the Bonans. The Moslems in Xi’an are mainly the Huis, being a small portion
out of the ten million in China.
The Mosque at Hua Jue Lane is the largest in Xi’an, and at the same time,
it is also one of the earliest built on a comparatively large scale, and well
preserved mosques in China.
According to the Stele on the Building of the Mosque”, the mosque is said
to be built in the Tang Dynasty. However, the architectural style of the
mosque suggests a possible building dating back to the Ming Dynasty. The four
courtyards of the mosque cover an area of more than 12,000 square meters, out
of which about 4,000 are occupied by various structures. The still intact
wooden front memorial gateway of the front yard, built at the turn of the 17th
century, with glazed tiles on the top, spectacular corners and upturned eaves,
is about 9 metres high, and has a history of about 360 years. The stone
memorial gateway in the center of the second courtyard is flanked with a tail
stele on either side with dragons carved on each, recording the repair work
ever since the building of the Mosque. On the back of one of the steles are
engraved characters by the master calligrapher Mi Fu, May Buddhism Fill the
Universe”, on the other, Royal -Bestowed”by Dong Qichang, another master of
the same art of the Ming dynasty. They are treasures in Chinese calligraphy.
At the entrance of the third courtyard is an imperial built hall, where a
month tablet”, showing the calculation of the Hui Calendars in Arabic, is
stored. It was compiled by a man in charge of the mosque called Xiao Mining in
the early period of the Qing dynasty. A three –storeyed octagonal wooden
structure called Retrospection Tower”also stands in the center of the
courtyard, which has the same function as the minaret in Islamic temples in
Arabic countries, and which is a place from where orders were sent to call the
Moslems to come to worship. Respectively, on the south and north wings of the
tower, are a reception chamber and a Scripture Chamber, both elegantly laid
out. The five wooden houses, which are called Water Houses”in the southwest
section of the Mosque are the place where the believers bathe themselves
before they attend their services. And in side the fourth courtyard there is a
structure called the Pavilion of Phoenix”, a place where the worshipers used
to wait for the services. The Pavilion, in fact, is a compound structure of
three small buildings. The six-gabled structure of the central part, adjoining
the two three-gabled buildings on each side looks very much like a flying
phoenix, and hence its name. Just at the back of the Pavilion, there is a
fishpond, beyond which is a platform occupying an area as large as 700 m2.
Across both ends of the platform stands the 1,300 square metered service hall,
holding over a thousand worshipers at once. There are over six hundred sunk
panels well as the sunk panels, are decorated with patterns of painted
trailing plants and Arabic letterings. The imam leads his group of worshipers,
while facing in the direction of Mecca, to chant in Koran and to pay their
religious homage.