The Great Mosque of Xi'an: Islamic Worship in a Chinese Compound

World Travel 编辑部 · 2026-09-16 · 5 min read

Walk into Huajuexiang Lane, pass through a few gates, and you come upon a courtyard with Chinese archways and upcurved eaves. It is neither a Daoist abbey nor a Buddhist temple but the Great Mosque of Xi'an, also called the Huajuexiang mosque.

Islamic rite in a Chinese courtyard

The Great Mosque stands in Huajuexiang Lane in Xi'an's Hui quarter and is still in use for worship. It covers about 1.23 hectares, with five courtyards along an east–west axis and the prayer hall at the western end, facing Mecca.

Its distinction is the fusion of Chinese building forms with Islamic requirements: timber halls, archways, pavilions and courtyards are all Chinese in manner, while everything inside follows Islamic precept, with carved ornament formed from Arabic script. It is thus a representative instance of Islamic architecture developing on Chinese soil.

Founding and present layout

Traditional accounts date the founding to 742, in the Tang, though the exact year is unknown; the present layout and main buildings took shape in the Ming and were repaired several times under the Qing. The main structures include front and rear halls, the Shengxin Tower and the Phoenix Pavilion. The mosque keeps a Qing manuscript copy of the Quran, a painting of Mecca, and more than twenty inscriptions in Arabic and Chinese.

It ranks alongside the Daxuexixiang Mosque as one of Xi'an's oldest.

Visiting

In 1988 the mosque was listed in the third batch of nationally protected sites. Above all: it is still a place of worship, so respect the order of prayer, dress modestly and do not disturb those praying.

Practical Notes

It lies deep in the Hui quarter — follow the Huajuexiang signs rather than staying on the main street.
It closes to visitors during prayer; avoid midday around Friday prayers.
On the same route as the Bell and Drum Towers and the quarter's snacks.