Xiao'erjing, Xiaorjing, Xiaojing or Benjing, is a

Perso-Arabic script The Persian alphabet (), also known as the Perso-Arabic script, is the right-to-left script, right-to-left alphabet used for the Persian language. It is a variation of the Arabic script with four additional letters: (the sounds 'g', 'zh', ' ...

used to write

Sinitic languages The Sinitic languages (), often synonymous with the Chinese languages, are a language group, group of East Asian analytic languages that constitute a major branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is frequently proposed that there is a p ...

, including Lanyin Mandarin,

Zhongyuan Mandarin Central Plains Mandarin, or ''Zhongyuan'' Mandarin (), is a variety of Mandarin Chinese spoken in the central and southern parts of Shaanxi, Henan, southwestern part of Shanxi, southern part of Gansu, far southern part of Hebei, northern Anhui, n ...

Northeastern Mandarin Northeastern Mandarin ( or / ''Dōngběiguānhuà'' "Northeast Mandarin") is the subgroup of Mandarin varieties spoken in Northeast China with the exception of the Liaodong Peninsula and few enclaves along Amur and Ussuri rivers. The classifica ...

, and Dungan. It is used on occasion by many

ethnic minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

who adhere to

Islam in China Islam has been practiced in China since the 7th century CE.. There are an estimated 17–25 million Muslims in China, less than 2 percent of the total population. Though Hui people, Hui Muslims are the most numerous group, the greatest concentr ...

—mostly the Hui, but also the Dongxiang and the Salar—and formerly by their Dungan descendants in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Orthographic reforms introduced the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

and later the

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, Mongolic, Uralic languages, Uralic, C ...

to the Dungan language, which continue to be used today. Xiao'erjing is written from right to left, like other Perso-Arabic writing systems. Xiao'erjing is unusual among Arabic script-based writing systems in that all vowels, long and short, are explicitly notated with

diacritics A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...

, making it an

abugida An abugida (; from Geʽez: , )sometimes also called alphasyllabary, neosyllabary, or pseudo-alphabetis a segmental Writing systems#Segmental writing system, writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as units; each unit ...

. Some other Arabic-based writing systems in China, such as the

Uyghur Arabic alphabet The Uyghur Arabic alphabet () is a version of the Arabic alphabet used for writing the Uyghur language, primarily by Uyghurs living in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It is one of several Uyghur alphabets and has been the official alphabet ...

, use letters and not diacritics to mark short vowels.

Nomenclature

Xiao'erjing does not have a single, standard name. In

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

, and eastern

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

, as well as also

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

and the northeastern provinces, the script is referred to as , which when shortened becomes or (the latter has the meaning of "to review" in the aforementioned regions). In

Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...

, western

and the northwestern provinces, the script is referred to as . The Dongxiang people refer to it as the "Dongxiang script" or the "Huihui script"; The Salar refer to it as the "Salar script"; The Dungan of Central Asia used a variation of Xiao'erjing called the "Hui script", before being made to abandon the Arabic script for

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

. According to A. Kalimov, a famous Dungan linguist, the Dungan of the former Soviet Union called this script (, ).

Origins

Since the arrival of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

China beginning in the mid-7th century, many Arabic and Persian speaking people migrated into China. Centuries later, these peoples assimilated with the native

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

, forming the Hui ethnicity of today. Many Chinese Muslim students attended

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

s to study

Classical Arabic Classical Arabic or Quranic Arabic () is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notably in Umayyad Caliphate, Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid literary texts such as poetry, e ...

and the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

. Because these students had a very basic understanding of

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

s but would have a better command of the spoken tongue once assimilated, they started using the Arabic script for Chinese. This was often done by writing notes in Chinese to aid in the memorization of

sura A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' ( al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while the ...

s. This method was also used to write Chinese translations of Arabic vocabulary learned in the madrasas. Thus, a system of writing the Chinese language with Arabic script gradually developed and standardized to some extent. Currently, the oldest known artifact showing signs of Xiao'erjing is a stone stele in the courtyard of in

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

. The stele shows inscribed Qur'anic verses in Arabic as well as a short note of the names of the inscribers in Xiao'erjing. The stele was done in the year AH 740 in the

Islamic calendar The Hijri calendar (), also known in English as the Islamic calendar, is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to determine the proper days of Islamic holidays and rituals, such as the Ramad ...

(between July 9, 1339, and June 26, 1340). Some old Xiao'erjing manuscripts (along with other rare texts including those from

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Sachu (Dunhuang) was ...

) are preserved in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Usage

Xiao'erjing can be divided into two sets, the "Mosque system" and the "Daily system". The "Mosque system" is the system used by pupils and

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

s in

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s and

madrasah Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary education or higher learning ...

s. It contains much Arabic and Persian religious lexicon, and no usage of Chinese characters. This system is relatively standardised, and could be considered a true

writing system A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...

. The "Daily system" is the system used by the less educated for letters and correspondences on a personal level. Often simple Chinese characters are mixed in with the Arabic script, mostly discussing non-religious matters, and therewith relatively little Arabic and Persian loans. This practice can differ drastically from person to person. The system would be devised by the writer himself, with one's own understanding of the Arabic and Persian alphabets, mapped accordingly to one's own dialectal pronunciation. Often, only the letter's sender and the letter's receiver can understand completely what is written, while being very difficult for others to read. Unlike Hui Muslims in other areas of China, Muslims of the northwest provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu had no knowledge of the

Han Kitab The Han Kitab (; ) are a collection of Islam in China, Chinese Islamic texts, written by Islam in China, Chinese Muslims, which explains Islam through Confucianism, Confucian terminology. Its name reflects this utilization: ''Han'' is the Chinese ...

Literary Chinese Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...

, they used Xiao'erjing. Xiao'erjing was used to annotate foreign language Islamic documents (in languages like Persian) using the Chinese language. Xiao'erjing was used mostly by Muslims who could not read Chinese characters. It was imperfect due to various factors. The differing Chinese dialects would require multiple different depictions with Xiao'erjing. Xiao'erjing cannot display the tones present in Chinese, syllable endings are indistinguishable, i.e.

xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

and xian. Xiao'erjing was much simpler than Chinese characters for representing Chinese.

Modern usage

In recent years, the usage of Xiao'erjing is nearing extinction due to the growing Chinese economy and the improvement of Chinese character education in rural parts of the country. Chinese characters, along with pinyin, have since replaced Xiao'erjing. Since the mid-1980s, there has been much scholarly work done within and outside China concerning Xiao'erjing. On-location research has been conducted and the users of Xiao'erjing have been interviewed. Written and printed materials of Xiao'erjing were also collected by researchers, the ones at

Nanjing University Nanjing University (NJU) is a public university in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. It is affiliated and sponsored by the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. The univers ...

being the most comprehensive. is leading a project in Japan concerning Xiao'erjing. Books are printed in Xiao'erjing. In Arabic language Qur'ans, Xiao'erjing annotations are used to help women read. Xiao'erjing is used to explain certain terms when used as annotations. Xiao'erjing is also used to write Chinese language Qurans. A Dachang Hui Imam, Ma Zhenwu, wrote a Qur'an translation into Chinese including Chinese characters and Xiao'erjing.

Alphabet

Xiao'erjing has 31 letters, 4 of which are used to represent

vowel A vowel is a speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract, forming the nucleus of a syllable. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness a ...

sounds. The 31 letters consists of 28 letters borrowed from Arabic, 4 letters borrowed from Persian along with 2 modified letters and 1 extra letter unique to Xiao'erjing.

Initials and consonants

Below table demonstrates the list of consonants, and cases in which two consonants represent the same initial, in the

bopomofo Bopomofo, also called Zhuyin Fuhao ( ; ), or simply Zhuyin, is a Chinese transliteration, transliteration system for Standard Chinese and other Sinitic languages. It is the principal method of teaching Chinese Mandarin pronunciation in Taiwa ...

order. Note: # is more commonly used instead of in Linxia manuscripts to better closely match the local dialect's pronunciation. # is more commonly used instead of in Linxia manuscripts to better closely match the local dialect's pronunciation. Below is the list of initials and consonants used in Xiao'erjing.

Additional consonants

The consonants in this list are either lesser used alternatives used in regional varieties of Xiao'erjing, or they are common Arabic or Persian letters that are exclusively used for writing loan words in Xiao'erjing texts.

Finals and vowels

Below is the list of final and vowel endings in each syllable representing each

Hanzi Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only one ...

in Xiao'erjing.Suutarinen, M. (2015)
https://journal.fi/store/article/view/51814 Arabic Script among China's Muslims: A Dongxiang folk story"
''Studia Orientalia Electronica'', 113, 197–208. * Vowels in Arabic and Persian loans follow their respective orthographies, namely, only the long vowels are represented and the short vowels are omitted. Although the sukun ( Sukuun

) can be omitted when representing Arabic and Persian loans, it cannot be omitted when representing Chinese. The exception being that of oft-used monosyllabic words which can have the sukun omitted from writing. For example, when emphasised, "的" and "和" are written as () and (); when unemphasised, they can be written with the sukuns as () and (), or without the sukuns as () and (). * Similarly, the sukun can also sometimes represent the Chinese - final, as such (). This is sometimes replaced by the fatḥatan ( FatHHatan

), the kasratan (

), or the dammatan (

) in manuscripts. In polysyllabic words, the final 'alif () that represents the long vowel -ā can be omitted and replaced by a fatḥah ( FatHHah

) representing the short vowel -ă. * Xiao'erjing is similar to Hanyu Pinyin in the respect that words are written as one, while a space is inserted between words. A shall be used for separation between different syllables within the same word. Unlike Persian or Arabic, syllables (each representing one Hanji character) are not continuously connected. * When representing Chinese words, the shaddah sign represents a doubling of the entire syllable on which it rests. It has the same function as the Chinese

iteration mark Iteration marks are characters or punctuation marks that represent a duplicated character or word. Chinese In Chinese, or (usually appearing as , equivalent to the modern ideograph ) or is used in casual writing to represent a doubled char ...

"々". * Arabic punctuation marks can be used with Xiao'erjing as can Chinese punctuation marks, they can also be mixed (Chinese pauses and periods with Arabic commas and quotation marks).

Correspondences with pinyin

Example

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1 of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

in Xiao'erjing, as well as simplified and traditional Chinese characters, pinyin, and English: ;Xiao'erjing: ;

Simplified characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write the Chinese language, with the other being traditional characters. Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by t ...

: ;

Traditional characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages. In Taiwan, the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the ''Standard Form of ...

: ; Correspondence between Chinese characters and Xiao'erjing: ;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ; English: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Al-Fatiha (الفَاتِحَةِ)

Below is the first sura (chapter) of the Quran,

Al-Fatiha Al-Fatiha () is the first chapter () of the Quran. It consists of seven verses (') which consist of a prayer for guidance and mercy. Al-Fatiha is recited in Muslim obligatory and voluntary prayers, known as ''salah''. The primary literal mea ...

, its original Arabic text, English translation, as well as the Chinese translation in

Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized Chinese characters, character sets widely used to write the Chinese language, with the other being traditional characters. Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of ...

and in Xiao'erjing, as published (un-edited) in 1995 by Ma Zhenwu (马振武).Quran (1995, December), The first 18 ''

'' (The first half of the book, first 15 out of 30 '' portions'') - In original Arabic, as well as with Chinese translations, written in

and in Xiao'erjing transliteration
archive.org/details/20241115_20241115_1438
/ref> In the Xiao'erjing version of this sura, the author may have made minor choices about characters and pronunciations that may differ from what's shown in this article, and they may even have minor inconsistencies in the text itself. Furthermore, as is the tradition for Xiao'erjing texts, there are instances where Arabic or Persian loanwords are used and written directly, these are shown in bold. It's noteworthy to mention that in this document, the

characters are written from right to left, following the flow of the Arabic text of the Quran and the Xiao'erjing translation.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* A. Forke. "Ein islamisches Tractat aus Turkistan". ''T'oung pao''. Vol. VIII. 1907. * O.I. Zavyalova. "Sino-Islamic language contacts along the Great Silk Road: Chinese texts written in Arabic Script". ''Chinese Studies'' (《漢學研究》). Taipei: 1999. No. 1. * ''Xiaojing Qur'an'' (《小經古蘭》), Dongxiang County, Lingxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu, PRC, 1987. * ''Huijiao Bizun (Xiaojing)'' (《回教必遵（小經）》), Islam Book Publishers, Xi'an, Shaanxi, PRC, 1993, 154 pp., photocopied edition. * Muhammad Musa Abdulihakim. ''Islamic faith Q&A'' (《伊斯兰信仰问答》) (2nd ed.). Beiguan Street Mosque, Xining, Qinghai, PRC, appendix contains a Xiao'erjing–Pinyin–Arabic comparison chart. * Feng Zenglie. "Beginning Dissertation on Xiao'erjing: Introducing a phonetic writing system of the Arabic script adopted for Chinese" in ''The Arab World'' (《阿拉伯世界》) Issue #1. 1982. * Chen Yuanlong. "The Xiaojing writing system of the Dongxiang ethnicity" in ''China's Dongxiang Ethnicity'' (《中国东乡族》). People's Publishing House of Gansu. 1999.

External links

archive.org/details/20241115_20241115_1438 Quran
(1995, December), The first 18 ''

'' (The first half of the Quran, first 15 out of 30 '' portions'') - In original Arabic, as well as with Chinese translations, written in

and in Xiao'erjing transliteration:
https://transliterationtools.blogspot.com/2023/10/xiaoerjing-tool.html Online tool that converts Chinese characters to and from Xiao'erjing
{{Arabic alphabets Writing systems of China Arabic alphabets Transcription of Chinese