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·范特安现年31岁，在一家IT公司工作。他说在他小的时候，自己几乎没有什么身份的概念。“我不会说汉语，所以一直认为自己是印度尼西亚人，可别人总把像我这样的人看作是中国人。”
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.
他的爸爸经常告诉他不能忘记自己的中国根。的确，也正是因为爸爸的建议，丹迪去了清华大学学习。回到印尼，他在一家公司找到了工作，该公司名下的一系列的百货商场和企业遍布中国。他说，中国在世界上越出名，他就越能感觉到自己的那种民族根。
“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.”
丹迪说：“我喜欢印度尼西亚，但是我也不想丢掉我的中国身份。作为一个华裔印度尼西亚人，我想要成为沟通两国的桥梁。”
HUI CHINESE: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN CHINA AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD
华裔回族人：缩小中国和伊斯兰世界差距的桥梁。
In a basic Arabic course for foreign students at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, the teacher writes simple Arabic sentences on the blackboard.
在埃及爱资哈尔大学专为外国留学生开设的基本阿拉伯课上，老师在黑板上写下了几个简单的阿拉伯语句子。
The students recite the words, “The student studies Arabic. The student plays soccer.”
学生进行背诵，“学生学阿拉伯语。学生踢足球。”
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.
作为最富盛名的伊斯兰教学习中心之一，爱资哈尔大学吸引了全球140个国家的4000名穆斯林学生。在过去的五、六年间，中国学生的数量激增。
According to Sheikh Ali Abdul Baqi, head of the university’s Islamic Research Center, there are currently 1,534 Chinese students.
爱资哈尔大学穆斯林研究中心的主席谢赫·阿里·阿卜杜勒·巴齐称，当前该校共有1534名中国留学生。
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.
中国侨民绵延甚广，遍布全球。他们通常是汉族的代名词。但随着中国经济影响力在中东和非洲日益增强，穆斯林回族群体也逐渐成为沟通中国和穆斯林世界的桥梁，并因此广为人知。
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.
中国人口中，穆斯林人虽然仅约占1.5%，但这足足增加了2000万人。13世纪，许多穆斯林人来到中国，那时蒙古帝国的统治范围从中国一直延伸到西亚。除了一些少数民族，如维吾尔族，其余说汉语的穆斯林都被称作“回族”。全国各地都有伊斯兰群体的足迹。
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.
爱资哈尔大学穆斯林研究中心的主席谢赫·阿里·阿卜杜勒·巴齐称，当前该校共有1534名中国留学生。他说：“这足以证明中国和埃及正建立起更紧密的联系。”
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.
在留学生宿舍附近有一家中国餐馆。它是两年前由阿米娜纳什旺和她的妈妈开的。阿米娜今年21岁，是来自辽宁省的国际学生。31岁的马西是餐馆的厨师，同样，他也是一名中国留学生。餐馆以低廉的价格向客人提供正宗的中国菜肴，生意总是很火爆。
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.
中国的商品，如衣服、小饰品、电器产品，正逐渐涌入埃及和广大阿拉伯世界的市场。2005年，中国的官方新闻机构新华社在开罗为它的中东地区分局建了一座新的建筑。发稿之前，大部分稿件都要被翻译成阿拉伯语。
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.
马林，26岁，来自中国云南省，现在是爱资哈尔大学阿拉伯语专业的四年级学生。他说：“未来，我想要回到家乡从事伊斯兰语的教学，但我也可能会在广州的某个公司待上一段时间做阿拉伯语翻译，挣些钱。”
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.”
还有一个国际留学生名叫王超，今年28岁，也是来自云南的回族人。回到家乡后，他在一所伊斯兰学校教课，他的伊斯兰名字是“阿卜杜勒·瓦哈卜本·亚当”。他满怀热情地说他希望能在最著名的阿拉伯教育机构研习阿拉伯语。
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.
作为穆斯林人，王很清楚自己作为中国文化和广阔、无国界的伊斯兰文明的承载者的双重责任。