Lin Nu (林駑,

Xiao'erjing Xiao'erjing or Xiao'erjin or Xiaor jin or in its shortened form, Xiaojing, literally meaning "children's script" or "minor script" (cf. "original script" referring to the original Perso-Arabic script; zh, s=本经, t=本經, p=Běnjīng, Xiao ...

: ) was a Chinese merchant and scholar in the early

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. He is the ancestor of the philosopher

Li Zhi Li Zhi may refer to: *Emperor Gaozong of Tang (628–683), named Li Zhi, Emperor of China *Li Ye (mathematician) (1192–1279), Chinese mathematician and scholar, birth name Li Zhi *Li Zhi (philosopher) (1527–1602), Chinese philosopher from the M ...

. His family was Han Chinese in origin and the branch that remained true to Han culture cut off the Lin Nu's branch for marrying a foreigner and converting to another religion. His father was Lin Lü (林閭). Around 1376 the 30-year-old Lin Nu visited Ormuz in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

, and married a

Semu Semu () is the name of a caste established by the Yuan dynasty. The 31 Semu categories referred to people who came from Central and West Asia. They had come to serve the Yuan dynasty by enfranchising under the dominant Mongol caste. The Semu were ...

girl (“娶色目女”) (most likely Persian or Arab) and brought her back to

Quanzhou Quanzhou, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metropolitan region, with an area of and a popul ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

. This was recorded in the Lin and Li genealogy《林李宗谱》. It is believed that the marriage of the Hormuzian Persian girl to Lin Nu which accompanied his conversion to Islam is what caused the other branch of the family to change their surname which is why the same family uses two surnames, Lin and Li, since they were very much against conversion to foreign religions and marriage to other ethnicities in the atmosphere after the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

collapsed and the harsh discrimination by the Yuan rulers against Southern Han Chinese. The biography of Lin Nu says he married a Semu girl and converted to Islam at a mosque in Hormuz in 1384 before coming back to China. Li Guangqi said his uncle Lin Nu's marriage to the foreign girl and conversion to her religion caused his branch of the family to exclude his uncle's descendants from the genealogy because they practiced Islam and change the surname of his own branch of the family to Li to disassociate them from the Lin surname. Li Guangqi attacked the religion and customs of the Semu including Islam and other foreign religions saying they were incompatible with Chinese culture and that their language sounded like owl screeching and their script resembled worms. He cited ancient Chinese texts about barbarians and said his uncle was "seduced" by Semu culture "the strange and exotic" and said he included this attack on the Semu religions in the family genealogy to make sure no one from the family would repeat what their uncle did by marrying a foreign girl and converting a foreign religion. This represented a general xenophobic attitude The genealogy refers to the

Ispah rebellion The Ispah rebellion () were a series of civil wars in the middle of 14th century in Fujian during the Yuan dynasty. The term Ispah might derive from the Persian word "سپاه" (''sepâh''), meaning "army" or " Sepoy". Thus, the rebellion is al ...

and cruelties perpetrated by the Semu armies. The Persian Semu in the Ispah rebellion were crushed and defeated by the Yuan and the Chinese massacred the defeated Semu. The xenophobia and resentment against Lin Nu by his Han family for marrying the Persian girl and converting to Islam stemmed from this.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Nu 14th-century Chinese businesspeople Chinese Muslims Converts to Islam Hui people Ming dynasty scholars Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown

See also

References