This thesis explores the Chinese Muslim intellectual movement that lasted from roughly 1630-1730 CE and how those in the movement constructed an Islamic school of Confucian thought and a Chinese Muslim intellectual Identity. In the process, Chinese Muslim intellectuals, including the scholar Liu Zhi, made the case that the Prophet Muhammad was a Confucian sage and his teachings belonged in the Confucian canon. This thesis also explores the relationship between Chinese Muslims and the Qing state in an effort to explain why their teachings did not spread to the rest of Chinese society.