The Great Mosque in Xi’an is one of the oldest and best-preserved Islamic mosques in China and is also one of the world’s Islamic cultural relics certified by UNESCO.

The Xi’an Mosque is a legacy of the city’s prosperous period during the mid-7th century. Arabs and Persians traded in the Middle Kingdom by way of the Silk Road, and some of them settled down in Xi’an and married women of Han Nationality. Their descendants became Chinese Muslims today, a new ethnic group: the Hui.

Built-in 742, the mosque testifies to the cosmopolitan spirit that reigned in the city under the Tang dynasty which authorized foreign communities to practice their religions within the capital.

Xi’an is one of the largest cities with a Hui community in our country. Every day they gather in the mosques for their prayers. The Worship Hall can easily hold 1,000 people at a time, and according to traditional custom, pray are held five times every day at dawn, noon, afternoon, dusk, and night.

Its particular design of mixed architecture – traditional Muslim and Chinese styles, looks like a Chinese temple, with gardens and interior courtyards lined with bonsai trees, pagoda-shaped roofs, and finely carved woodwork. Occupying an area of over 12,000 square meters, 250 meters long and 47 meters wide in a well-arranged layout, the mosque is divided into four courtyards with the landscape. The further one strolls into its interior courtyard, the more serene one feels. Only the glazed green color of the tiles and its minaret indicate the belonging of Islam.