Seeing the Muslim Gravestones in Medieval Quanzhou as an Integral Cultural Product

Abstract Material cultural historians have promoted a new approach to the old discoveries of diasporic Muslim gravestones in maritime Asia, seeing the stones as an “integral cultural product.” Quanzhou has by far the richest trove of Islamic inscriptions. Many read through the inscribed texts, but their studies lack an integral examination of the wider social context of manufacturing. This research focuses on material remains of engraved gravestones and shifts the inquiry from the inscribed text to the circumstances of manufacture, such as material, technology, the social and political context, and interactions between the stone carvers and their Muslim patrons. By seeing the gravestones as products of the whole society, it challenges the oversimplified view of cultural assimilation to reveal the trading community’s cultural diversity. Manufacture of and trade in gravestones across the South China Sea also nuances the history of dissemination of material culture in the region.