Great
Mosque
Living in compact community
in Xi'an, there are about 50,000 Moslems
who believe in Islam and have the largest
population among the minorities in Xi'an.
Two mosques have been built at this region
where Huis reside, which are called the
East Great Mosque and the West Great Mosque
because of their locations--- one in the
east & the other in the west. Yet the
East Great Mosque is on a comparatively
large scale. The East Great Mosque introduced
here is located at Huajue Lane, the northwestern
side of the Drum Tower in the center of
Xi'an.
It is recorded on the tablets
inside the Mosque at Huajue Lane that the
Mosque here was first built in 742 AD (the
1st year in the regin of Emperor Tian Bao
in the Tang Dynasty) and was repaired in
1384 AD (the 17th year of the regin of emperor
Hong Wu in the Ming Dynasty). The architecture
of the mosque is in the Ming style. The
East Great Mosque can be divided into 4
big courtyards, covering an area of more
than 12,000 square meters, and forming a
series of complete historic buildings. The
main building in the front yard is an eight-meter
high wooden memorial gateway with glazed,
upturned eaves. The stone tablet in the
second courtyard recorded the repair work
in the Ming and Qing dynasties. There is
a "month tablet" carved in Arabic
in the western side of the courtyard. which
is the important reference of the calcuation
of the Hui calendar. A three-storeyed octagonal
topmost roof toward the central inspire
terrace and tower called "Retrospection
Tower" is seen standing in the center
when you enter the third courtyard, which
is the place from where order are sent to
call the Moslems to come to worship. The
three-gates (called Lian San Men) paralleled
with the "Retrospection Tower"
in the west is the fourth courtyard, with
the main buildings of the Mosque clustering
here. there is a pavilion named "Yi
Zhen" (the Pavilion of Phoenix as well)
standing inside the center of this courtyard,
with the six-gabled, upturned eaves adjoined
by three pavilions, and it is very beautiful
in architecture. Two words "Yi Zhen"
written by Tie Xuan in 1399 AD (the first
year of Emperor Hui in the Ming Dynasty)
are hung on the "Yi Zhen Pavilion"
(or the Pavilion of Phoenix). "The
Stele on the Repairing of the Mosque"
is stored and kept inside this courtyard,
which is of the first year of Emperor Tiao
Bao. Across the fish pond---Chinese flowering
crabapple pond, walking up the stairs, passing
the stone gate, coming to the platform,
a large-scaled main hall is seen, which
is seven-room wide and nine-room long, covering
an area of about 1,3000 square meters, and
can house more than a thousand worshipers
each time. The hall consists of as the front
corridor, the Prayer Hall and the rear courtroom.
The horizontal inscribed board absolving
other has been hung in the hall, which was
bestowed by Zhu Li, Emperor Cheng Zu in
the Ming Dynasty in 1405 to imam at that
time, Sayidiha Morutin of Arab. The celling,
the walls of the hall are decorated with
patterens of painted trailingplants, which
can be regarded as the art treasures of
Islam in China.
Thanks to the rigorous arrangement
of the Mosque, and the special style &
features of each courtyard as well as its
art treasures, the Mosque was highly praised
by Han Suyin, a British Chinese author,
and regarded as "An excellent and outstanding
ancient mosque" after her visit to
the mosque. Nowadays, the Mosque at Huajue
Lane is not only the place where the Huis
worship, but also the opening and visiting
place to hostile Muslim and Arabic State
leaders.
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