China and Muslim world at congress
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
The joint congress was held yesterday to discuss Chinese-Muslim relations.
A joint congress, organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on “China and the Muslim World: Cultural Encounters,” took place yesterday in Beijing.The congress was the first of its kind with regard to the significant development it represents of the cultural relations between China on one hand and the OIC on the other. The OIC is an intergovernmental organization representing 57 Muslim-majority countries. It is the second largest international organization after the United Nations for its membership spread over Southeast and South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, East and Southeast Europe, and various parts of Africa, with Russia.
The congress addressed countless aspects of cultural contacts and exchanges between China and the Muslim world from trade and travelers having circulated between China and the Muslim countries to the arts and architectural influences between the two worlds, from translations of Islamic and Chinese philosophical and scientific works into each other’s languages to the present development of language studies and cultural relations.
Furthermore, because scholars invited by the IRCICA from Asia, Arab countries, Europe and the U.S. participated from Chinese academies and universities, the congress reflected the state of research and teaching on these subjects not only in the Muslim world but globally.
