la moschea di Xi'an


Great Mosque of Xi'an


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INTRODUCTION of ISLAM to CHINA
It is not well known that China has as many as twenty million Muslim practitioners. The reason might be that since China has not been conquered by military force of Islam, the whole land was not Islamized nor ruled by a central Muslim government.
Without Islamization from above, monumental constructions for the religion at the expense of the dynasties were not performed. Under the conditions of being a minority, it could have been tough even to hold their faith itself.

Huajuexiang Mosque
Drawing of aerial view
It was mainly through trade activities that Islam was introduced into China, and also by Sufis’ evangelizing in and after the 17th century. There were sea routes and land routes for the propagation; the sea routes were via littoral cities along the Pacific like Guangzhou or Quanzhou, and the land routes were from Central Asia to the Xinjiang Uyghur region in northwestern China.
‘Uyghur’ was written as 回鶻 or 回纥 in Chinese by transliteration in the era of the Tang Dynasty, and it was diverted into 回回 (Huihui pronounced as ‘Hoo-i hoo-i’). Uyghur People were Islamized from about the 10th century, but the word Huihui became a more broad indication of Muslims as a whole or the Western Regions. As it became the sole name of Muslims in the age of the Yuan Dynasty, Islam came to be called ‘Huihui’ or abbreviated to ‘Hui.’
Although Hui People of the Chinese inland cannot be discerned from Hang People, speaking Chinese as a sequel to marriages with Hang People, the government has treated them as an independent nation by their faith to Islam and the accompanying customs. Now Uyghur People have become treated as another Muslim nation that differs from Huihuis.
Since Islam was also referred to as 清真教 (literally meaning ‘pure and true religion’), a mosque is generally referred to as 清真寺 (Qingzhen Si) and a Friday Mosque as 清真大寺 (Qingzhen Dasi).



CHANGAN of TANG


Phoenix Pavilion
As there were some local Muslim governments established in the Xinjiang Region historically, mosques were built in its oasis towns like Tulufan or Kashghar in a similar style to those of Central Asia.
However, as mosques were never built on the monarchs’ orders in the inland of China, they had to be constructed in accordance with the popular traditional way of Chinese architecture, that is the Buddhist or Taoist temple style. It was also the appropriate method for the Chinese climate, which differs from subtropical areas.
They have almost no distinction from other religions’ temples apart from the absence of idols and appearance of Arabic calligraphy. Thus Chinese Muslims have been erecting wooden mosques covered with grand tiled roofs everywhere in China that are rare in the world.
Although there were tens of thousands of mosques in China, most of them have been demolished by wartime fires and especially by the Cultural Revolution. The most large-scale and well-preserved one is the Huajuexiang Qingzhen Dasi (Grand Mosque on the Huajuexiang Street) in Xian.
It was first erected in the Tang period in its capital Changan, which Xian was referred to as through ancient times. The current temple seems to have been constructed in the 18th century, after several enlargements and reconstructions.
The buildings of the mosque were completely arranged symmetrically along the central axis directing toward Makka in the quite long compound of 50m x 250m. The tranquil precinct is highly refined and displays its harmonious ensemble of various buildings and sequential courtyard gardens.


Great Worship Hall


CHINANIZED MOSQUE
The rectangular precinct is wholly surrounded with high walls, divided into five successive parts by partitions, each of which has a gatehouse. Although each part is a courtyard garden, it doesn’t necessarily give an impression spatially of a courtyard enclosed by solid walls unlike a Middle Eastern one. In the third courtyard stands a three-storied octagonal shrine called the ‘Self-examining Tower’ from the Ming period, which seems to have played the role of a minaret.
In the fifth courtyard at the innermost place stands the Great Worship Hall, the front terrace (Moon Platform) of which is not encircled with walls but open to the surrounding garden. It looks like a Buddhist or Taoist wooden temple, but when going inside, one finds an empty hypostyle hall without any sacred statues or idols, recognizing it to be a mosque actually.
In order to create a hall of a grand area, a mosque often disposes ridged roofs in parallel in front and behind. Moreover it is quite characteristic to add a Mihrab that takes the shape of a large square room, protruding in the rear.

____
Small roof on an opening and chiseled brick wall
Chinese Islam has been on the way to resurgence since the death of Mao Zedong, constructing new mosques at various towns under governmental assistance. Those mosques tend to adopt the western dome style, not the traditional Chinanized style like Xian’s Great Mosque.
However, in an area that does not have a tradition of masonry architecture like other burgeoning Islamic countries of today, they are prone to become fake or superficial buildings, dealing with a dome as a mere sign, not a structure.


Side Elevation of Great Worship Hall
（from the Website "Great Mosque of Xi'an, Digital Library, ArchNet" 2008）


INTERIOR of GREAT HALL
The worship room of a Chinese-type mosque is referred to as 大殿 (Great Hall), 礼拝大殿 (Great Worship Hall), and so forth. Even though its outer walls are made of 砖 (burnt bricks of black earth), the inside is basically a wooden columned hall. At grand mosques, magnificent wooden frames sustaining a grand roof are often exposed without a ceiling, and even if they straddle with a span that is quite wide, the worship hall as a whole has to be a hypostyle hall.
It’s a special feature of the Chinese-style mosque that the Mihrab often protrudes backward as an independent hall, which is referred to as ‘Rear Mihrab Hall’: 後窑殿 (literal meaning is ‘rear furnace edifice’).


Interior of Great Worship Hall
The wooden interior of the worship hall is usually crude or single colored, but there are also garishly painted mosques like the Niujie Mosque in Beijing. Plaques set up at many places show Islamic doctrinal mottos or slogans with Chinese characters, while there is mostly Arabic calligraphy on the Qibla wall.

The Great Mosque of Xi'an (simplified Chinese: 西安大清真寺; traditional Chinese: 西安大清真寺; pinyin: Xī’ān Dà Qīngzhēnsì), located near the Drum Tower (Gu Lou) on 30 Huajue Lane of Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China, is the oldest and one of the most renowned mosques in the country founded in 742.
It was built and renovated in later periods (especially during the reign of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty). It remains a popular tourist site of Xi'an, and is still used by Chinese Muslims (mainly the Hui people) today as a place of worship. Unlike most mosques in Middle Eastern or Arab countries, the Great Mosque of Xi'an is completely Chinese in its construction and architectural style, except for some Arabic lettering and decorations, for the mosque has neither domes nor traditional-style minarets.




Great Mosque of Xi'an [ 1-72 of 72 ]
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ID Caption
IAA6101 Scroll depicting arial view of Great...
IAE0001 Floor plan of the mosque complex
IAE0002 Arial drawing of mosque, looking...
IAE0003 Elevations of prayer hall with...
IAE0004 Inner courtyard of tablet gallery in...
IAE0005 Interior of fourth court tablet...
IAE0006 One of four brick piers in the...
IAE0007 Caisson ceiling of the Bangke Tower...
ICT0078 Exterior view looking southwest,...
ICT0079 View showing damage to precinct wall...
ICT0080 Courtyard view of the eastern...
ICT0081 View of northern gateway
ICT0082 VIew of northern gateway, occupied...
ICT0083 View looking west through the...
ICT0084 Pailou archway in the first court,...
ICT0085 View of pailou archway in first...
ICT0086 Library known as the Unmatched...
ICT0087 Reconstruction work on the Unmatched...
ICT0088 View of the Unmatched Pavilion to...
ICT0089 Detail of upswept roof eaves at the...
ICT0090 Eastern elevation of the Unmatched...
ICT0091 View looking west in first court...
ICT0092 Stone pailou in second court, view...
ICT0093 Detail of central bay of stone...
ICT0094 Freestanding brick pier with stone...
ICT0095 One of two brick piers in the second...
ICT0096 Stele inset into brick pier in the...
ICT0097 View looking west through pavilion...
ICT0098 Stone threshold detail of pavilion...
ICT0099 The Bangke Tower of Introspection in...
ICT0100 View looking west across the third...
ICT0101 Rooms along the south side of the...
ICT0102 Residential area beyond the southern...
ICT0103 Visitors in the southern residential...
ICT0104 View of the southern precinct wall,...
ICT0105 One of three identical doorways...
ICT0106 Detail of carved detail on doorway...
ICT0107 Gallery containing incriptive...
ICT0108 Light through lattice wall of the...
ICT0109 Carved stone stele on gate of the...
ICT0110 Carved stone stele on gate of the...
ICT0111 Inscribed tablet in tablet gallery,...
ICT0112 Detail of inscribed tablet in tablet...
ICT0113 Inscribed tablet in tablet gallery,...
ICT0114 Men gathered in front of the Phoenix...
ICT0115 View of Phoenix Pavilion in the...
ICT0116 Northern hall in the fourth court
ICT0117 View of Phoenix Pavilion in the...
ICT0118 Fountains and garden to the west of...
ICT0119 Fountain resembling a pile of rocks...
ICT0120 View looking east across fourth...
ICT0121 View looking east across Moon...
ICT0122 Two of three Cloud Gates between the...
ICT0123 Central Cloud Gate in the fourth...
ICT0124 Ornament atop lintel of the central...
ICT0125 View looking northwest across the...
ICT0126 Man and children before the prayer...
ICT0127 Exterior view of prayer hall from...
ICT0128 Detail of hipped roof of the prayer...
ICT0129 Rounded tiles of prayer hall roof...
ICT0130 Exterior view of prayer hall from...
ICT0131 Prayer hall portico with red...
ICT0132 Interior view of the prayer hall...
ICT0133 View of the intricately worked...
ICT0134 Close up of mihrab niche
ICT0135 Moon Gate adjoining the southern...
ICT0136 Lintel of the side entrance into...
ICT0137 Paneled wooden side doors to prayer hall
ICT0138 Carved screen wall along along the...
ICT0139 Detail of carved stonework on the...
ICT0140 Engravers at the mosque
ICT0141 The imam of the mosque, in his...
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