TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Socio-Economic Activities of Muslims and the Hui Hui Community of Korea in Medieval Times
AU  - Lee, Hee Soo 
JO  - Acta Via Serica
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/1/1
DO  - 10.22679/AVS.2017.2.1.85
KW  - Mongol
KW  - Muslim in Korea
KW  - Goryeo
KW  - Joseon
KW  - Yuan
KW  - Hui Hui
KW  - Silk Road
AB  - This paper details the advance of the “Hui” (回) people to Korea and their socio-economic activities in forming their own community during the late Goryeo and early Joseon period. Hui (回) or Hui Hui (回回) is generally recognized as representative of Muslim culture in Chinese and Korean sources.
From the 8th century, Korean-Muslim cultural relations accelerated as an outcome of ancient Chinese-West Asian commercial transactions along the Silk Road. These contacts between Muslims and Koreans on the Korean peninsula are borne out by references to Korea found in 23 Islamic sources written between the 9th and 16th centuries by 18 Muslim scholars, including Ibn Khurdadbih, Sulaiman al-Tajir, and Mas’ud1i. Ibn Khurdadbih was the first Arab who wrote of Muslims’ residence in the Unified Silla Kingdom (661-935CE). However, in the period of Silla, we could not find any reliable written documents in Korea to show encounters between Korea and the Muslim world. In the Goryeosa (GS) chronicle, Muslim merchants who came to Korea were described as “Daesik” (大食: Tashi). Daesik (Tashi) is most probably derived from “Tajir”, which means “trader” in Muslim
language.2 Muslims’ mass influx and their wide ranging influence on Korean society
manifested from the late 13th century when the Goryeo Dynasty first came under
Mongol control and afterward in the early 15th century with the new dynasty of
Joseon in Korea.