Muslim groups in China

The vast majority of China's Muslims are Sunni Muslims, though members of other Muslim groups exist, particularly those of Sufi orders.

The style of architecture of Hui Mosques varies according to their sect. The traditionalist Gedimu Hanafi Sunnis, influenced by Chinese culture, build Mosques which look like Chinese temples. The reformist modernist (but originally Wahhabi inspired) Yihewani build their Mosques to look like Middle Eastern Arab style Mosques.

Gedimu or Qadim is the earliest school of Islam in China. It is a Hanafi non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. Its supporters are centered on local mosques, which function as relatively independent units. It is numerically the largest Islamic school of thought in China and most common school of Islam among the Hui. Since the introduction of Islam, first during the Tang Dynasty in China, it continued to the Ming Dynasty with no splits. At the end of the Ming and early Qing Dynasty Sufism was introduced to China.

Its members were sometimes extremely hostile to Sufis, Ikhwanis, and Wahhabis, like the Sufi Jahriyya and Yihewani. They engaged in fights and brawls against Sufis and Wahhabis.

Early European explorers speculated that T'ung-kan (hui, called "Chinese Mohammedan") in Xinjiang originated from Khorezmians who were transported to China by the Mongols, and that they were descended from a mixture of Chinese, Iranians, and Turkic peoples. They also reported that the T'ung-kan were Shafi'ites, which the Khorezmians were also.

Islamic scholar Ma Tong recorded that the 6,781,500 Hui in China were predominantly members of Sufi groups. According to Tong, 58.2% were Gedimu, 21% Yihewani, 10.9% Jahriyya, 7.2% Khuffiya, 1.4% Qadariyya (قادرية), and 0.7% Kubrawiyya (کبرویة).

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