According to a handbook published by the Nationalist Government in 1943, he is said to prefer the name Sheikh Nur Mohammed Ta P’u-sheng of Hui nationality, was one of the major figureheads connected with the continuing attempts by the Chines.
Nothing is known of Ta’s early life and it was not until he was almost 50 that he graduated (1923) from al-Azhar University in Cairo, the world’s leading institute of Islamic studies.
In the thirties and forties he was a fairly prominent official in the Nationalist Government, serving from 1938 as a counsellor to the National Military Council and from 1942 as a member of the People’s Political Council. The purpose of the counsellors to the National Military Council, which exercised supreme command over all the armed forces, was to conduct research on nonmilitary subjects and to give advice to the chairman of the National Military Council (Chiang Kai-shek). Membership in the People’s Political Council, a quasi-legislative body, was divided into four categories; the group to which Ta belonged was nominated by the Supreme National Defense Council (also headed by Chiang Kai-shek) and then appointed by the KMT Central Executive Committee. Among Ta's colleagues in this category were such important Communists as Mao Tse-tung and Tung Pi-wu, however, this inclusion of the Communists was more nominal than real. Ta held his council seat in the Third and Fourth People’s Political Councils, which held their first plenary sessions in October 1942 and July 1945, respectively.
Ta served as a vice-chairman under Burham, an important Muslim from Sinkiang, of both the preparatory committee and the fully established association when it was set up in May 1953. When the organization was established it was Ta who gave the official report on the work of the preparatory committee. He held his vice-chairmanship until his death in 1965, and although he was subsequently given a host of other positions, he probably devoted more of his time to the Islamic Association than any other organization. Under this association Ta was also a vice-president of the Institute of Islamic Theology from its establishment in November 1955. Ma Yii-huai, another Hui leader, was the first president, however, he apparently relinquished the presidency to Ta in about 1958. In any event, at the time of Ta’s death, it was stated in his obituary that he was the Institute president. The Institute, the most important of its kind in China, offers a four-year course, with instruction in the study of the Koran and other Islamic scriptures, as well as in the Arabic language.
In the meantime, Ta had received several positions in the central government. In 1954 he was elected as a deputy from his native Kiangsu to the First NPC. He was re-elected from Kiangsu to the Second NPC (1959-1964) as well as the Third NPC, which first met in December 1964-January 1965. He was also elected as a representative of “religious circles” to membership on the Second National Committee of the CPPCC in December 1954, in April 1955, when several subordinate committees were formed under the auspices of the CPPCC, Ta was appointed to head the Religious Affairs Work Committee.
Then, in a by-election of February 1956, he was elevated to membership on the Standing Committee of the CPPCC, the body that runs the organization when the National Committee is not in session. He was re-elected to both the National and Standing Committees of the Third and Fourth CPPCC's, which first met, respectively, in April 1959 and December 1964-January 1965. However, probably because of his advanced age, Chao P'u-ch'u, a leading lay Buddhist, was named to succeed him as head of the Religious Affairs Work Committee in early 1965. Ta has also held two other central government positions, in March 1958 he was named to membership on the State Council Commission for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and in September 1959 he was appointed as a member of the Nationalities Affairs Commission, also subordinate to the State Council.
Ta was an elderly 75 when the Communists took power in 1949. For the first three years he seems to have been ignored by the authorities. However, in about 1952, a decision was apparently made to organize various religious groups, notably the Buddhists and the Muslims. In mid-1952 a preparatory committee was formed to establish the China Islamic Association.
By the mid-1950’s the Communists began to make concerted efforts to gain support from the Afro-Asian nations, among them such Muslim- dominated nations as Indonesia and Pakistan. The potential usefulness of a respected and elder Islamic figure like Ta P’u-sheng was naturally apparent to the Communist leadership. In consonance with this thought, Ta accompanied Premier Chou En-lai as an adviser to the Afro- Asian Conference in Indonesia, better known as the Bandung Conference. Almost immediately after the Bandung meeting, Indonesian Prime Minister Ali Sastroamidjojo made a state visit to China. To mark the occasion, the Chinese established the China-Indonesia Friendship Association, with Ta named as a member of the hoard of directors.
Following up these contacts, Ta soon after led a group of Chinese pilgrims to Mecca (Saudi Arabia) in July 1955 and also made brief visits to Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Indonesia en route. In the following years, Ta was very frequently on hand in Peking to serve as a host for the many Muslim groups that visited China. Further exploiting the gains made at Bandung, the Chinese created in February 1956 the Asian Solidarity Committee of China (known from 1958 as the Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee). Ta was named to membership in the new organization. In June 1956 he returned once again to Indonesia, leading a China-Indonesia Friendship Association delegation.
