Dandy Fantoan, 31, works for an IT company. When he was a child, he says he almost lost his sense of identity. “I couldn’t speak Chinese and considered myself to be Indonesian, but others regarded people like me as Chinese.”
丹迪·范特安現年31歲，在一家IT公司工作。他說在他小的時候，自己幾乎沒有什么身份的概念。“我不會說漢語，所以一直認為自己是印度尼西亞人，可別人總把像我這樣的人看作是中國人。”
His father often told him to never forget his Chinese roots. Indeed, it was due to his father’s recommendation that Dandy went to Beijing to study at Tsinghua University. On his return to Indonesia, he found work at a company that was opening a string of department stores and businesses across China. He says the more China rose to global prominence, the more strongly he felt Chinese.
他的爸爸經常告訴他不能忘記自己的中國根。的確，也正是因為爸爸的建議，丹迪去了清華大學學習。回到印尼，他在一家公司找到了工作，該公司名下的一系列的百貨商場和企業遍布中國。他說，中國在世界上越出名，他就越能感覺到自己的那種民族根。
“I love Indonesia, but I also don’t want to lose my Chinese identity,” says Dandy. “As an Indonesian Chinese, I want to become a bridge connecting the two countries.”
丹迪說：“我喜歡印度尼西亞，但是我也不想丟掉我的中國身份。作為一個華裔印度尼西亞人，我想要成為溝通兩國的橋梁。”
HUI CHINESE: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN CHINA AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD
華裔回族人：縮小中國和伊斯蘭世界差距的橋梁。
In a basic Arabic course for foreign students at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the teacher writes simple Arabic sentences on the blackboard.
在埃及愛資哈爾大學專為外國留學生開設的基本阿拉伯課上，老師在黑板上寫下了幾個簡單的阿拉伯語句子。
The students recite the words, “The student studies Arabic. The student plays soccer.”
學生進行背誦，“學生學阿拉伯語。學生踢足球。”
Al-Azhar, one of the most prestigious centers of Islamic learning, attracts 40,000 Muslim students from 140 countries. There has been a surge in the number of Chinese students over the last five or six years.
作為最富盛名的伊斯蘭教學習中心之一，愛資哈爾大學吸引了全球140個國家的4000名穆斯林學生。在過去的五、六年間，中國學生的數量激增。
According to Sheikh Ali Abdul Baqi, head of the university’s Islamic Research Center, there are currently 1,534 Chinese students.
愛資哈爾大學穆斯林研究中心的主席謝赫·阿里·阿卜杜勒·巴齊稱，當前該校共有1534名中國留學生。
The Chinese diaspora stretches far and wide across the globe. This diaspora is often synonymous with Han Chinese, but with Chinese economic influence spreading across the Middle East and Africa, the Muslim “Hui” ethnic group is rising to prominence as a bridge between the China and the Islamic world.
中國僑民綿延甚廣，遍布全球。他們通常是漢族的代名詞。但隨著中國經濟影響力在中東和非洲日益增強，穆斯林回族群體也逐漸成為溝通中國和穆斯林世界的橋梁，并因此廣為人知。
Muslims only account for around 1.5 percent of China’s population, but this still adds up to an impressive 20 million people. Many Muslims came to China in the 13th century, when the Mongol Empire ruled from China down to west Asia. Apart from certain minorities such as the Uighurs, Chinese-speaking Muslims are known as “Hui.” Islamic communities can be found throughout the whole country.
中國人口中，穆斯林人雖然僅約占1.5%，但這足足增加了2000萬人。13世紀，許多穆斯林人來到中國，那時蒙古帝國的統治范圍從中國一直延伸到西亞。除了一些少數民族，如維吾爾族，其余說漢語的穆斯林都被稱作“回族”。全國各地都有伊斯蘭群體的足跡。
According to Sheikh Ali Abdul Baqi, head of the Al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Center, there are currently 1,534 Chinese students. “This is proof that China and Egypt are forging closer bonds,” he says.
愛資哈爾大學穆斯林研究中心的主席謝赫·阿里·阿卜杜勒·巴齊稱，當前該校共有1534名中國留學生。他說：“這足以證明中國和埃及正建立起更緊密的聯系。”
Near the dormitory for overseas students, there is a Chinese restaurant. It was opened two years ago by Amina Nashwan and her mother. Amina, 21, is an international student who hails from Liaoning province. The chef, 31-year-old Marsis, is another international student from China. The restaurant provides authentic Chinese food at inexpensive prices and is always busy.
在留學生宿舍附近有一家中國餐館。它是兩年前由阿米娜納什旺和她的媽媽開的。阿米娜今年21歲，是來自遼寧省的國際學生。31歲的馬西是餐館的廚師，同樣，他也是一名中國留學生。餐館以低廉的價格向客人提供正宗的中國菜肴，生意總是很火爆。
Chinese goods such as clothes, sundries and electrical products are now flooding into stores throughout Cairo and the wider Arabian world. Xinhua, China’s official news agency, built a new building for its Middle East Regional Bureau in Cairo in 2005. Most of its articles are translated into Arabic before dispatch.
中國的商品，如衣服、小飾品、電器產品，正逐漸涌入埃及和廣大阿拉伯世界的市場。2005年，中國的官方新聞機構新華社在開羅為它的中東地區分局建了一座新的建筑。發稿之前，大部分稿件都要被翻譯成阿拉伯語。
Lin Ma, 26, hails from Yunnan province and is a fourth-year Arabic student at Al-Azhar University. “In the future I want to teach Islamic education back home, but I might also work as an Arabic interpreter for a company in Guangzhou for a while to earn money,” he said.
馬林，26歲，來自中國云南省，現在是愛資哈爾大學阿拉伯語專業的四年級學生。他說：“未來，我想要回到家鄉從事伊斯蘭語的教學，但我也可能會在廣州的某個公司待上一段時間做阿拉伯語翻譯，掙些錢。”
Another international student is Chao Wang, 28, a Hui Chinese who also comes from Yunnan. He teaches at an Islamic school back home under the Islamic name of “Abdel Wahab Ben Adam.” He enthusiastically spoke about his desire to “study in Arabic at the most prestigious Islamic education institution.”
還有一個國際留學生名叫王超，今年28歲，也是來自云南的回族人。回到家鄉后，他在一所伊斯蘭學校教課，他的伊斯蘭名字是“阿卜杜勒·瓦哈卜本·亞當”。他滿懷熱情地說他希望能在最著名的阿拉伯教育機構研習阿拉伯語。
As a Muslim, Wang is well-aware of his dual responsibility as a bearer both of Chinese culture and of a wider, borderless Islamic civilization.
作為穆斯林人，王很清楚自己作為中國文化和廣闊、無國界的伊斯蘭文明的承載者的雙重責任。