The Jinjue Mosque () is a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

in Qinhuai District,

Nanjing City Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China regio ...

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its c ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

History

The mosque was constructed under the order of

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts i ...

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

in 1388. The construction of the mosque was completed in 1392. During the Xuande Emperor rule,

Zheng He Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferr ...

appealed for the mosque to undergo renovation and the first significant repairs took place in 1430 after it was destroyed by fire shortly before. Further expansion and repairs were commissioned by the

Jiajing Emperor The Jiajing Emperor (; 16September 150723January 1567) was the 12th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1521 to 1567. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the former Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His father, Zhu Youyuan (1476–1519), Prince of Xing, w ...

in the mid-sixteenth century. Other repairs occurred in 1492, 1877, 1879, 1957, 1982, 1984, and 2002. By the late 19th century, the mosque was reduced from being originally 264 acres to a mere 1650 square meters in consequence of the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It last ...

and to reduce the taxes owed by the mosque. The current structure was constructed in the late

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

and its area has been reduced to 0.4 hectares. In 2007, the mosque underwent reparation and renovation with the support of Nanjing municipal government. In 2014, the government added the adjacent primary school into the mosque area, thus doubling its area.

Architecture

Jinjue Mosque is elaborately styled in a Sino-Islamic fashion. The three-entry gate has an imitation imperial tablet in the top center that reads "bestowed by imperial order" and below that it reads "Jingjuesi" (the name of the mosque). The mosque has several courtyards, a reception room, an ablutions chamber, an

antechamber A vestibule (also anteroom, antechamber, or foyer) is a small room leading into a larger space such as a lobby, entrance hall or passage, for the purpose of waiting, withholding the larger space view, reducing heat loss, providing storage space ...

, guest quarters, a prayer hall, a kitchen, and a

mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla ...

located at the western end of the mosque.

Transportation

The mosque is accessible within walking distance north east of Sanshanjie Station of

Nanjing Metro The Nanjing Metro is a rapid transit system serving the urban and suburban districts of Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu Province in the People's Republic of China. Proposals for a metro system serving Nanjing first began in 1984, with appr ...

References

{{Mosques in China 1388 establishments in Asia 14th-century establishments in China Ming dynasty architecture Mosques completed in 1388 Mosques in Nanjing

History

Architecture

Transportation

See also

References