A delegation of four Chinese scholars and religious leaders visited IIIT on Friday, March 7, 2008. The visit is part of the US State Department's International Visitor's Program which is meant to connect Muslim communities in China with the American Muslim communities. Members of the delegation included:

• Mr. Aihemaiti Aishan, Assistant Research Fellow, Religious Studies Institute, Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences.
• Ms. Qiongying Yan, Assistant Research Fellow, Islamic Studies Division, Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
• Dr. Wenjiong Yang, Assistant Professor, Lanzhou University, Northwest Minority Research Center.
• Mr. Jianhua Zhang, Director, Imam, Ynnan Najiaying Institute of Islamic Culture.

The program included an introduction of IIIT, its mission, history and current activities, with a focus on research work related to minority jurisprudence and the status of Islamic Studies in American Universities.

The Chinese scholars briefed IIIT staff on the status of Muslims as a minority in China. They spoke about the increasing openness to religion practice that followed the demise of Cultural Revolution. Mr. Aihemati Aishan mentioned in his presentation that the province of Xing Yang alone has a Muslim population of 11 million who belong to 10 different ethnic groups and who built more than 20,000 mosques. It has the highest number of Islamic clergy in China.

The group expressed interest in participating in joint research with IIIT, particularly on the issue of minorities. They also discussed possibilities of translation of some IIIT publications into Chinese.