The Longgang Mosque or Lungkang 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, ...

Zhongli District Zhongli District () is a district in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Zhongli is spelled variously as ''Jungli'', ''Jongli'', ''Jhongli'' or ''Chungli'' on railway stations, bus stops and road signs. Historically, the city is the site of the Zhongli Inciden ...

Taoyuan City Taoyuan () is a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County to the south-east, and Hsinchu County to the south-west. Taoyuan Distr ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. It is the fifth mosque to be built in Taiwan. As of September 2008, the Imam was Abdullah Liu ().

History

In 1953, the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

passed a resolution condemning the

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

government for its actions and guerilla warfare inside Burma. Finally, an agreement was reached between

, Rangoon, and

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for evacuation of all

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

Irregular forces under command of General Li Mi to Taiwan.

Civil Air Transport Civil Air Transport (CAT) was a Nationalist Chinese airline, later owned by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that supported United States covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia. During the Cold War, missions consisted i ...

transported 5,583 Kuomintang soldiers and 1,040 dependents to Taiwan. The majority of these guerrilla forces were Muslim and had no place to worship in their new Taiwan home and so they started to raise funds to construct a mosque in 1964.

First building

The original building of Longgang Mosque was built in 1967 by a group of 30 Muslims. Built over an area of 1,289 square meters, at first the mosque was very small. But after joining the

Chinese Muslim Association The Chinese Muslim Association (CMA) is an organization of Chinese Muslims in the Republic of China (Taiwan). A rival group, the Chinese Muslim Youth League competes with it in Taiwan. History In Mainland China The Chinese Muslim Associatio ...

, they were able to raise money in the early 1980s, including funds from

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, to build a larger mosque.

Current building

To make a bigger mosque, they purchased a plot of land at Longdong Road () in Zhongli. At this US$312,000 initial development stage, only the main prayer hall and basement area of the mosque were built. The mosque building occupies an area of 1,300 square meters and the mosque's main worship area can hold 150 worshippers. At the US$400,000 second development stage, the mosque's minarets, a kitchen, dormitory and shower room were added to the main building. Over time, due to the poor materials used to construct the building because of lack of funds, the mosque quickly deteriorated. After some discussion, a plan to reconstruct the mosque was finally put in place. With financial assistance from inside and outside Taiwan, the first reconstruction project for the mosque began in March 1988 and was completed in January 1989. And in 1995, the second reconstruction was completed again resulting in the mosque in use today.

Activities

By 2008, the population of Muslim faithful in Zhongli had reached 2,000. On weekends, and during winter and summer vacations, the mosque holds basic courses on

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and the Islamic faith to educate children about Islam.Archived a
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Architecture

The Longgang mosque is a green structure which has one prayer hall that can accommodate more than 150 people simultaneously. The other features of the mosque includes the imam office, staff office, reception room, children chanting room etc.

Transportation

Longgang Mosque is accessible South East from Zhongli Station of the Taiwan Railways. In the future, the mosque will be closer served from Longgang Station of the

Taoyuan Metro The Taoyuan Metro (formerly Taoyuan Rail Transit and officially Taoyuan Mass Rapid Transit System) is a rapid transit system serving Taoyuan City in Taiwan. The most recently proposed network includes 11 lines and extensions, of which 2 are now ...

References

External links

龍崗清真寺
(Longgang Mosque)
YouTube - Longgang Mosque Documentary Video

Longgang Mosque Friday Prayer Sermons (Mandarin)
{{Mosques in Taiwan 1967 establishments in Taiwan Mosques completed in 1989 Mosques in Taoyuan City Rebuilt buildings and structures in Taiwan Tourist attractions in Taoyuan City Zhongli District