Familiar Strangers narrates a history of the Muslims of northwest China, at the intersection of the frontiers of the Mongolian-Manchu, Tibetan, Turkic, and Chinese cultural regions. Based on primary and secondary sources in a variety of languages, Familiar Strangers examines the nature of ethnicity and periphery, the role of religion and ethnicity in personal and collective decisions in violent times, and the complexity of belonging to two cultures at once. Concerning itself with a frontier very distant from the core areas of Chinese culture and very strange to most Chinese, it explores the influence of language, religion, and place on Sino-Muslim identity.

List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: Purposes and Form of a Muslim History in China
1. The Frontier Ground and Peoples of Northwest China
2. Acculturation and Accommodation: China's Muslims to the 17th Century
3. Connections: Muslims in the Early Qing, 1644-1781
4. Strategies of Resistance: Integration by Violence
5. Strategies of Integration: Muslims in New China
Conclusion: Familiar Strangers
Chinese Character Glossary
Bibliography
Index