The Great Mosque
janaline's world journey

The Great Mosque of Xi’an is completely Chinese in style

Arriving at Xian's Muslim quarter
Arriving at Xian’s Muslim quarter
Having fun browsing through the shop filled alleyways
Having fun browsing through the shop filled alleyways

After spending the morning exploring the famous XianCity wall we all headed to the Muslim quarter of this beautiful city. Here we got to explore the huge market and shop filled streets. As the starting point of the famous Silk Road, Xi’an attracted traders from the West since the 1st century BC. During the 8th century AD, Xi’an was the largest city in the world with over one million inhabitants, among which one third of them were foreigners. Walking past all these crafts I had to remind myself that every little thing adds weight to my backpack, otherwise I would have ended up buying loads of stuff. I couldn’t resist buying myself a fire red Chinese umbrella though. After getting lost in the winding alleyways we eventually stumbled upon the Great Mosque of Xian.

Muslim quarter of Xian
Muslim quarter of Xian

My new red Chinese Umbrella!!
My new red Chinese Umbrella!!
Muslim Quarter of Xian
Muslim Quarter of Xian
Very weird silver head gear.....
Very weird silver head gear…..
Great Mosque of Xi'an
Entering the Great Mosque of Xi’an

It is the oldest and one of the most renowned Mosques in the country, founded in 742 AD. This Mosque was a result of Islam being introduced into Northwest China by Arab merchants and travelers from Persia and Afghanistan during the mid-7th century when some of them settled down in China and married women of Han Nationality.

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. The mosque looked more like a temple or shrine than a traditional mosque but was very peaceful and we enjoyed exploring the grounds. Landscaped with gardens, the further we strolled into its interior, the more serene the place felt.

The Mosque garden is tranquil and filled with cobbled pathways
The Mosque garden is tranquil and filled with cobbled pathways

Walking through our first elaborate wooden arch....
Walking through our first elaborate wooden arch….
The Great Mosque of Xian
The Great Mosque of Xian

The first courtyard contains an elaborate wooden arch nine meters high covered with glazed tiles that dates back to the 17th century. In the center of the second courtyard, a stone arch stands with two steles on both sides.

elaborate wooden arch nine meters high
The elaborate wooden arch nine meters high
The Great Mosque of Xian
The Great Mosque of Xian
Mom and I in the middle of the Mosque courtyard
Mom and I in the middle of the Mosque courtyard

At the entrance to the third courtyard is a hall that contains many steles from ancient times. As we entered this courtyard, we saw the Xingxin Tower, a place where Muslims come to attend prayer services. A ‘Phoenix’ placed in the fourth courtyard, the principal pavilion here, contains the Prayer Hall, the surrounding walls of which are covered with colored designs.

Xingxin Tower
Xingxin Tower
The Great Mosque
The Great Mosque
the principal pavilion here, contains the Prayer Hall
The principal pavilion here, contains the Prayer Hall
The principal pavilion
The principal pavilion

In China, this Great Mosque is the only one open to visitors from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Non-Muslims, however, are not admitted to the main prayer hall or during times of prayer.

The Great Mosque
The Great Mosque

About to taste a weird looking dumpling
About to taste a weird looking dumpling

That evening we had a fabulous dumpling banquet where we got to taste loads of different dumplings. Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. Some of our dumpling fillings included pork with Chinese cabbage, pork with garlic chives, pork and shrimp with vegetables and garlic chives with scrambled eggs.  Most were quite tasty but some were a bit weird and ended up half eaten on my plate. This was the perfect way to end our first day of exploring the ancient city of Xian.

Dumpling Buffet!!
Dumpling Buffet!!

28 comments

  2. Hi Janaline-I’m a blogger for a travel website, and I’m doing an article about Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter. I am using all of my own photos from when I was there, but I don’t have any of the Great Mosque. Yours are so lovely, I was wondering if I might get permission to use one (the one of the elaborate wooden arch) on my post? It would be properly credited and there will be a link to your blog at the end of the article. Please let me know if you will grant me permission to use your photo. Thank you!

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