middle of the 1950"s, great importance was attached to the publication and study of Islamic scriptures. The China Islamic Association photo lithographed the original Arabic edition of the Holy Qur"an three times, and a number of selected editions. In 1950, the Publishing House of Beijing University published “The Holy Qur"an” (first half) translated by Ma Jian. It comprises 8 volumes and 6 chapters, and annotations and “A Brief Introduction to the Holy Qur"an” by the translator. With great efforts of the China Islamic Association, many publishing houses and Arabic experts, a number of picture books were published during this period of time, including “Chinese Muslims‘ Life”, “Muslims in China” and “Chinese Muslims’ Religious Life”, with captions in Chinese, Arabic, English, French, and Malay. The constitution of the People"s Republic of China was also translated into Arabic and distributed home and abroad. A picture book “Beijing Muslims‘ Life” withtrilingual caption in Chinese, Arabic and English, and a book “The Holy Qur"an and Women"s Rights and Status” compiled in line with the Marriage Law of the New China were published. And the following works that were published in this period of time were of special importance: “The History of Islamic Law” translated by Pang Shiqian filled the gap in the field of studies on Islamic Law in China. “An Illustration to Islamic Scriptures” translated by Ma Jian became one of the basic textbooks of domestic Islamic education. “Islam and Society” translated by Chen Keli expounds the relationship between Islam and social development. Speed-up textbook “Islamic Book” compiled by Zhang Hongtao gives an introduction to common knowledge on Islam and attached 19 pictures to demonstrate how to perform prayers. In addition, “Life of the Prophet Muhammad” translated and edited by Ma Chongyi, “Hadith” (first volume) translated by Chen Keli, “Muhammad"s Sword”, a collection of essays by Ma Jian concerning the history and culture of Islam, “Arabian Poems” translated by Ma Anli and Ma Xuehai, were all of great importance to help people rightly understand Islam and promote mutual understanding and unity with Non-Muslims.
In the autumn of 1958, impacted by “Leftist” thoughts, the works on studying Islamic doctrine and the history of and cultureof Chinese Muslims, and publishing Islamic books and scriptures was suspended until 18 years later when the Cultural Revolution came to an end in 1976.
3.Democratic Reform to ReligiousSystems of Chinese IslamChinese Muslims started a new political life after the land reforms and socialist reconstruction was accomplished. However, the feudal privileges and system of exploitation were still in existence in religious fields, greatly hampering the development of social production and the improvement of Muslims‘ life. In the Northwest in particular, there still existed the religious domination of Menhuans (special Islamic sects in China) and a heavy religious burden, so it became necessary to carry out certain reform to religious systems of Chinese Islam.
From 1958 to 1960, under the leadership of the central authorities, a couple of democratic reforms were carried out concerning certain aspects of religious systems of Chinese Islam. In line with the actual situation and basic principles for reform, the religious systems of Chinese Islam was classified into three categories: those severely hampering the development of production were of the first, 11 items altogether, these must bereformed; those not being much of an obstacle were of the second,5 items altogether, these could remained unformed; those being no obstacle at all were of the third, these definitely could remain unformed, and proper solutions would be worked out for their existence.
The feudal privileges and the system of exploitation that existed in the religious system of Chinese Islam in the Northwest was basically abolished after the democratic reform was successfully carried out. Muslims were liberated from religious feudal oppression and exploitation, and production developed a great deal as a result.
The democratic reform to the religious system of Chinese Islam conformed to the trend of the times and exerted a great influence on the social progress and development of politics, economy and culture of the Muslim ethnic regions. However, affected by “Leftist” thoughts, some blunders were produced as well; some Muslims legal religious activities were interfered or restrained.