Lin Nu (林駑,

Xiao'erjing Xiao'erjing, Xiaorjing, Xiaojing or Benjing, is a Arabic script, Perso-Arabic script used to write Sinitic languages, including Lanyin Mandarin, Zhongyuan Mandarin, Northeastern Mandarin, and Dungan language, Dungan. It is used on occasion ...

: ) was a Chinese merchant and scholar in the early

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. He is the ancestor of the late Ming philosopher Li Zhi. 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 (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, converted to

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 ...

, 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 wer ...

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

Quanzhou Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China, People's Republic of China. It is Fujian's largest most populous metropolitan region, wi ...

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern 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 capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

. 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 ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

collapsed and the harsh discrimination (four caste system) 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/

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

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 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 Ming dynasty Muslims Converts to Islam Hui people Ming dynasty scholars Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown

See also

References