Great Mosque of Hangzhou, Hangzhou, China
Multifoliated arched portal of the prayer hall extension
Variant Names:
The Phoenix Mosque, Feng-Huan Mosque, Feng Huan Mosque, Zhenjiao Mosque, Zhen Jiao Mosque, Zhen-Jiao Si Mosque, Zhen Jiao Si Mosque, Fenghuang Mosque...
This mosque is one of the oldest mosques in China, predated only by the Great Mosque of Guangzhou and the Great Mosque at Quanzhou. It was, like the other two, probably first erected sometime in the seventh century under the Tang Dynasty. It was rebuilt between 1314 and 1320 by a Persian missionary named Aladin during the Yuan Dynasty, and rebuilt again during the second half of the fifteenth century under the Ming Dynasty. Located on Zhongshan Road in the heart of Hangzhou, this mosque, like its precedents, is illustrative of the changing attitudes towards the synthesis of local Chinese and imported Islamic styles throughout the centuries.