The Great Mosque
The Great Mosque is located in Huajue Lane, which branches off from the West Main Street. It is the major spot for the religious activities of over 60,000 Moslems in Xi’an. It is also an important historical monument in Shaanxi Province. Unlike Arabian mosques with splendid domes,skyward minarets, and dazzling patterns, this mosque possesses much Chinese tradition in both design and artistic outlook. It assumes the striking features of Chinese Pavilions, with painted beams and engraved ridgepoles.
However, it would be useless to talk about the Great Mosque without knowing how Islam was introduced into China.
Islam, as a religious order, was founded in the early period of the 7th century and was introduced to China in the mid-7th century. At that time, some Arabian merchants and travelers came to the northwestern region by way of Persia and Afghanistan to establish diplomatic, trade, and military contacts with China. Others started their voyage from the Bangladesh Bay, crossed theStrait of Malacca, and arrived at Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other Chinese cities. Later, many of them settled down and married the local women. Their children became the first generation of Chinese Moslems. However, massive immigration of Moslems to China did not take place until, as late as, the early period of the 13th century. As a result of his Western
Expedition, Genghis Khan conquered vast expanses of land from Central Asia to East Europe,including the northern part of Iran. Many of the Moslems in these conquered areas were forced to enlist in the army. Later, they made China their permanent home. Many of them were soldiers; andsome were smiths and officials. They were called the Hui people in the history books of the Yuan
Dynasty. The Hui people later followed Kublai Khan down to the South, helping him unify China and establish the Yuan Dynasty. In the wake of this conquest, Islam spread all over China and mosques began to appear everywhere. Many Moslems held positions both in the military and civil services in the Yuan Dynasty.
A lot of Moslems took part in Zhu Yuanzhang’s uprising in the early 14th century and made great contributions to the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty issued Moslems for their great contributions. In the early 16th century, Islam dominated Xinjiang and spread its influence top Gansu, Ningxia and Qinghai. The religion later won domination over such minority ethnic groups as the Hui, the Uygur, the Kazak, the Kirgiz, the Tajik, the Tartar, the Uzbek, the Dongxiang, the Salar and the Bonan. The Moslems in Xi’an are mainly the Hui people. There are approximately 17 million Moslems in China.
The Great Mosque is the most sizable of its kind in the city of Xi’an, and also one of the oldest and best-preserved mosques in China. The Stone Tablet o the Building of the Mosque says that it was built in the Tang Dynasty. However, judging from its architectural style, it was probably built in the Ming Dynasty. Its four courtyards cover an area of more than 12,000 square meters, with a building area of 4,000 square meters. The still intact wooden memorial arch in the front yard was built at the turn of the 17th century. With glazed tiles, spectacular corners, and upturned eaves, it stands about nine meters high, and has a history of about 360 years.
The stone memorial gateway in the center of the second courtyard is flanked by two tall tablets, with dragons carved on each. They record the details of the repair work ever conducted since the building of the master calligrapher Mi Fu mosque. One tablet bears the characters by the in the Song Dynasty: “May Islam Fill the Universe.” The other bears the characters by the Ming master calligrapher Dong Qichang, “Royally Bestowed.” These characters are typical examples of traditional Chinese calligraphy.
At the entrance of the third courtyard is a hall built by the order of the Royal Court, where a “Crescent Tablet”, showing the calculation of the Islaluic Calendar is stored. The calendar was compiled by Xiao Xining, who was in charge of the mosque in the early period of the Qing Dynasty.
A three-storeyed octagonal wooden structure called the Retrospection Tower stands in the center ofthe courtyard. It functions the same as the minaret in an average Arabian mosque. Orders are oftensent from the tower to call the Moslems to come to worship. Respectively on the south and north wings of the tower are the Reception Chamber and the Scripture Chamber. Both of them are elegantly laid out. The five wooden houses, called “water houses” in the southwest section of the mosque, are where the believers bathe themselves before they attend their services.
Inside the fourth courtyard, there is a structure called the Phoenix Pavilion, a place where worshipers wait for services. The pavilion, in fact, is a complex of three small buildings. The six-gabled structure in the central part is adjoined by two three-gabled buildings on each side which make it look like a flying phoenix; hence its name. Just at the back of the pavilion there is a fish pond, and beyond it is a platform with an area of 700 square meters. Across the platform stands the 1,300-square-meter prayer hall. It holds over 1,000 worshipers at a time. The ceiling is decorated with over 600 panels. The walls of the hall, as well as the panels, are decorated with patterns of trailing plants and Arabic letters. The shrine at the western end of the hall is where the imam and worshipers chant the Koran and pay homage while facing in the direction of Mecca.
The Moslems in China share much the same customs with their brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world. They worship five times a day: at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, at dusk, and atnight.
The Constitution of China acknowledges that each citizen has the right freedom of religion, and that each ethnic group has the freedom to preserve or reform its own customs. Of course, the Moslems in China enjoy equal rights with other ethnic groups, and their religious beliefs and customs are respected everywhere in the country.
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