today we’ll visit the great mosque. it stood west of the drum tower in huajue lane. it is the most sizable mosques in the city of xi’an which is also one of the oldest and best-preserved mosques in china.
standing outside of the great mosques, we can see this one is not like the mosques in arabian with splendid domes, skyward eaves, and dazzling patterns. this mosque possesses much chinese tradition in both design and styles outlook. it shows the culture combinations between china and other countries.
next, we are going to talk about how islam was introduced into china. islam was founded in the early period of the 7th century and was introduced to china in the middle of the 7th century. at that time, some merchants, travelers, and missionaries from arabic countries, persia, and afghanistan by land over the sink road and also by sea. 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 was the result of genghis khan’s western expedition in the 13th century. he conquered vast of land from central asia to east europe, including the northern part of iran. many of the moslems were forced to enlist in the army. then in the 14th century, lots of moslems took part in zhu yuan zhang’s uprising. therefore, all the emperors of the ming dynasty ordered to protect the moslems for their great contributions. nowadays, there are 17 million moslems in china. the moslems in xi’an are mainly the hui people. ok, now, after known so much about the background history, you must curious about the great mosque. let’s get in and check it out.
it is said that the mosque was built in tang dynasty. however, judging from its architectural style, it was probably built in the ming dynasty.
after get into the first courtyard, we can see there is a wood material arch which is nine meters high in front of us. it was built earlier in the 17th century. with glazed tiles, grand corners, and upturned eaves, the arch has a history of 360 years but still preserved very well.
this way, please. we are going to the second courtyard. there are a lot of trees and flowers here. in the center of this yard is a stone gateway. two tall tablets, with dragons caved on each , are standing at the two sides of the gateway. they record the details of the repair works since it was built. one of these tablets carved “may islam fill the universe” was wrote by mi fu, a famous calligrapher in song dynasty who is also a moslem. the other one carved “royally bestowed” wrote by dong qichang in ming dynasty. these characters are treasures of chinese calligraphy.
keep going, we’ll arrive at the third courtyard. at the entrance of this yard, we can see a moon tablet. it was wrote in arabic and used to show the calculation of the hui calendars and the time for them to resume a meat diet. it was compiled by a man in charge of the mosque called xiao xining. then, we’ll notice the three-storeyed wooden structure building in the center. that is called the “retrospection tower”. the function of this tower is calling the moslems to come to worship. it is the highest point of this great mosques. now, everyone, on the southwest side of the tower, we can see five wooden houses, we called them the “water houses”. it is the place for moslems clean themselves before they attend their services.
next, the forth courtyard is waiting for us, keep walking, please. the structure in the centre was called the “phoenix pavilion”. in fact, it is a complex of three small buildings. the six-gabled buildings in the central part and the two three-gabled buildings on each side which make it looks like a flying phoenix. just like the name of the pavilion. across the pavilion, we will find a fish pond. passed it, we will see the platform, the prayer hall is the just on the top of the platform where take more than 1,000 prayers at the same time. the prayer hall is facing to the east. that’s really not quite chinese. that is the custom of moslem that the prayer hall has to back of the mecca. in china, mecca located to the west of china.
as you know, moslems are lived in china almost everywhere. you can ask whether moslems in china and other moslems shared the same custom? the answer is obviously yes. they worship five times a day: at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon, at dusk, and at night. female worshipers attend their services in a separated place from their brothers, usually at home.
i don t know whether you have met a moslem before, if you do, you may notice they never eat pork and animal blood. why? in koran, pigs have been mentioned four times as being “unclean”. moslem respected koran very much, they everything followed it, so they never eat pork. just one thing in china that moslems can not followed. according to koran, a man can marry 4 wives, but as the law of china, a man can marry only one wife. that might be the different thing between the moslems in china and other moslems.
after visiting this great mosque in huajue lane, you can see that they lived happy and freedom here. you know, in china each citizen has the freedom of religions belief, and each group has the freedom of to keep their own custom. surely, the moslems in china enjoy equal rights as the majority nations and their religious beliefs and customs are respected everywhere in the country.