Even before Saad ibn Abi Waqqas arrived in Guangzhou, Arab merchants had established trading posts in the city. According to Chinese Muslim scholars, Waqqas and his delegation sailed across the Indian Ocean and the China Sea to reach Guangzhou and then travelled overland to Changan (now Xian), the capital of the Tang dynasty.
Waqqas brought gifts and was warmly received by Emperor Gaozong, whose government was watching with intense interest the rapid expansion of Islam around the world - just as Beijing today monitors the rise and fall of American power. After making investigations, the emperor gave his approval to the new religion, saying that it was compatible with the teachings of Confucius. He allowed Waqqas the freedom to propagate the religion and to remain in China. This set the tone for the largely good relations between the Arab world and the Chinese state - imperial, nationalist and communist - that have prevailed in the 14 centuries since then.
Waqqas died a wealthy man, in AD664.
The faithful built imposing mosques in many cities in China, including one measuring 130,000 square feet in Changan and in Quanzhou, Hangzhou and Yangzhou.
By the middle of the eighth century, the Islamic empire had reached its zenith, extending from the Atlantic coast of Portugal to the lower Indus valley. An Arab army attacked Kashgar and, in AD751, another Arab army defeated Chinese forces at Talas, in Central Asia. It was the nearest the two empires came to war. China was too far away and too large to be attacked by Arab armies, as would be the case centuries later for the Ottoman Empire.
In AD755, Tang emperor Suzong received help in the form of 4,000 Muslim warriors in putting down a rebellion. Many of the fighters were well rewarded and did not return home. They - and Arab merchants who had settled in China - married local women; their descendants becoming the Hui people, who account for about half of the Muslims in China. Most live in the north and northwest, especially Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi.