Scripts and Genealogy Compilation: The Formation of The Genealogies of the Ma Lineage written in Xiaojing in Northwestern China during the Nineteenth Century

At the end of the nineteenth century, Ma Yu, the imam of northwestern China, wrote The Genealogies of the Ma Lineage by using Arabic letters to spell the Xiaojing characters in Chinese dialect. The genealogy record is the product of interactions between local religious and cultural traditions (including writing traditions), historical processes, and individuals. Because Xiaojing characters, to a certain extent, represent different narrative logic, cultural traditions, and ideologies from the Chinese, studying the formation history of The Genealogies of the Ma Lineage written in Xiaojing characters will expand our understanding of that type of genealogy texts.