What happens
This episode of The Pacific Story, broadcast on 1945-02-25, traces how Islam spread across the Pacific region over more than a thousand years. It opens with Arab traders and missionaries sailing east to India and China, where an Arab embassy meets the Chinese emperor and refuses to kneel before him. Later segments follow the faith's growth in India, where Muslims gained separate political representation and the Pakistan movement took shape, and in China, where Chinese Muslims were drawn between Chinese nationalist and Japanese influence. Around Chungking, the narrator describes Japanese bombing of mosques. The story is told through dramatized scenes and commentary, with a Mr. Walton questioning experts about the region's politics.
The Pacific region, including Arabia, India, China (Sinkiang, Chungking), and the Dutch East Indies, from the early centuries of Islam to the Second World War.
Characters: Arab merchant, Arab missionary, Emperor of China, Mr. Walton, Chen, Chaudhury Rahmat Ali
Listen for: The Arab ambassadors refusing to kneel before the Chinese emperor, and the Chinese Muslim agent's warning to Mr. Walton about the Japanese.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.