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Summary: Chengdu Huangcheng Mosque Quarter - Food, Streets and Muslim Heritage is presented as a clear English travel account for readers interested in Muslim life, halal food, mosques, and local history. The article keeps the original place names, food details, photographs, and cultural context while focusing on Chengdu, Huangcheng Mosque, Halal Food.

Summary: The Huangcheng Mosque (Huangcheng Si) Neighborhood in Chengdu Is a Great Place to Explore is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: I went to Chengdu for work in May and stayed right behind Huangcheng Mosque. This time, the area in front of Huangcheng Mosque felt much busier than before, with many new restaurants opening up. The account keeps its focus on Halal Travel, Yiwu Food, Mosque Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

I went to Chengdu for work in May and stayed right behind Huangcheng Mosque. This time, the area in front of Huangcheng Mosque felt much busier than before, with many new restaurants opening up.

Staying next to the mosque makes it very convenient to join the congregation (jama'at) there. The congregation at Huangcheng Mosque is quite large, and many of them are friends (dosti) from Xinjiang in the northwest who run businesses nearby. I even met a friend (dosti) from Urumqi at the mosque who is friends with my wife's relatives.

After Zhang Xianzhong massacred the people of Sichuan at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the population dropped sharply. After the Qing Dynasty was established, the government used immigration policies to increase the population of Sichuan. Hui Muslims from Shaanxi began moving to the abandoned Ming Dynasty Shu King's Palace (Huangchengba) area to settle, and they built Huangcheng Mosque in 1666 (the fifth year of the Kangxi reign).

Huangcheng Mosque was renovated in 1858 (the eighth year of the Xianfeng reign). In 1917, most of it was destroyed during the warlord conflicts between Sichuan and Yunnan. It was rebuilt that same year, but the scale was reduced due to limited funds. During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Huangcheng Mosque was famous for its scripture hall education and trained many imams for Sichuan. After religious policies were restored in 1978, Huangcheng Mosque became the only one of the seven mosques in Huangchengba to reopen. In 1998, Huangcheng Mosque was moved to the southwest side of Tianfu Square to make way for construction, which is where the current building stands.









Historically, Huangcheng Mosque had hundreds of plaques and couplets, but sadly they were all destroyed after the 1960s. The couplets and plaques in front of the main hall were made in 1989. They were written by Imam Yang Hua from Xichang, with gold leaf hammered by Master Bai Lianquan from the Chengdu Silver Thread Factory and applied by masters Qiu and Li.





















Huangcheng Mosque still keeps beautiful wooden scripture boxes, though the scriptures inside are no longer there.









Huangcheng Mosque has a reading area and a cultural exhibition room. All friends (dosti) and visitors can read books and see exhibits here to learn about the religious culture in Chengdu, which I think is excellent.

Since the Qing Dynasty, Chengdu has been famous for its scripture hall education and scripture printing. The exhibition room at Huangcheng Mosque displays related printed classics. I was lucky enough to meet Wan Duosi, a descendant of the Baozhen Hall (Baozhen Tang), which was the most famous place in Chengdu for printing the works of Ming and Qing dynasty scholars. He is also an expert on the religious culture of Sichuan. The founder of Baozhen Hall, Yu Haiting, came from the Tie Gai Yu family in Jianyang, Sichuan. During the Tongzhi reign, he came to the Huangcheng Dam area in Chengdu to work as an apprentice at a halal restaurant. He converted to Islam there, and after finishing his apprenticeship, he opened his own halal restaurant called Changfa Garden (Changfa Yuan). Yu Haiting started Baozhen Hall next to his Changfa Garden restaurant in 1871 to print religious scriptures and classics. His son, Yu Zezhou, took over in 1908, and the business ran until 1928. Over those 57 years, they published 28 books.



















The Huangcheng Mosque (Huangcheng Si) cultural exhibition room displays imam robes, religious textbooks, and wooden printing blocks.



















Downstairs at the Huangcheng Mosque, there is a row of halal restaurants, each with its own unique style.

The restaurant furthest to the west is Tianfang Tower (Tianfang Lou), which has been open since 1986. It started as a traditional restaurant, but in 2020, they rebranded to serve modern Sichuan cuisine. The new decor is excellent and perfect for business dinners. The restaurant does not sell alcohol, and drinking is not allowed in the main dining hall.

We ordered fish-flavored crispy beef ribs, traditional Huangcheng sliced beef and ox tongue (fuqi feipian), kung pao peony shrimp, young ginger rabbit, spicy chicken, a mixed meat stew (hejia man guan xiang), boiled fish, mugwort rice cakes (ai cao ci ba), and leaf-wrapped rice cakes (ye er ba). Their menu is very extensive, and the food is prepared with great care. It looks beautiful, tastes great, and even features some creative twists. In this restaurant, I see the drive of Sichuan Hui Muslims to keep up with the times. They help Sichuan-style halal food culture thrive while satisfying the tastes of many different people.



















To the east of Tianfanglou is Yuehuang Tea Restaurant. It is also an alcohol-free restaurant, and you can come for morning tea starting at nine o'clock. The environment is nice, and the service is excellent. I ordered Cantonese-style roast duck, vegetarian steamed rice rolls with mixed vegetables (luohanzhai suchangfen), and fresh beef congee. They were all surprisingly delicious, even better than what I have had in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The vegetarian steamed rice rolls (luohanzhai) are filled with carrots, wood ear mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms. It was my first time trying them, and the texture was very rich. Overall, I am very satisfied with this place. Their menu is quite varied, and I will definitely eat here again next time I am in Chengdu!















At the southeast corner of Huangcheng Mosque are Gongyuanli Beef Noodle Soup and Fanfang Suxiaomeng Beef Pie. Upstairs is Huangchengba Beef Hot Pot. These shops are all owned by Ma Zhijun and his friends (dostis). Ma Zhijun is from Xinjiang, and his parents were also in the restaurant business. He came to Chengdu in 1993, worked in foreign trade, and even ran a shoe factory. Before the Huangchengba area was demolished, he loved the halal snacks around Huangcheng Mosque. In 2012, he apprenticed to learn Sichuan-style halal cuisine. He officially opened Gongyuanli Steak Noodles in 2018, Suxiaomeng Beef Pie in 2019, and Huangchengba Beef Hot Pot in 2020. These shops brought life back to the entrance of Huangcheng Mosque. It gets especially crowded at night, and you have to wait in long lines just to get a beef pie.

During my few days on a business trip in Chengdu, I ate beef noodles at Gongyuanli almost every morning. It is a pity that they only have beef noodles in the morning, not steak noodles. Their braised beef noodles have a very rich flavor. Even for someone like me who usually loves spicy chicken, it felt super numbing and spicy, so I ordered the clear broth beef noodles for the following days. The flavor of their soup base is quite good, but the machine-made noodles have no texture at all, which seems to be a common feature of noodles in the south. The beef pie is just like the crispy beef pie (niuroubing) commonly found in the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an. I did not have to wait in line when I ate it in the morning, so friends who want to try it should come in the morning.



















East of Huangcheng Mosque is the Tangjiasi Luo Family Braised Meat Shop. They sell authentic Chengdu Hui Muslim braised meats, including oil-seared duck (youtangya), braised duck, smoked goose, spicy rabbit cubes (hongyou tuding), mixed beef lung slices (ban feipian), and spicy rabbit heads. Every dish has a unique flavor. I bought some oil-seared duck and braised rabbit to eat on the train. They were incredibly fragrant, and I really love Sichuan-style braised food.

Tangjiasi is located in the northern suburbs of Chengdu, along the ancient Jinniu Road that connected Sichuan and Shaanxi. Hui Muslims with the surname Luo settled here in the mid-Ming Dynasty. According to the revised Xindu County Annals from the Republic of China era, the Luo Family Mosque (Luo Jia Si) was built in 1417 during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty in Lijiaying, east of the county. Unfortunately, the 600-year-old Luo Family Mosque was torn down in 1976 and replaced by Jinguang Primary School. Today, the Luo family Hui Muslims mainly live near Tuqiaosi and Huangcheng Mosque, and they are an important part of the Hui Muslim community in Chengdu.













At night, the area in front of Huangcheng Mosque is busy. There is a Laiyi Hui stall selling Sichuan-style spicy hot pot (malatang), a Medisker burger shop, a Northwest-style Jiuding beef noodle shop, and a Dosti stall selling Qinghai yellow-skin yogurt. I bought some once and it tasted very authentic. I have never even had such authentic Qinghai yogurt in Beijing.



















There are many Xinjiang restaurants near Huangcheng Mosque where you can buy all kinds of baked flatbread (nang). Across from Huangcheng Mosque, I was surprised to find a real Xinjiang Hui Muslim restaurant called Fat Old Man Pepper Chicken (Pang Laohan Jiaoma Ji). I had eaten there in Urumqi before, where the locals really love it, so I did not expect to see it open in Chengdu.















Besides the shops along the street at Huangcheng Mosque, there are several other Hui Muslim restaurants in the surrounding area. On the north side of Huangcheng Mosque is a very famous old Hui Muslim brand called Yuexiangcun. They call themselves the authentic beef Sichuan restaurant that has never left Huangchengba. A local Hui Muslim from Huangchengba named Wan Duositi treated me to fish-flavored eggplant cakes (yuxiang qiebing), steamed beef with rice flour (fenzheng niurou), and boiled beef (shuizhu niurou) at Yuexiangcun. These are classic Huangchengba Sichuan dishes, and the restaurant makes them perfectly. The fish-flavored eggplant cakes are especially good for people who cannot handle spicy food, and the sweet and sour flavor goes great with rice.

Yuexiangcun was founded in 1943. It was started by a Guangdong-born officer in the Sichuan Army and an imam from Chengdu's West Mosque named Ha Youfu. Even though it is named Yuexiangcun, they serve authentic Sichuan food. Yuexiangcun was originally located inside the Broadway Tea Garden on East Imperial Street in Huangchengba, with Imam Ha Youfu presiding and Zhao Zihua in charge of the kitchen. Broadway was very lively back then. It was not just a place to drink morning tea and chat, but also a hub for the bird market and fur traders to negotiate business. After 1950, Yuexiangcun moved across from the West Mosque on West Imperial Street, where business boomed and the restaurant was often packed with diners. It moved several more times later on, but always stayed within the Huangchengba area. After a renovation at the end of 2022, Yuexiangcun has a great atmosphere that really appeals to young people.













The opening of Chengdu Hui Muslim Cuisine in Eshi Lane, north of Huangcheng Mosque, by Ma Zhijun and his friends (dostis), is arguably the biggest event in the Huangcheng Mosque neighborhood this year. They specialize in the traditional Chengdu Hui Muslim banquet dish known as the Eight Beef Bowls (niu bawan). While the menu is not huge, every dish aims to recreate the authentic, traditional Chengdu halal flavor.

I ordered the steamed beef brisket with preserved vegetables (yacai zheng niuxiong) and the stewed beef trotters (dun niutihua). The preserved vegetables go perfectly with rice, and the trotter soup is delicious. Neither of these two dishes is spicy. This is because not every traditional Sichuan dish is spicy; each one has its own color and a unique flavor profile.

The restaurant's decor is truly exquisite. With bamboo-woven rattan chairs, birdcages hanging from the ceiling, and a soup pot sign (tangping) at the entrance, they work hard to recreate the atmosphere of old-time Hui Muslim eateries in Huangchengba.



















The Eshi Lane Hui Muslim restaurant in Chengdu catches your eye the moment you walk through the door. When I visited, an older Hui Muslim gentleman with a Sichuan accent was standing at the door to welcome guests, which is a rare sight these days. A large piece of calligraphy reading "Salam" hangs at the entrance, along with a "no smoking or alcohol" sign and an introduction to the Hui Muslim diet in Huangchengba. The main hall is filled with replicas of various Islamic calligraphy pieces from the Chengdu area, which are important cultural heritage items for the local community. Additionally, their restroom is equipped with a bidet sprayer for ritual cleansing, which is another reflection of their faith. view all

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Summary: 2024 Indonesian Cultural Festival - Food, Dance and Community is presented as a clear English travel account for readers interested in Muslim life, halal food, mosques, and local history. The article keeps the original place names, food details, photographs, and cultural context while focusing on Indonesian Culture, Food Festival, Muslim Travel.

Summary: Attend the 2024 Indonesian Cultural Festival is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: I went to the Indonesian Embassy on Saturday for the annual Indonesian Cultural Festival. The account keeps its focus on Halal Travel, Yiwu Food, Beijing while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

I went to the Indonesian Embassy on Saturday for the annual Indonesian Cultural Festival. I ate a lot of special Indonesian food at the festival last year, which I wrote about in "Attending the Indonesian Cultural Festival at the Indonesian Embassy." The stalls were similar to last year, but there were even more people! Nom Nom still had the longest line, and it is the only Indonesian restaurant in Beijing. We did not wait in that line and chose a few other stalls instead.





We started by eating Indonesian steamed dumplings (siomay). Indonesian steamed dumplings (siomay) come from the steamed dumplings (shaomai) of southern China. Sundanese people in West Java first changed the pork filling to fish, then added sides like cabbage, tofu, potatoes, boiled eggs, and stuffed bitter melon. It is served with peanut sauce and sweet soy sauce and is now a classic street snack all over Indonesia.





At that stall, you could also get three classic Indonesian street snacks: fried pastry (kue pastel), fried spring rolls (risoles), and Indonesian rice cake (arem arem). We bought the Indonesian rice cake (arem arem) this time. Arem arem is most common on Java island. It is made by cooking rice in coconut milk, stuffing it with meat and vegetables, shaping it into a cylinder, and wrapping it in a banana leaf.







Next, we drank a Javanese mixed drink called es teler, which contains jackfruit, avocado, and coconut meat mixed with condensed milk and syrup. In 1981, an Indonesian housewife named Murniati Widjaja won a TV competition with her es teler. The following year, she opened a specialty food shop in Jakarta called Es Teler 77, which has now grown into a massive food chain.





We continued walking through the Indonesian cultural festival. We were impressed by this Minangkabau stall during last year's festival. The Minangkabau people are an Austronesian ethnic group living in the western highlands of Sumatra, centered around their capital, Padang. The Minangkabau have a large matrilineal society. Men are used to traveling for work, while women are responsible for farming and maintaining family life at home. Because of this, property, surnames, and land are passed from mother to daughter.

This time, we bought their Padang beef satay skewers (sate padang) again. The Padang version of beef satay skewers is quite different from the Javanese version we usually eat. First, the beef is boiled until tender, then cut into small pieces, skewered, and sprinkled with spicy sauce. A rich yellow sauce is made by mixing the beef broth with 19 spices, including turmeric, ginger, garlic, cilantro, and cumin. It is served with a side of Indonesian rice cake (lontong). Rice cake (lontong) is made by wrapping rice in banana leaves, boiling it until firm, and then slicing it. It is a staple food in Indonesian culture, just as important as regular rice.









We also bought Minangkabau steamed rice (nasi kapau) at their shop. Minangkabau steamed rice (nasi kapau) is similar to the Padang rice (nasi padang) found all over Indonesia, but it comes with some unique side dishes. The version we ate included beef rendang, long bean curry, boiled eggs, and spicy sauce. Beef rendang likely started as a curry brought by Indian merchants who came to Sumatra to trade before the 15th century, which then evolved through the local Minangkabau diet. The main ingredients for rendang are meat, coconut milk, chili, and various spices. To suit the needs of Minangkabau merchants on long voyages, the rendang is simmered over low heat until it becomes rich and dry, allowing it to be stored for several weeks.



Next to the Minangkabau stall, they sell various Indonesian fried shrimp crackers (rempeyek). They add coconut milk, salt, chopped cilantro, and crushed candlenut when frying them, and Suleiman really loves eating them.







Indonesian Ambassador to China Djauhari Oratmangun sang at the Indonesian Cultural Festival, with Papuan dancers performing behind him. view all

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Summary: Beijing Samosa China-Pakistan Friendship Restaurant Anniversary is presented as a clear English travel account for readers interested in Muslim life, halal food, mosques, and local history. The article keeps the original place names, food details, photographs, and cultural context while focusing on Beijing Halal Food, Pakistani Food, Samosa.

Summary: The One-year Anniversary Celebration of the Samosa China-Pakistan Friendship Restaurant in Beijing is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: Yesterday, August 13, I went to Xibahe in Beijing to attend the one-year anniversary celebration of the Samosa China-Pakistan Friendship Restaurant. The account keeps its focus on Beijing Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Middle Eastern Food while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

Yesterday, August 13, I went to Xibahe in Beijing to attend the one-year anniversary celebration of the Samosa China-Pakistan Friendship Restaurant. The buffet that night added two new flavors of samosa, potato and minced lamb, and the crust was crispy and delicious. There were also various traditional Pakistani desserts and snacks, but they looked like they had too much sugar, so I didn't dare eat too many. They now offer an afternoon tea set, and you can drink as much mint special drink as you want! I love their mint special drink so much that I can't get enough of it.











After the buffet, there were speeches from various guests, and the commercial counselor from the Pakistani Embassy also came. Then there was a music performance, and the staff members are all very talented!







A Pakistani staff member performed a rubab solo.

Then the shop held a tasting contest for new dishes. Eight chefs each prepared a new dish, numbered them, and let everyone taste them to pick their favorites. Zainab and Suleiman both liked the chickpea dip (hummus), and I really liked the black pepper roasted chicken pieces. Finally, they chose first, second, and third place winners and gave the chefs cash prizes. I think this kind of event is very meaningful because it lets customers try new food and encourages chefs to improve their skills. view all

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Summary: Quanzhou Xingzhai Guo Family Ancestral Hall and Hui Muslim Heritage is presented as a clear English travel account for readers interested in Muslim life, halal food, mosques, and local history. The article keeps the original place names, food details, photographs, and cultural context while focusing on Quanzhou, Hui Muslims, Family Heritage.

Summary: Echoes of the Faith: The Guo Family Mosque (Jiamiao) of the Hui Muslims in Xingzhai, Quanzhou is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: In Quanzhou, besides the famous Baiqi Guo family of Hui Muslims, there is another branch known as the Jundong Guo family of Hui Muslims. The account keeps its focus on Quanzhou Muslims, Hui Muslims, Islamic History while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

In Quanzhou, besides the famous Baiqi Guo family of Hui Muslims, there is another branch known as the Jundong Guo family of Hui Muslims. According to family records, the ancestors of both the Baiqi Guo and Jundong Guo families came from Guo Family Village in Fuyang, Zhejiang, and were descendants of Guo Zhang. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Guo Zhang's sons, Guo Deguang and Guo Dezhao, along with Guo Dezhao's grandson Guo Mengliang, all moved to Quanzhou. The Quanzhou Prefecture Gazetteer records: 'Guo Tong, courtesy name Mengliang, art name Leqiao, was originally from Fuyang, Zhejiang.' At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, he followed his grand-uncle to Quanzhou to serve as the Salt Commissioner.

Because Guo Mengliang lived on East Street in Quanzhou, his descendants became known as the Jundong Guo family. During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, Guo Mengliang's fifth-generation grandsons, Guo Quan and Guo Yuan, moved from East Street to Xingzhai Village, and their descendants are also called the Xingzhai Guo family.

The Xingzhai Guo family ancestral temple was first built in the mid-Ming Dynasty, rebuilt after being struck by lightning in 1670, expanded again in 1947, and has undergone many repairs since then. Today, the Xingzhai Guo Family Ancestral Hall is a large Minnan-style ancestral shrine with three rows of buildings and two courtyards. It is a protected cultural site in Quanzhou and serves as the cultural activity center for the Xingzhai Hui Muslim Seniors Association. When we visited, there were many elderly people playing mahjong in the courtyard.



















Inside the Xingzhai Guo Family Ancestral Hall, there are several stone tablets. One is carved with the words, 'Sharing the same noble lineage, forever bonding the Han and Hui,' and another is inscribed with 'Site of the Islamic Mosque'. People say there was once a mosque inside the Xingzhai Guo Family Ancestral Hall, but no written records have been found to confirm this yet.

Compared to the Guo Hui Muslims of Baiqi, the history of religious changes among the Xingzhai Guo Hui Muslims is much less clear. Guo Zhongyuan, the first ancestor to move to Baiqi, was a cousin of Guo Mengliang, the first ancestor to move to Xingzhai. After moving to Baiqi in the early Ming Dynasty, he built a mosque. According to the Guo family genealogy, 'Preface to Returning to the Hui Teachings,' it states: 'Since our ancestor established the foundation in Baiqi, he kept thirty volumes of the holy scriptures, built a mosque, respected the teachings, and made recognizing Allah the foundation.' According to the book 'Quanzhou Religious Stone Carvings,' the Xingzhai Guo Family Ancestral Hall held a collection of Muslim tombstone fragments before it was renovated. There were also Muslim tomb stones dug up by the Xingzhai Guo clan in 1973 while they were reclaiming land from the sea. Unfortunately, I did not see these tomb stones when I visited the Xingzhai Guo Family Ancestral Hall this time.



















The street scene near the Guo Family Ancestral Hall in Xingzhai, where local women also have the custom of wearing headscarves. view all

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Summary: Linqing, Shandong - Canal City Mosques, Food and History (Part 1) is presented as a clear English travel account for readers interested in Muslim life, halal food, mosques, and local history. The article keeps the original place names, food details, photographs, and cultural context while focusing on Linqing, Shandong, Canal History.

Summary: The Ancient Canal City of Linqing, Shandong is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: Following my last post, 'Revisiting the Big and Small Mosque Streets in Dongguan, Liaocheng,' we took an afternoon train from Liaocheng to Linqing. The account keeps its focus on Mosque Travel, Islamic Heritage, Muslim Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

Following my last post, 'Revisiting the Big and Small Mosque Streets in Dongguan, Liaocheng,' we took an afternoon train from Liaocheng to Linqing. We went straight to Baoliang's First Shop for a meat-filled flatbread roll (bingjuanrou). Wang Baoliang opened this shop in the 1980s, so it has been around for 40 years now. I ate their meat-filled flatbread roll back in 2017, and it was truly satisfying. The price of the roll has gone up by 5 yuan since my last visit, but it still tastes great.

Last time, I ordered the braised butterfly fish head, which was delicious, but I did not choose my dishes as well this time. This time, I ordered sesame beef and pan-braised hairtail fish. The meat in the sesame beef is the same as the meat in the flatbread roll, so I ended up ordering the same thing twice. The pan-braised hairtail fish had a fishy smell. I think ordering the braised hairtail or fried hairtail would have been a better choice.











Leaving Linqing Railway Station, I passed by the First Family Three-Fresh Potstickers (diyijia sanxian guotie). I ate there when I visited Linqing 17 years ago, and it remains the best Shandong cuisine I have ever had, especially the sesame lamb which was delicious.









Linqing North Mosque

I spent the afternoon performing namaz at the Linqing North Mosque. Linqing North Mosque sits where the Huitong River and Wei River meet. It was first built in 1504 (the seventh year of the Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty). It underwent major expansions in 1564 (the 43rd year of the Jiajing reign), 1779 (the 44th year of the Qianlong reign), and 1809 (the 14th year of the Jiaqing reign) to reach its current form.

The main hall of Linqing North Mosque stands on a 1-meter-high stone platform and consists of a porch, the main hall, and a rear kiln-style hall (yaodian), making it very grand. The roof of the kiln-style hall has three moon-watching towers. The middle one has an octagonal pointed roof, while the two sides have square pointed roofs, all topped with peach-shaped finials.



















The mosque features a memorial archway-style mihrab decorated with floral patterns and Arabic calligraphy, and the ceiling of the kiln-style hall also displays Arabic calligraphy.



















The main hall of the North Mosque preserves precious murals from the Qing Dynasty.



















The North Mosque (Beidasi) features various forms of calligraphy, including palace lanterns (gongdeng), brick carvings, plaques, architectural paintings, and wood carvings.



















At the far east end of the North Mosque stands a gate in the style of a memorial archway (pailou), featuring delicate bracket sets (dougong) and upturned eaves.



After entering the main gate, you reach a ceremonial gate (yimen) built in the style of a memorial archway. Two Qing Dynasty plaques hang on the ceremonial gate:

A plaque reading 'Sincerity and Rectitude' (Chengyi Zhengxin) erected in the 11th year of the Guangxu reign by Li Ying, a decorated military official.

A plaque reading 'Orderly Human Relations' (Yilun Youxu) from the 2nd year of the Qianlong reign by Yang Jing, a deputy military commander; this one appears to be a replica.









Behind the ceremonial gate is a path leading to the main prayer hall, with lecture halls (jiangtang) located on the north and south sides.









On the north and south sides of the main prayer hall are two scripture pavilions (cangjingting) with four-cornered pointed roofs and small porches (baoxia) in front of the doors. In front of the pavilion stands a 500-year-old Chinese arborvitae (cebai) planted when the mosque was built.







Behind the main hall is the back gate, which features a plaque inscribed with "Qingzhen Libaisi" (Mosque) dated to the first month of the Jiajing jiazi year. The mosque also houses several stone tablets from the Qing dynasty and the Republic of China era.













Linqing East Mosque

After leaving the Linqing North Mosque, I went across the street to the East Mosque to pay my respects at the tombs of the saints (shamu) and the Hufu cemetery (Hufutan). The Linqing East Mosque was first built in 1465 (the first year of the Chenghua reign of the Ming dynasty). It was renovated twice in 1583 (the eleventh year of the Wanli reign) and 1649 (the sixth year of the Shunzhi reign), then expanded again in 1734 (the twelfth year of the Yongzheng reign), resulting in its grand scale.

On the far west side of the Linqing East Mosque is the back gate, which features a "Libaisi" (Mosque) plaque inscribed during the renovation in the sixth year of the Shunzhi reign. Behind the back gate is the main prayer hall, which consists of a front porch (juanpeng), the main hall, and a rear vaulted hall (yaodian). The roof of the vaulted hall has four sloping sides meeting at a point, topped with a gilded gourd-shaped finial.

The main hall is nearly 30 meters deep, with 14 pillars supporting the roof beams. The mihrab is the same style as the one in the North Mosque, featuring a decorative archway design.



















The East Mosque has a porch roof (juanpeng) over the main hall and traditional calligraphy preserved on the pillars inside.





















The main hall of the East Mosque features detailed roof beams and ridges, along with beautiful painted ceilings inside the prayer niche (yaodian).





















The partition wall between the main hall and the prayer niche (yaodian) once held beautiful paintings. On both sides of the arched door in the middle were rows of intricate openwork calligraphy wood carvings. They were very beautiful, but unfortunately, they were destroyed during a difficult period.

















The East Mosque features an archway-style mihrab, traditional wooden structures, and a 700-year-old locust tree in the courtyard.



















The south gate of the East Mosque is no longer in use, and a pair of damaged stone lions sit in front of it. After entering the main gate, you reach the first courtyard and the hanging flower gate (chuihuamen) on the north side. Moving further in, you find the second courtyard and the South Lecture Hall on the north side. You must pass through the South Lecture Hall to reach the main courtyard where the main hall is located.



















Linqing Women's Mosque

After leaving Hufu Beach, I rode my bike from the Linqing East Mosque to the Linqing Women's Mosque to find Zainab. The Linqing Women's Mosque was first built in 1924, making it exactly one hundred years old this year. In 2009, community elder Wan Yongcai and his wife Chen Zhong'e initiated the project, and their eldest son, Wan Qiusheng, chairman of the Linqing Sanhe Textile Group, along with his wife Hei Yuzhi, funded the reconstruction of the current building. This women's mosque is likely the largest one I have ever visited. view all

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Summary: Linqing, Shandong - Canal City Mosques, Food and History (Part 2) is presented as a clear English travel account for readers interested in Muslim life, halal food, mosques, and local history. The article keeps the original place names, food details, photographs, and cultural context while focusing on Linqing, Shandong, Canal History.

Summary: The Ancient Canal City of Linqing, Shandong is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: After the evening prayer (shamu), we ate big bowl dishes (dawan cai) at Erliang Diguo Millet Porridge, located at the intersection of Xianfeng Road and Dazhong Road in Linqing. The account keeps its focus on Halal Travel, Yiwu Food, Mosque Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.















After the evening prayer (shamu), we ate big bowl dishes (dawan cai) at Erliang Diguo Millet Porridge, located at the intersection of Xianfeng Road and Dazhong Road in Linqing. They serve porridge and eight big bowls (ba da wan) in the morning, noodles in the afternoon, and big bowl dishes (dawan cai) at night, all of which look delicious. We ordered a serving of big bowl dishes and a cold appetizer. The big bowl dish had plenty of ingredients inside, and it felt very healthy to eat.

Zainab and I both really like the atmosphere in Linqing. There are few cars on the street at night, no delivery scooters, and it feels great to ride a shared electric bike around. There are many halal restaurants on Xianfeng Road. People sit on small stools outside the shops at night to eat and chat, which feels very relaxed.



















Linqing at night is full of various halal restaurants and even a small halal night market.













We had breakfast at Kong Family Steamed Bowls (Kongjia kouwan) at the intersection of Xianfeng Road, where we ate braised pork and steamed pork tenderloin (liji kouwan) with steamed buns (mantou). Turning the traditional steamed bowls (kouwan) from North China's scripture hall banquets into a breakfast seems to be a local specialty of Linqing, allowing tourists like us to enjoy traditional banquet dishes. They keep their steamed bowls (kouwan) in a large steamer. They have many kinds like pine-flower egg (songhua), meatballs (wanzi), pork tenderloin (liji), starch jelly (menzi), and braised pork (shaorou). You pick what you want, they flip it into a bowl, pour broth over it, and it is ready to eat.

Their shop was originally the Taoyuan Street Supply and Marketing Cooperative built in the 1970s. Eating here feels very retro. Besides selling steamed bowls in the morning, they also sell cold noodles (liangmian) at noon, which is another specialty of Linqing.















After finishing the steamed bowls, I went to Xianfeng Road to eat tofu pudding (doufunao) and firm tofu (laodoufu). Breakfast shops in Linqing sell both tofu pudding and firm tofu. The difference is that tofu pudding is set with gypsum, making the texture smooth and delicate. Firm tofu is set with brine, making the texture tough and chewy. I like both kinds.









At noon, we ate Wang Family Ten-Fragrance Noodles (shixiangmian) on Xinhua Road. Ten-Fragrance Noodles are also called Assorted-Fragrance Noodles (shixiangmian). The main feature is the large variety of vegetable toppings. A deluxe bowl can have over eighteen types, and the ingredients change based on the solar terms. The toppings mainly include stir-fried minced meat with eggplant strips, mung bean sprouts, chives, minced garlic sprouts, minced green beans, and tomato with egg. You also get fresh shredded cucumber, minced carrots, and pickled vegetables like pickled melon (jianggua), salted mustard greens (xian gede), and minced chive flowers (jiuhua mo), all finished with a drizzle of sesame paste. The homemade version we ate wasn't quite as elaborate, but it still had plenty of variety.











Hongguanying Mosque

At noon, we went to the Hongguanying Mosque in Linxi County, Xingtai, Hebei. Linxi County in Xingtai is actually right on the west side of the Wei Canal in Linqing. Once you cross the Xianfeng Bridge, there is a bus that goes to Hongguanying.

Hongguanying gets its name from the Hong family of Hui Muslims. According to the Linqing Hong Family Genealogy, the ancestor of the Hong family of Hui Muslims was Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din. His sixth-generation descendant, Hong Badan, served as an official in Linqing during the Ming Dynasty. His descendants took Hong as their surname and settled in Linqing. One branch settled in the urban area of Linqing and once built the Hong Family Mosque, but unfortunately, it no longer exists. Another group settled in Hongguanying Village and built the Hongguanying Mosque. The Hongguanying Mosque was first built between the Xuande and Tianshun periods of the Ming Dynasty. It was burned down in 1854 during the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Rebellion and rebuilt into its current form in 1874.



















We were warmly welcomed at the Hongguanying Mosque by Imam Lan. He is skilled at Arabic calligraphy, and his scripture paintings and stone carvings are very impressive. I was very lucky to receive a one-stroke Basmala (tasmi) as a gift from Imam Lan.



















On the road heading west from Linqing to Hongguanying, we saw wheat fields, the Wei Canal, and Hui Muslim villages. The Xianfeng Bridge over the Wei Canal was built in 1959 and expanded in 1974. It was once very famous, but it stopped allowing motor vehicles in 1992 and is now a protected cultural site.



















Returning from Hongguanying to downtown Linqing, we found that most restaurants here are closed between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM. We found a place that sells deep-stir-fried meat tenderloin (ganzha liji) and bought some to eat on the train. I tried it as soon as I got on the train and it was super delicious! It was fried but not greasy at all. It even tasted great cold, just like a snack, and I couldn't stop eating it. Then we went to a shop that sells meat flatbreads (huoshao) and stuffed flatbreads (xian huoshao). There are many ways to make flatbreads here in Linqing. We bought a beef-stuffed flatbread, and it was packed with filling. I think it tasted much better than the ones I've had in Beijing.

The last photo shows two shops next to the Linqing No. 1 Kindergarten. One is a stationery shop that also serves breakfast, and the other is a sesame oil shop that provides lunch and tutoring for students. I thought that was really interesting.

















After buying the stuffed flatbread, we happened to run into the imam's wife from the Linqing Women's Mosque. She told us her family runs a braised chicken and smoked pigeon shop right next door, so we went in to take a look. Once inside, we learned that their shop is a city-level intangible cultural heritage site for Linqing smoked deli techniques. We bought two of their signature smoked pigeons and some chicken gizzards to eat on the train. The smoked pigeon was really fragrant. Even though it didn't have as much meat as chicken, the smoky flavor was delicious and worth eating. view all

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Summary: Northeast China Mosques in 1941 - Old Photos and Muslim Heritage is presented as a clear English travel account for readers interested in Muslim life, halal food, mosques, and local history. The article keeps the original place names, food details, photographs, and cultural context while focusing on Northeast China, Mosque Photos, Muslim Heritage.

Summary: A 1941 Vintage Photo of a Mosque in Northeast China is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: The book "Peoples and Religions of Manchuria and Mongolia" was published in 1941 by Osakaya Shoten. The account keeps its focus on Halal Travel, Yiwu Food, Mosque Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

The book "Peoples and Religions of Manchuria and Mongolia" was published in 1941 by Osakaya Shoten. It was co-authored by Japanese religious scholar Chijo Akamatsu and cultural anthropologist Takashi Akiba. You can now view it online at the National Diet Library of Japan. The book contains many old photos of mosques in Northeast China, which I am sharing with you now.

North Mosque (Beisi) in Shenyang





East Mosque (Dongsi) in Shenyang







South Mosque (Nansi) in Shenyang







Wenhua Mosque (Wenhuasi) in Shenyang



Piziwo Mosque (Piziwosi) in Dalian





Dalian Mosque (Daliansi)





Tieling Mosque





Taonan Mosque in Jilin



West Mosque in Jilin



Acheng Mosque in Harbin





Yilan Mosque in Harbin





Jiamusi Mosque



Anning Mosque in Mudanjiang



Qiqihar Mosque





halal sign view all

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Summary: Ashura Day - Fasting, Memory and Hui Muslim Traditions is presented as a clear English travel account for readers interested in Muslim life, halal food, mosques, and local history. The article keeps the original place names, food details, photographs, and cultural context while focusing on Ashura, Muslim Culture, Hui Muslims.

Summary: It Is Ashura Once Again is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: This Tuesday was the 10th of Muharram, the Day of Ashura. As usual, we made the Urumqi Hui Muslim version of Ashura bean rice (dou dou fan). The account keeps its focus on Beijing, Muslim Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

This Tuesday was the 10th of Muharram, the Day of Ashura. As usual, we made the Urumqi Hui Muslim version of Ashura bean rice (dou dou fan).

After work, I went to the supermarket to buy beans. This time I used seven kinds: soybeans, black beans, mung beans, red beans, chickpeas, white kidney beans, and lotus beans. First, I cooked the seven types of beans in a pressure cooker until soft. Then, I diced some Qurbani lamb and chopped green onions. I stir-fried the meat with the green onions, adding salt and Sichuan peppercorn powder. I added rice and sticky rice to the cooked beans, then mixed in the stir-fried meat. I set the pressure cooker to the rice cooking mode to finish it.

Since our pressure cooker wasn't big enough, the water boiled away a bit too much. After taking it out, we added more water to thin it out. Actually, the traditional way is to simmer it in a large pot for a long time.



















Legend says that when the Great Flood receded and Prophet Nuh's ship reached land, he and his followers used the seven types of beans on the ship to make the first meal for humanity after the disaster. Across a vast region from Bosnia and Turkey in the west to China in the east, many friends (dostani) make Ashura bean porridge today to remember the landing of Noah's Ark.

You can actually find Ashura bean porridge at the Sultan Turkish Restaurant in Beijing, but the Turkish version is more like a dessert and tastes quite different from the Chinese one.

The Ottoman-style Ashure does not have a fixed recipe, as it changes based on the region and the habits of each family. Tradition says you should use at least seven ingredients, though some believe you should use ten to match the theme of the tenth day, while the Alevis always use twelve ingredients. Common ingredients include wheat, barley, rice, white kidney beans, chickpeas, grape molasses (pekmez), pomegranate molasses, beet juice, dates, raisins, currants, apricots, figs, apples, pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, and sesame seeds. You can decorate the finished Ashure with fennel seeds, black cumin seeds, plums, pomegranate, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.

Today, you can buy Ashure in dessert shops all year round in Turkey and the Balkans. However, on the Day of Ashura, people still prefer to make Ashure themselves and share it with the poor, relatives, neighbors, and friends. view all

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Summary: Halal Travel Guide: Fengcheng and Dandong - Mosque Visit and Liaoning Food is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Fengcheng, Dandong, Liaoning Travel while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

On June 9 at noon, we headed east from Dalian toward Dandong. We arrived at Fengcheng East Station at 12:14 and took a taxi to the center of Fengcheng for lunch. We first went to a restaurant called Nanlaishun, but we found braised lamb blood on the menu, so we went to another place called Wenbin Snack Bar instead.

We ordered the local Dandong specialty stir-fried corn noodles (chao chazi), along with eight-treasure porridge with corn grits (dazhazi babaozhou) and a 6-yuan vegetable platter. The vegetable platter included stir-fried potato, eggplant, and pepper (di san xian), cucumber with scrambled eggs, and stir-fried dried tofu. I noticed other people just ordering one vegetable platter with rice, which is a great deal.

Stir-fried corn noodles (chao chazi) are made by fermenting corn and grinding it into a liquid, then taking the settled corn starch residue and pressing it into noodles before stir-frying. These noodles are a classic example of turning coarse grains into a refined dish. They have a smooth, delicate texture without any of the usual grittiness of corn flour, and they taste quite good.

Zainab really loved their eight-treasure porridge with corn grits (dazhazi babaozhou). She even said it was her favorite thing she ate during her entire trip to Liaoning. The eight-treasure porridge with corn grits (dazhazi babaozhou) contains almost no rice, just a wide variety of beans. They are very generous with the ingredients, making it a perfect choice for people who want a healthy meal.













After finishing our stir-fried noodles (chao chazi), we went to Fengcheng Mosque to pray. The imam at Fengcheng Mosque is also from Cangzhou.

Fengcheng Mosque was first built in 1775, during the 40th year of the Qianlong reign. It was renovated in 1862, the first year of the Tongzhi reign. In 1876, the second year of the Guangxu reign, the north lecture hall was rebuilt and side rooms were added. In 1890, the 16th year of the Guangxu reign, the Moon-Sighting Tower (Wangyue Lou) was built, giving the mosque its current size.

The most unique part of Fengcheng Mosque is the Moon-Sighting Tower, built during the Guangxu reign. It has a double-eaved, four-cornered, pointed roof with beautiful upturned eaves, brackets, and intricate openwork carvings.



















The mosque features 300-year-old cypress trees and a stone tablet from the Guangxu renovations. The wood carvings on the brackets and the brick calligraphy carvings on the wall corners are also very beautiful.



















Outside the mosque, there are shops selling beef, pastries, roasted chicken, and instructions on how to boil sweet rice balls (yuanxiao). We bought some old-fashioned Northeast-style plain biscuits (guangtou bing). They get tastier the more you chew, with a subtle sweetness that lingers.















We left Fengcheng East Station at 3:39 PM and arrived at Dandong Station at 3:56 PM. We then walked to Pier 2 to take a Yalu River cruise. From the boat, you can see the shipyards, amusement park, old paper mill site, General's Building, schools, and various hidden and visible guard posts in Sinuiju, North Korea, on the other side. We were surprised to see a person swimming across the Yalu River all the way to the North Korean side, and he even waved at us.























Dandong Mosque (Dandong Si) was first built in 1876, and the current building was rebuilt in 2004. The sign at the entrance of the mosque is very rare.

The storefronts of Dandong Mosque are very busy. On the first floor are two old shops, Yixiang and Yiguang, which sell various traditional pastries, mooncakes (yuebing), and sticky rice dumplings (zongzi). Upstairs is the Yixiang Nursing Home, which is open to elderly people of all ethnic groups.



















In the afternoon, we had dinner at the long-established Jinlongge Restaurant in Dandong. They serve a wide variety of traditional stir-fried dishes and seafood. We ordered oyster soup (ligeng tang), braised mixed fish (jiangmen zabanyü), and Northeast-style cold noodles (dongbei da lengmian), and we also drank the local Yalu River soda. Northeast Chinese food comes in huge portions! We used our fists to compare the size of the plates, and one dish is more than enough for two people.

The food here tastes great overall; the large cold noodles (lengmian) are chewy, the fish is fragrant, and the meat quality is excellent. The oyster soup (ligeng tang) is very savory and does not have a fishy smell. view all

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Summary: Halal Travel Guide: Dalian, Fuzhou Ancient City and Qingdui Ancient Town is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Dalian, Liaoning Travel, Ancient Towns while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

On the morning of June 8, we took a high-speed train from Shenyang Railway Station and arrived at Wafangdian West Station in Dalian in an hour and a half. After leaving the station, we shared a ride for 20 minutes to reach the ancient town of Fuzhou.

We first stopped at the Qunfangyuan Restaurant near the Fuzhou town roundabout to eat some traditional Fuzhou old-style dishes (Fuzhou laocai). Fuzhou is a thousand-year-old town established during the Liao Dynasty. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, it has been a major commercial hub in southern Liaoning, attracting many merchants. It only began to lose its importance to Wafangdian along the railway line after the South Manchuria Railway was built in modern times. Around 1641, the sixth year of the Chongde reign of the Qing Dynasty, four Hui Muslim families—the Yin, Ma, Dai, and Hui families from Cangzhou, Hebei—moved to Fuzhou. Later, they worked with the local Manchu and Han people to develop the unique Fuzhou old-style dishes.

Fuzhou old-style dishes are known for their oil-fried meat (guoyourou), twice-cooked meat (huishaorou), braised meatballs (huiwanzi), dragon and tiger fight (longhudou), and fried crispy crackers (zhabaochui). Because portions of Northeast Chinese food are so large, we just ordered the most famous oil-fried meat to try. The Fuzhou version of oil-fried meat contains only meat with no side vegetables. It is seasoned with vinegar and garlic, giving it a salty, fresh, and sour taste that goes perfectly with rice.

Fuzhou oil-fried meat is also called the dish of ethnic unity. Legend has it that during the late Qing Dynasty, a soldier named Tuoerha from the Plain Blue Banner died in battle in southern Xinjiang, leaving his wife and children helpless in Fuzhou. One day, just before the Lunar New Year, a mother and her son were walking down the street. The boy was so drawn to the aroma from a restaurant that he refused to leave. The owner knew the boy's father had died for his country, so he invited them inside. He told the kitchen staff to prepare a dish of pure meat for them and to fry it an extra time. Because of this, double-fried meat (guoyourou) became a signature New Year dish for the people of Fuzhou.















After lunch, we went to Fuzhou Mosque (Fuzhou Si) to pray. The imam at Fuzhou Mosque is from Mengcun in Cangzhou, Hebei, which is a major tradition for the faith in Liaoning.

In the early Qing Dynasty, Hui Muslims with the surnames Yin, Dai, Ma, and Hui moved to Fuzhou from Cangzhou. In 1649 (the sixth year of the Shunzhi reign), they began building Fuzhou Mosque. By 1656 (the thirteenth year of the Shunzhi reign), they had finished three thatched rooms to serve as the main prayer hall. The main hall was rebuilt in 1774 (the thirty-ninth year of the Qianlong reign) and expanded again in 1880 (the sixth year of the Guangxu reign), though it still had a thatched roof. In 1920, the front porch and rear kiln-style hall were added, and the roof was changed to blue brick tiles, creating the structure seen today.



















Hanging in front of the main hall of Fuzhou Mosque is a plaque that reads "Returning to Simplicity and Truth" (Huan Pu Gui Zhen). It was presented in 1897 (the twenty-third year of the Guangxu reign) by Wang Tingxiang, a third-rank official, imperial censor, and scholar of the Hanlin Academy.







Additionally, the brick carvings on the wall ends feature traditional calligraphy of a dua.







Hui Muslim homes inside Fuzhou City. The old street features blue bricks and dark roof tiles, with Arabic calligraphy (jingzi) and dua written on the walls, keeping the look of the past. Many people have moved to Wafangdian and Dalian to live, so the old street has become quiet.



















There is a legendary halal food spot in Fuzhou City, which is my friend's family business, Yin's sticky rice cake (jiangmi lianggao). The Yin family of Fuzhou originally came from Qing County in Cangzhou and settled in Fuzhou during the early Qing Dynasty. The sticky rice cake made by my friend's great-uncle, Yin Xiangzhou, was famous in Fuzhou a hundred years ago, and now my friend's mother pushes a small cart to sell it along the street every day. A loudspeaker plays, 'Sticky rice cake, fragrant and sweet.' Then everyone comes out to buy the sticky rice cake.

Sticky rice cake (jiangmi lianggao) is made by topping sticky rice with fillings like peanuts, sesame, and sugar. Traditionally, it included candied green and red fruit strips (qinghongsi), but these are now left out to suit younger tastes. Sticky rice cake is very refreshing in the summer, and it feels great on the stomach when paired with tea.

A quick tip: some people say the Yin family pushcart is hard to find. We spotted it at 2:15 p.m. at the intersection west of the Fuzhou Prefectural Office (Fuzhou Zhizhou Yashu). It then moves south along the main road, and you can hear the vendor calling out from far away.















We took the high-speed train from Wafangdian West Station at 3:30 p.m., arrived at Dalian North Station at 4:00 p.m., and then took a taxi to our accommodation to drop off our luggage.

We stayed at the No. 21 Mansion (Ershiyi Hao Gongguan) near the Russian Style Street. The hotel sits in a courtyard that is part of the Yantai Street Russian-style building complex, which includes 28 European-style villas and marks the starting point of Dalian's history. In 1898, Tsarist Russia leased Dalian Bay and began building Dalian city the following year. The first street built was called Engineer Street, which is now known as Russian Style Street. Soon after, Timov Street was built right next to Engineer Street, and it was renamed Yantai Street after 1946. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tsarist Russia hired German and Russian designers to build a series of European-style villas on Yantai Street, and 28 of them still stand today.

After the Russian-style building complex on Yantai Street was restored in 2011, several hotels and restaurants moved in. When we visited, several places were hosting weddings, which felt a bit like the Italian Style Street in Tianjin. Several villas in the courtyard belong to the Dalian Railway 1896 Garden Hotel, which you can stay in at any time. The No. 21 Mansion where we stayed is military property and only opens during holidays, but you can book it online.

Building No. 21 was built in 1903 and designed by the famous German architect Jan Hendel. In 1920, early labor movement leader and Manchurian Provincial Committee Secretary Wang Ligong lived here. The house we stayed in had windows on both the north and south sides, making the environment very pleasant. The courtyard was very quiet, which was a sharp contrast to the busy Russian-style street next door.



















In the afternoon, we had dinner at the long-established Majia Dumpling Restaurant in front of Dalian Railway Station. We ordered sea snail and chive dumplings (haoluo jiucai jiaozi), mackerel ball soup (bayu wanzi tang), and dry-braised flatfish (gan shao piankou yu). Traditionally, Hui Muslims in North and Northeast China do not cook seafood; they focus on beef and lamb. They only started making seafood dumplings after the Reform and Opening-up, and it gradually became a local specialty. They serve dumplings with yellow mustard sauce, which is very unique and adds a great kick to the flavor. The dry-braised flatfish was also well-prepared, with a sweet and spicy taste that really whets the appetite. People who ate at their original shop say the dumplings were even better decades ago, and I can really understand that sense of nostalgia. But as travelers, we are already very happy to be able to eat these dumplings.

Ma Family Dumpling Restaurant (Ma Jia Jiaozi Guan) was the first halal dumpling shop in Dalian and one of the city's two earliest dumpling restaurants. It was opened in 1947 by Liu Yushan, Ma Baishi, and Zhao Fangchen at the Bo'ai Market in Xigang. It was originally called Ruixianghao Hui Muslim Dumpling Restaurant before changing its name to Ma Family Dumpling Restaurant. After the Reform and Opening-up, the restaurant moved to the former site of the Goubuli Steamed Bun Shop on Tianjin Street. It moved to its current location after the renovation of Tianjin Street in the early 21st century. At first, the restaurant only served beef dumplings. After the Reform and Opening-up, seafood dumplings appeared in Dalian, so the restaurant started making new varieties like mackerel dumplings (bayu jiaozi) and sea snail dumplings (hailuo jiaozi).



















After dinner, we headed to the Dalian Mosque (Dalian Si) on Beijing Street. After Dalian opened as a port in 1897, Hui Muslims from places like Shandong and Hebei came here to make a living. Ma Xinglong, Wang Qifa, Jin Xiangchen, and others first rented a few small rooms on Dalong Street in Xigang to perform their prayers. In 1925, a Russian Muslim working for the South Manchuria Railway (Mantie) secured funding and land from the company to build the Dalian Mosque in a traditional Kazan Tatar style.

The original Dalian Mosque looked very similar to Tatar mosques in Kazan, Russia, featuring a neoclassical main hall and two minarets at the front and back. The minbar pulpit inside the main hall has stairs that lead directly to the minaret on the roof, which is very rare for a traditional mosque in China.

This Kazan Tatar-style Dalian Mosque stood for 64 years, was rebuilt in 1990, and finally expanded into its current structure in 2005.



















I left Dalian Station at 6:20 on June 9, arrived at Qingdui Station at 8:00, and then took a taxi to the ancient town of Qingdui to visit Qingdui Mosque.

Qingdui Town is a thousand-year-old town that has served as a fishing port and commercial hub on the Liaodong Peninsula since the Tang Dynasty. Qingbu Port officially opened in 1743 (the eighth year of the Qianlong reign), making Qingdui Town an important transit point for people from Shandong and Hebei moving to Northeast China. During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China era, Qingdui Town had over three hundred businesses, with shops lining the streets and bustling with activity. Today, Qingdui Town still keeps many old houses with grey bricks and dark tiles from the late Qing and Republican periods, and Qingdui Mosque is one of them.

Qingdui Mosque was first built during the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty and started as just three thatched huts. The First Sino-Japanese War began in July 1894. Famous Hui Muslim general Zuo Baogui led his troops to Korea to fight the Japanese and passed by Qingdui Mosque (Qingdui Si). General Zuo Baogui and the imam of Qingdui Mosque, Zhang Chaozhen, got along very well. Later, the general donated money himself. Along with funds raised by his personal Hui Muslim guards and three local halal restaurants—Deshengyuan, Qingshengyuan, and Yongshengyuan—they prepared to expand the mosque. Sadly, before the expansion was finished, General Zuo Baogui died heroically while fighting the Japanese in Pyongyang.

In 1895 (the 21st year of the Guangxu reign), Hui Wanchun, the elder in charge of Qingdui Mosque, oversaw the rebuilding of the main hall into the three-room green brick and tile structure seen today. In 1920 (the 9th year of the Republic of China), the gate tower was rebuilt and the lecture hall was expanded, giving the mosque its current size.

The gate of Qingdui Mosque features a brick-carved couplet that reads: 'The pure palace spreads the teachings of the Quran and the path of Muhammad; the true sage passes down scriptures that bring the grace of the Western Regions to this place.' This is a very precious piece of brick-carved calligraphy from the Republic of China era. The main gate is usually closed, so you must enter the mosque through the south wing where the imam lives. The imam came from Gansu and warmly told us about the situation at Qingdui Mosque (Qingdui Si). It is not easy for his family to stay and serve at this small community mosque (xiaofang).



















Hui Muslim homes in the ancient town of Qingdui. Because Qingbu Port silted up and closed, the ancient town of Qingdui gradually became quiet, and the town center moved to the area near the road to the north. There are a few halal restaurants in town. We ordered lamb soup at one of them, Jinhong Lamb Soup Restaurant (Jinhong Yangtang Guan), but when it arrived, we found it contained lamb blood. I had heard long ago that some halal restaurants in Shandong and Northeast China sell lamb blood, but this is the first time I have encountered it in years. We had no choice but to return the lamb soup and take a taxi to the train station to continue our trip to the next stop. view all

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Summary: Islamic Art Guide: Quanzhou Maritime Museum Song-Yuan Stone Inscriptions (Part 1) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Quanzhou, Islamic Art, Stone Inscriptions while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

The Quanzhou Maritime Museum was built in 1959. The Quanzhou Islamic Culture Exhibition Hall opened in 2003, and the 'Arabs and Persians in Quanzhou' exhibition launched in 2008, featuring over 200 stone carvings from the Song and Yuan dynasties. I visited the 'Arabs and Persians in Quanzhou' exhibition in 2017. Returning seven years later, the layout has not changed much, but some of the most iconic stone tablets, such as the tombstone of 'Consul Pan,' have been moved to the 'Quanzhou: World Maritime Trade Center in Song and Yuan China' exhibition, with replicas now in their place.









Tombstone

The largest category of Song and Yuan dynasty Islamic stone carvings in the museum's collection is tombstones.





The tombstone in the picture below was once used as a stone tabletop under the eaves of Yuanshan Hall (later renamed Fentuoshi) on Zhongshan Middle Road in Quanzhou. It is said to have been moved there in 1952 when building materials were purchased from the city's East Gate wall foundations for construction. Ms. Wu Yuanying donated it to the museum in 1965.

The person buried is named Husayn b. Muhammad Khalati. Khalati refers to the ancient city of Ahlat in what is now southeastern Turkey. Historically, Ahlat was part of the Armenian Kingdom, was occupied by Arabs in the mid-7th century, and developed into an important trade hub in southeastern Turkey by the 10th century. Ahlat was captured by the Seljuk Empire in 1071 and later became the capital of the Turkmen beylik known as Shah-Armens.

Because the inscription is written in a very irregular way, there are still many questions about how to read it. If we read the date as 567 in the Islamic calendar, which is 1171 in the Gregorian calendar, this stone would be the oldest Arabic inscription found in Quanzhou.



The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1939 when the North Gate (Chaotian Gate) of Quanzhou was torn down. The person buried there was named Nuransa Ibn Khwaja Balad-shah b. Khwaja Haji Harbk Khorazmi, who died in 1322.

In his name, Nuransa is his given name, and Balad-shah is his father's name, which means leader in Persian. Harbk is his grandfather's name, Khwaja shows his noble status, Haji means his grandfather had been on the Hajj, and Khorazmi shows his family came from the Khwarezm region of Central Asia.

The Khwarezmian Empire was destroyed by the Mongol Empire in 1221 and was later divided between the Chagatai Khanate and the Golden Horde. In the 14th century, Khwarezm was an important trade center in Central Asia until it was destroyed by the Timurid Empire in 1388.



The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1936 at Jintoupu Village outside the East Gate (Tonghuai Gate) of Quanzhou. The person buried there died in 1358 and was named Banan b. Ghasim Isfahani, who came from the famous Iranian city of Isfahan.

Isfahan became the capital of the Seljuk Empire in the mid-11th century and reached its peak in the late 11th century. Isfahan declined after the fall of the Seljuk Empire in the 13th century. It suffered a massacre by Timur in 1387 and did not revive until the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century.



The tombstone in the picture below was unearthed in 1931 at Jintoupu outside Tonghuai Gate in Quanzhou. The person buried there was Sihab al-dunya sa l-din b. Daghab, the son of a garrison commander from Balashaghun. He died in 1301, and the inscription includes a verse from the Quran (3:185).

Balashaghun is located on the banks of the Chu River in Kyrgyzstan. It was once the capital of the Kara-Khanid Khanate and the new capital of the Western Liao dynasty. It is the hometown of Yusuf Khass Hajib, the author of Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig). Balashaghun was captured by the Mongol Empire in 1218 and gradually became a ruin by the 14th century.



The tombstone in the picture below was unearthed in 1933 from the city wall of Renfeng Gate in Quanzhou. The person buried there was Muhammad b. Su'ud Yahya, who died in 1326.



The tombstone in the picture below was unearthed in 1939 from the city wall of Tonghuai Gate in Quanzhou. The person buried there was Khwaja Ali b. Uthman al-Jilani, who died in 1357.

Gilan is located on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in northwestern Iran. It was ruled by locals until the 11th to 16th centuries. It was occupied by the Ilkhanate in 1307 but regained its independence in 1336.



The tombstone in the picture below.

This was unearthed in 1978 on a street in Houhai Road Village, outside Tonghuai Gate in Quanzhou, and it is carved with verses from the Quran (21:35, 28:88).



The bottom half of the tombstone in the picture below was found in 1934 on a field path outside Tonghuai Gate in Quanzhou, while the top half was found in 1942 while digging for city wall foundation stones at the East Gate of Quanzhou. The person buried here was named Shaikh Aklab Umar, who passed away in 1303, and the inscription also features verses from the Quran (55:26-27, 3:185).



The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1938 while digging for city foundation stones at Renfeng Gate, the East Gate of Quanzhou; the person buried here was named Granto Takin b. Sultan Husayn, who passed away in 1308. Takin is a Turkic title for a prince or noble.



The tombstone in the picture below is a replica, and the original is on display in the main hall of the Maritime Museum. It was discovered in the summer of 1934 within the city foundations at the East Gate of Quanzhou. The top is carved with scripture (28:88) and also Chinese characters: 'General Manager Pan died on the first day of the fourth lunar month.' According to the History of Song, Volume 7 on Official Positions, the position of General Manager was created during the Jianyan era of Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1130) to manage money, grain, and taxes. By the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty, the General Manager could directly participate in military and political affairs and held great power. However, the Yuan Dianzhang records that the title of General Manager was used for minor officials in the prisons of various prefectures and counties.



The tombstone in the picture below was found in April 1958 in the city foundation near Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou. The tomb owner was named Haji Khwaja b. Hasam al-Din b. Yalaki Siraf, who passed away in 1362.

Siraf is also translated in historical records as Shiluowei, Shilafu, Sanawei, Shilafu, or Siluofu. It is located in southern Iran and was the largest trading port in the Persian Gulf between the 9th and 13th centuries. Most Persian merchants traveling to Quanzhou during the Song and Yuan dynasties set off from here.



The tombstone in the picture below was discovered in 1926 by the famous archaeologist Chen Wanli on South Street in Quanzhou (now Zhongshan Road). He asked the Quanzhou government to move it to the Construction Bureau for safekeeping, but it was lost during a flood in 1935. In 1955, residents digging at the old Construction Bureau site found a stone tablet, but the bottom part with the date was broken. The person buried there was the daughter of Sayyid Burtumi b. Sayyid Muhammad al-Hamdani.

Hamadan is located southwest of Tehran and serves as an important commercial center and transport hub in northwestern Iran. Hamadan became the capital of the Seljuk Empire in the 11th century, but it was destroyed by the Mongol army in 1220 and again during the Timurid invasion in the 14th century, only recovering during the Safavid dynasty in the 16th century.



The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1929 when the Renfeng Gate wall at the East Gate of Quanzhou was torn down. It broke into three pieces and was stacked into a house wall, then rediscovered in 1950 after the wall collapsed. A corner of the tombstone was lost in the late 1960s. The person buried there died in 1337, and the inscription is a verse from the Quran (21:34-35).



The tombstone in the picture below was found in September 1958 next to a field in Huazhou Village outside the South Gate of Quanzhou. Local villagers said it was a city stone dug up from the Quanzhou South Gate wall over 20 years earlier. They originally planned to use it to build a house, but after realizing it was a tombstone, they used it to pave a path in the field instead. The person buried there was named Abu Masman Ghath, and the inscription is a verse from the Quran (55:26-27).



The tombstone in the picture below was found on the road surface of West Street in Quanzhou in 1932. It was originally taken from the city wall to pave the road. The person buried there is named Khadija bint Fanshah.



The tombstone in the picture below was unearthed in 1981 at a villager's home in Jinputou, outside Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou. The person buried there is named al-Hamd Suad.



The tombstone in the picture below was found in a resident's home near the South Gate factory area in Quanzhou in 1945 and was recovered for preservation in 1953. The inscription is a verse from the Quran (29:57).



The tombstone in the picture below was excavated from the city wall at the East Gate of Quanzhou in 1930. The center features a full moon carved in Arabic script, with a swirling cloud on each side, creating a cloud and moon pattern. The top center of the tombstone features the Shahada, surrounded by dua.



The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1940 while digging city foundations near Jiaochangtou, close to Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou. The tombstone features a cloud and moon design, with a full moon in the center and swirling cloud patterns on both sides. The person buried here died in 1350, and the inscription is a verse from the Quran (55:26-27).



The tombstone in the picture below was found in June 1959 in Xiawei Village, outside Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou. According to local villagers, this stone was dug up from the city wall many years ago and used to pave a small path in the fields. It was dug up again during road construction and kept in an ancestral hall because the writing on it looked unusual. The inscription consists of verses from the Quran (39:4, 55:26-27).



The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1947 in the city foundations of Deji Gate at the South Gate of Quanzhou. That same year, it was used to build a pier for the Shunji Bridge at the South Gate, but it was later discovered and moved. The inscription is a verse from the Quran (55:26-27).



The tombstone inscription in the picture below is a verse from the Quran (55:26-27). The lower part of the tombstone is damaged, so we only know the person was a "pure servant who died on Saturday, May 2nd, in the year..."



The tombstone in the picture below was found in a field near East Lake outside the Small East Gate of Quanzhou in April 1962. Local villagers say it was dug up from the city wall years ago to pave the road. The inscription is a verse from the Quran (3:85).



The tombstone in the picture below was found in a pond outside Renfeng Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou in 1939. The tomb owner's title is Sayyid al-Ajall al-Kabir, which translates to "the first, the respected, the important." The other side is carved with Chinese characters reading "Fengxun Dafu, Darughachi of Yongchun County..."

Darughachi was a government position during the Yuan Dynasty, held only by Mongols or powerful Semu people. Yongchun County is under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou. According to the Yongchun Prefecture Records, there was once a darughachi named Tuohuanshaduoluoboer, who might be the same person as the tomb owner.





The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1931 when the East Gate of Quanzhou was dismantled. The tomb owner was named Khwaja Jalal al-Din b. Muhammad b. Ibrahim, who passed away in 1305. The back is carved with verses from the Quran (89:28-30).



The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1942 at a stone shop on Renfeng Street outside the East Gate of Quanzhou. It had been dug out from the city wall. The tomb owner was named Amir Tughasun Amir Ali b. Hasan b. Ali al-Ghazwini, who passed away in 1371 (some say 1273). Amir, also translated as Yimi, originally meant commander and was later used to refer to a lord.

In his book Religious Stone Inscriptions of Quanzhou, Wu Wenliang speculates that this Amir was the imam of the foreign quarter in Quanzhou at that time. In the early Ming Dynasty, the government briefly followed the open policies of the Yuan Dynasty, encouraged foreign trade, and established a Maritime Trade Office in Quanzhou. This policy did not last long. In 1371, the Ming Dynasty issued a maritime ban, and in 1374, it closed the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office. The once-thriving foreign quarter in Quanzhou quickly declined.

Qazvin is located in northwestern Iran, south of the Caspian Sea. In 1220, the Mongol army massacred the population of Qazvin. Afterward, many Turkic-speaking people moved to Qazvin to settle. In 1295, Qazvin suffered heavy damage during the turmoil of Ghazan Khan's struggle for the throne of the Ilkhanate, and many people left the city.





The tombstone in the picture below was discovered in 1940 when the Renfeng Gate at the east gate of Quanzhou was demolished. The person buried there was Shams al-Din b. Nur al-Din b. Ishaqan Shahristani, who died in 1325 and came from Shahristan in Iran. The back features a verse from the Quran (3:19).





The tombstone in the picture below was found in March 1963 in the home of a farmer at Ruifengling outside the east gate of Quanzhou. The family said it was discovered when an old wall that had stood for a hundred years collapsed. Several gravestones belonging to the faith were found near Ruifeng Ridge, marking it as one of the burial sites for Muslims in Quanzhou during the Song and Yuan dynasties. The person buried there was named Fatima bint Naina, who passed away in 1306. The back of the stone is carved with verses from the Quran (55:26-27).



The gravestone in the picture below is broken into several pieces, with two parts remaining today; they were unearthed in 1953 and 1956 at Jintoupu, outside the Tonghuai Gate of Quanzhou's East Gate. The person buried there was named Abu Bakr b. Husayn Sinan, who passed away in 1319.





The gravestone in the picture below was excavated from the city wall at Quanzhou's East Gate in 1929; the person buried there was named Haji b. Agfar Beg b. Haji al-Malighi, who passed away in 1387 (though some say 1290). If the date is 1387, it is a rare gravestone from the Ming dynasty. The back is carved with a verse from the Quran (2:156) and a hadith stating, 'Whoever dies in a foreign land dies a martyr.'





The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1930 when the East Gate of Quanzhou was demolished. The person buried there was named Mansur b. Haji al-Qasim al-Jajarmi, who died in 1277. The back features the Shahada and a verse from the Quran (28:88). This Mansur and the previously mentioned Qutb al-Din Ya'qub both came from Jajarm in the North Khorasan province of Iran.

In 1276, the Yuan army captured Lin'an, and Wen Tianxiang and others supported Emperor Duanzong as they fled to Quanzhou. The Song army seized 2,000 of Pu Shougeng's ships (some say over 400) and confiscated his property. This led Pu Shougeng to carry out a retaliatory massacre of the Southern Song royal family members living abroad and to hunt down Emperor Duanzong. In 1277, the Yuan army arrived in Quanzhou, and Pu Shougeng surrendered the city, marking a new chapter in Quanzhou's history.





The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1932 when the Renfeng Gate of the Quanzhou East Gate city wall was demolished. The person buried there was named Shirin Khatun bint Hasan Zaituni, who died in 1321. In Turkic languages, Khatun means queen or lady. The inscription also features a verse from the Quran (29:57).

Citong is another name for Quanzhou, named after the coral trees (citong) planted everywhere since the Five Dynasties period. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, Arab merchants called Quanzhou Zaitun because the name sounded like the Arabic word for olive (zaitun).





The tombstone in the picture below was found in November 1978 inside a family home at Jintoupu, outside Tonghuai Gate in Quanzhou, where it was being used as a foundation stone. Before that, it had been excavated from the city walls of Tonghuai Gate. The person buried there was named Ibn Ghawamar al-Din al-Ghar... The inscription describes him as a Khwaja, a leader of the faith, and a leader of the Mawla. The text uses Persian several times, so the person buried there likely came from a Persian cultural background.





The tombstone in the picture below was unearthed in March 1964 at the construction site of the Overseas Chinese Mansion in downtown Quanzhou. This site was once the location of the Haiqing Pavilion during the Qing Dynasty. When the Senate building was built in the early 1940s, the city walls of the east and south gates of Quanzhou were torn down for building materials, and this stone tablet was likely buried in the wall foundation at that time. One side of the tombstone is carved with the Shahada, and the other side is carved with a verse from the Quran (3:185).





The tombstone in the picture below was found in the foundation of the east gate of Quanzhou in 1944. One side is carved with the Basmala and the Shahada, and the other side is carved with a verse from the Quran (29:57).





The tombstone in the picture below was unearthed in 1973 during the cleaning of the North Canal in Quanzhou and is carved with verses from the Quran (89:28-30).





Sumeru-pedestal stone tomb.

The second largest category after tombstones is the Sumeru-pedestal stone tomb.

These are two Sumeru-pedestal style tomb stones. The upper tomb cap stone was found near Dongchan Mosque outside the east gate of Quanzhou in 1927 and was recovered and preserved in the Maritime Museum in 1958.

The person buried here was named Qutb al-Din Ya'qub. He came from Jajarm in the North Khorasan province of Iran and passed away in 1309. The inscription begins by saying, 'He is eternal and never dies; he has moved from the world of destruction to the world of eternity.'

Jajarm sits on the edge of the central Iranian desert and holds many historical and archaeological sites. This city was an important trade hub in Khorasan during the 10th and 11th centuries, but it slowly declined after the Persian Safavid dynasty in the 16th century.

The lower half has five layers. The fourth layer is carved with scripture (2:255). In 1958, the Quanzhou Cultural Relics Management Committee temporarily stored it in the main hall of the Qingjing Mosque, later moved it to the Lingshan Islamic Cemetery area, and finally placed it in the Maritime Museum.









The patterns on this Sumeru-style stone tomb are very unique. The bottom and second layers are destroyed. The third layer features overlapping lotus petal reliefs, the fourth layer has continuous swastika pattern reliefs, and the fifth layer shows a cloud and moon relief on the front with a square cloth relief in the middle. This tombstone was found in 1959 by the seaside in Meishan, Fashi Township, 5 kilometers outside the Tonghuai Gate of Quanzhou. It was later moved to the Maritime Museum for preservation.









Several other Sumeru-style stone tombs.













The tombstone base of a pedestal-style altar tomb.

A corner of the Maritime Museum (Haijiaoguan) is piled with many tombstones. There are no labels, and many are hard to see because they are stacked on top of each other. They were arranged this way when I visited in 2017, and nothing has changed after seven years.



















Found in 1937 at Jintoupu Village outside Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou, the inscription reads, 'Everyone (shall taste death).'



Found in 1943 inside the city wall foundation at the East Gate of Quanzhou, the inscription contains Quranic verses (9:21-22).



The tombstone base above was found in 1939 inside the city wall at Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou, and it contains Quranic verses (29:57).



Found in 1943 near the East Drill Ground (Dongjiaochang) in Quanzhou, the inscription reads, 'Your Lord of Might.'













The tombstone base in the picture below was found in 1959 in a pile of rubble at the Qingjing Mosque. This pile of rubble was dug up from the city wall foundation near Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou, and it was moved to the Maritime Museum (Haijiaoguan) for preservation in 1964. The inscription states the tomb owner's name is Toghan-shah b. Umar b. Sayyid Ajall. Toghan means eagle in Turkic, and Shah means king in Persian, which is how Central Asians addressed nobles. Sayyid Ajall means honorable gentleman in Arabic, and it is a respectful title for descendants of the Prophet.

Coincidentally, a tombstone unearthed in 1952 at the foundation of the Southeast Drill Ground in Quanzhou likely belongs to the same person as the Toghan-shah tombstone mentioned above. Unfortunately, this tombstone was moved to the National Museum of China in 1959 and is not currently on display, so the Maritime Museum only shows a replica. This tombstone states the owner's name is Amir Sayyid Ajall Tohgan-shah b. Sayyid Ajall Umar b. Sayyid Ajall Amiran b. Amir Isfahasalar Darnakrani al-Buhari, who passed away in 1302. The term Isfahasalar is made up of the Persian word Isfahah and the Turkic word Salar, meaning military general.

Both tombstones mention that Toghan-shah's father was named Umar Sayyid Ajall. The second son of Nasulading, who was the son of the famous Yuan Dynasty politician Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din, was named Umar Sayyid Ajjal. Umar once served as the administrator of the Fujian Branch Secretariat in Quanzhou. According to Rashid al-Din's History of the Mongols, Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din was from Bukhara, which matches the records on the tombstone.







The tombstone in the picture below was found in 1987. One side is carved with the testimony of faith, and the other side, translated by Imam Wang Yaodong from Ningxia, says the person buried there was named Haji Abdullah.







The tombstone base stone above was found in the foundation of the East Gate of Quanzhou in 1944 and is carved with a verse from the Quran (21:35). The bottom left of Figure 1 shows a tombstone base stone from a pedestal-style altar. It was found near the South Gate of Quanzhou in 1959, and local residents say it was recovered when the South Gate was torn down between 1946 and 1948. The inscription on the stone features a verse from the Quran (24:35).



The tombstone base stone above was found in the foundation of the East Gate of Quanzhou in 1944 and is carved with a verse from the Quran (28:88).



The tombstone marker in the middle of the picture below was found in 1960 among a pile of rubble at the entrance of Chongfu Mosque at the East Gate of Quanzhou. It reads, 'Everything will perish except Him.'







The shape of this stone carving is quite unique and different from any other tombstones or tombstone markers seen so far. It was found in 1948 in Jintoupu Village outside the Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou. Villagers said it was dug up from the foundation of the city wall.



The tombstone marker in the picture below was built into the east wall of a vegetable market near the South Drill Ground in Quanzhou in the autumn of 1953. It is said to have been bought when the market purchased stones from the city wall foundation for construction. It was removed in the 1990s when the market was rebuilt. The inscription is a verse from the Quran (28:88).







It was found in 1954 in Jintoupu Village outside the Tonghuai Gate at the East Gate of Quanzhou.



It was found in 1957 in a field between the Small East Gate and Jintoupu Village in Quanzhou. The content is a verse from the Quran (39:74).













It was purchased in 1949 from a stonemason's shop at the East Gate of Quanzhou.





The tombstone base in the picture below was found in 1948 at Jintoupu Village outside the Tonghuai Gate of Quanzhou's East Gate. In 1973, Liu Wanru, the widow of Mr. Wu Wenliang, donated it to the Quanzhou Cultural Relics Management Committee. It features Quranic verses (55:26-27).



The tombstone base in the picture below was found in 1948 in Tingdian Village, 3 kilometers outside Quanzhou's South Gate. It features Quranic verses (89:29-30).



The tombstone base in the picture below was found in 1938 inside the city wall of Quanzhou's East Gate. It features a Quranic verse (30:11).





Lintel stone of a gongbei

Besides tombstones, Sumeru-pedestal style stone tombs, and Sumeru-pedestal altar-style stone tombs, the Maritime Museum also houses another type of religious stone carving: the lintel stone of a gongbei (a domed tomb for a Sufi saint). Unfortunately, only the lintel stone has been found so far, so we do not know what the original gongbei looked like.

The item in the picture below was dug up in 1946 from the foundation of Quanzhou's South Gate. The front is inscribed with Quranic verses (9:21-22), and the beginning mentions 'minbar,' which is the pulpit inside a mosque, though its specific meaning here is unclear.



The item in the picture below was found in 1958 in a villager's home not far from the South Gate of Quanzhou. The villager said he found it deep in the city wall foundation while helping dig at the South Gate between 1946 and 1948. I originally wanted to take them home to build a wall, but I left them behind because their shapes made them hard to stack. The text reads, "(Every living thing) will die, (He is the Everlasting) who does not die."



The image below shows the pivot stone from a gongbei lintel. It was found in a resident's home near the south gate city wall of Quanzhou in 1959, and it is said to have been taken when the south city gate was torn down between 1946 and 1948. The left square of the stone carving features a relief of a camellia branch, the right square features a relief of a peony branch, and the back features a relief of a melon-petal-shaped door pivot. The text reads, "If anyone in this world could live forever, the Messenger of Allah would be the one to live forever in this world." No one can escape death, for the Prophet Muhammad faced the decree of death."



The image below shows a lintel stone from a gongbei tomb, with a relief of a peony branch on the right side. The stone carving was originally laid on a grain-drying ground on the south side of the street in Jintoupu Village, outside Tonghuai Gate at the east gate of Quanzhou. It was moved to the Maritime Museum for preservation in 1978.



The altar-style stone tomb with a pedestal base (xumizuo) restored by Mr. Wu Wenliang. Quanzhou has found many tomb wall stones and some tomb roof stones, but so far, no complete altar-style stone tomb with a pedestal base (xumizuo) from the faith has been discovered. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Islamic History Guide: Quanzhou Qingjing Mosque - A Thousand Years of Muslim Heritage is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Quanzhou, Qingjing Mosque, Islamic History while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

I arrived in Quanzhou at night and went straight to the Qingjing Mosque to pray. Imam Ma at the Qingjing Mosque is from Hualong, Qinghai. During the day, he leads namaz in the main hall donated by Oman, but after the tourist area closes, he leads prayers in the smaller Mingshan Hall.

Mingshan Hall was first built in 1567 (the first year of the Longqing reign of the Ming Dynasty). After the roof of the main hall of the Qingjing Mosque collapsed in the early Qing Dynasty, Mingshan Hall became the place for worship. In 1818 (the 23rd year of the Jiaqing reign), Ma Jianji, a military commander from Sichuan stationed in Quanzhou, rebuilt Mingshan Hall in the traditional architectural style of southern Fujian. In 1871 (the 10th year of the Tongzhi reign), Jiang Changgui, the military commander for Fujian Province, rebuilt Mingshan Hall again.

During the Tongzhi reign, Jiang Changgui collected many stone tablets with Arabic inscriptions from the Yuan Dynasty in Quanzhou and embedded them into the walls of Mingshan Hall. These stone tablets were not removed until the major renovation of Mingshan Hall in the spring of 1983. Many of these tablets are Yuan Dynasty tombstones. The people buried there came from places like Tabriz and Tehran in Iran, Adana in Turkey, Nablus in Palestine, and Khwarezm in Uzbekistan.

Mingshan Hall sits just north of Bagua Ditch, which served as the city moat for Quanzhou during the Five Dynasties and Northern Song periods. A granite stone bridge from the Song Dynasty originally crossed the ditch, but it was rebuilt in 1998 when Bagua Ditch was widened.



















Night view of Qingjing Mosque.











The next morning, I continued exploring Qingjing Mosque.

The gate tower of Qingjing Mosque is built from diabase and white granite, with Quranic verses (3:18-19) carved into the front.

The moon-sighting platform at the top of the gate is where people used to look for the new moon during Ramadan. When the local Muslim community was still active in Quanzhou, they hung three large lanterns on the gate every Ramadan. A large palace lantern hung in the center of the pointed arch, inscribed with the words 'Islam' in both Chinese and Arabic. Two long, oval-shaped government-style lanterns hung on either side, with the left one reading 'Ancient Faith of the Hui Muslims' and the right one reading 'Ancient Qingzhen Qilin Mosque'. Every night, the names of household heads are listed on a round plaque inside the mosque, and each family takes turns lighting the lamps.

The inside of the main gate is made of three layers of arches. The outer layer is a pointed arch. At the top, there is an open hanging lotus flower carved from diabase. Below it are sixteen layers of curved stone blocks that get higher and narrower until they meet at the lotus. The middle arch is made of five fan-shaped white granite blocks with turtle-back patterns. There are foundation stones underneath, and the inner layer is a dome. On the stone walls on both sides of each layer, there is a pair of pointed-arch niches (yaokan).

Above the back of the main gate, there are two lines of Arabic inscriptions carved into white granite. They record that the Qingjing Mosque was first built in 1009 and rebuilt by Ahmad in 1310. This is also where the mosque's original name, Ashab Mosque, or "Mosque of the Holy Companions," is mentioned. Professor Ma Jian translated it in 1956 as follows:

"This mosque is the first holy mosque for the followers of Islam residing in this country." It is the oldest and most authentic, revered by all, and thus named the Mosque of the Holy Friend (Shengyou zhi Si), built in the year 400 of the Hijri calendar. Three hundred years later, in the year 710 of the Hijri calendar, a pilgrim from Jerusalem named Muhammad, also known as Shiraz (Shelashi), had a son named Ahmad who funded the renovation of this holy mosque. The dome above the main gate, the roof, the golden gate corridor, and the doors and windows were all made brand new to honor Allah. They offer dua to Allah and the Prophet Muhammad and his family, asking for their forgiveness in the future.

The inscription mentions two place names, one being al-Quds, which is the Arabic name for Jerusalem. The other is Shiraz, an ancient city in southern Iran.

The east side of the main gate originally held a minaret (bangke ta), but it was blown down by a strong wind in 1687 (the 26th year of the Kangxi reign) and has not been repaired since.

To the west of the main gate is the south wall of the main prayer hall, where eight square windows were added during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. The upper part is carved with 19 meters of scripture, containing the entire 76th chapter of the Quran.



















Inside the main gate of the Qingjing Mosque, on the east side, stand two stone tablets from the Ming Dynasty. The first one, the Stele for the Re-establishment of Qingjing Mosque (Chongli Qingjing Si Bei), was originally written by Wu Jian in 1350 (the tenth year of the Zhizheng era of the Yuan Dynasty) and kept in the Qingjing Mosque, which was built in 1131 (the first year of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty) in the south of Quanzhou city. The Qingjing Mosque was destroyed at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the stone tablet was moved to the Shengyou Mosque in the east of the city. When the Shengyou Mosque was renovated in 1507 (the second year of the Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty), the inscription was re-carved. Over time, the Shengyou Mosque was renamed the Qingjing Mosque.

The second tablet is the Record of the Renovation of Qingjing Mosque (Chongxiu Qingjing Si Beiji), written by Li Guangjin in 1609 (the 37th year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty).

Rubbings of these two stone tablets are also on display at the Quanzhou Maritime Museum. The Stele for the Re-establishment of Qingjing Mosque mentions the construction process of the Song and Yuan Dynasty Qingjing Mosque, which no longer exists: In the first year of the Shaoxing era of the Song Dynasty, a man named Nazhibu Muzhiluding came to Quanzhou from Sanawi on a merchant ship and founded this mosque in the south of Quanzhou city. It mentions that 'Sanawi' is the ancient Iranian port of Siraf on the north shore of the Persian Gulf.











Turn left after entering the main gate to reach the entrance of the prayer hall. Above the entrance, inside a pointed arch, are three lines of white granite carvings featuring verses from the Quran (2:125, 127).

Inside the prayer hall, the qibla wall has seven pointed-arch niches. The middle one, the mihrab known as the 'Altar of Heaven' (Fengtiantan), is the largest. Above the niches is a 13.2-meter-long stone carving entirely covered in Quranic verses. In the old days, Hui Muslims in Quanzhou called the 27th night of Ramadan, the 'Night of Power' (Laylat al-Qadr), the 'Night of Twenty-Eight.' On this day, every Hui Muslim family would prepare food. That evening, they would light a pair of large red candles on both sides of the mihrab Altar of Heaven to symbolize that the revelation of the scripture is brilliant and glorious.

Archaeological excavations of the prayer hall foundation in 1987 uncovered Yuan dynasty floor tiles, drainage ditches, and wall foundations 1.6 meters below the surface in the southwest corner. A row of Southern Song dynasty floor tiles was also found in the northwest corner.

Since the roof of the prayer hall collapsed in the early Qing dynasty, it is now impossible to know what its original shape was. According to the Ming dynasty Wanli era 'Stele Record of the Renovation of Qingjing Mosque,' it states: 'There are twelve pillars, representing the twelve months.' Based on the stone pillars and column bases remaining in the hall today, it seems they could not have supported an overly massive dome.



















Mingshan Hall is full of tourists during the day.



















Inside the Mingshan Hall courtyard sits an exquisite Song Dynasty incense burner featuring a lotus flower rising from the water (chushui lianhua). The incense burner was originally inside the main hall of the Qingjing Mosque. It was moved to Mingshan Hall after the main hall's roof collapsed in the early Qing Dynasty.









The Qingjing Mosque also preserves a thousand-year-old stone well from the Song Dynasty.



Tonghuai Street, where the Qingjing Mosque is located, was the site of Quanzhou's foreign quarter (fanfang) during the Song and Yuan dynasties, and many people were buried nearby after they passed away. In the 1950s, three stone tombs with Sumeru-style pedestals (xumizuo) were discovered under a house at the intersection of Tonghuai Street and Jiangwu Lane. Many more of these stone tombs were unearthed between 1995 and 1998 when Tonghuai Street was widened. Haji Huang Runqiu, an imam at the Qingjing Mosque, collected some of these tombs and their components to keep inside the mosque. This is how the Sumeru-style stone tombs currently kept at the Qingjing Mosque came to be there.

The Sumeru-style stone tombs at the Qingjing Mosque range from two to five layers high. All the top stones are missing, and the bottom layers all feature six ruyi-shaped feet.







In the spring of 1983, the Qingjing Mosque underwent major renovations. Twelve Hui Muslim families who had lived inside the mosque since the Kangxi era moved out, and a collection of stone tablets was discovered in the walls and underground of the Mingshan Hall. When I visited in 2017, most of these stone carvings were displayed on the west side of the main hall. When I returned in 2024, most of them had been moved elsewhere for preservation.

The only tombstone currently kept inside the Qingjing Mosque was dug up from a garden belonging to a family named Pu in the late Qing Dynasty. It was moved to the mosque and built into the south side of the west wall of the Mingshan Hall. The tombstone is similar to the Yuan Dynasty Arabic tombstones at the Puhaddin Cemetery in Yangzhou and is considered one of the most exquisite ancient Arabic tombstones in Quanzhou. The person buried there was named Ahmed, who passed away in 1362.

The Pu family in Quanzhou are descendants of Pu Shougeng. After the Ming Dynasty, most of them left the faith or changed their surnames, and only one branch still lives on the former site of Pu Shougeng's residence. According to the Genealogy of the Pu Family in the South Gate of Quanzhou, Pu Shougeng had two sons, Shiwen and Shisi. Shisi was promoted to an official in the Hanlin Academy in 1284 and built the Baiguo Garden inside the south gate of Quanzhou city for his own enjoyment. Huayuantou has always been an old place name in the south of Quanzhou city.



Three plaques hang inside Mingshan Hall.

In the 23rd year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty, Ma Jianji, the commander of the Fujian provincial land forces and general of Zhangzhou, dedicated the plaque reading "Ten Thousand Differences, One Origin" (Wanshu Yiben).

Ma Jianji was a Hui Muslim from Sichuan. While serving in Fujian during the Qing Jiaqing period, he renovated the Qingjing Mosque and the Lingshan Sacred Tomb, and he also carved an inscription on the Wind-Moving Rock at Lingshan.

In the 11th year of the Republic of China, Xiamen Superintendent Tang Kesan wrote the plaque reading "Recognize the Oneness of Allah" (Renzhu Duyi).

In the 13th year of the Republic of China, Tang Kesan, a recipient of the Second Class Order of the Golden Grain and former Xiamen Customs Superintendent, dedicated the plaque reading "Three Fears and Four Admonitions" (Sanwei Sizhen). The original plaques were destroyed between the 1960s and 1970s, and the ones currently on display are replicas.

Tang Kesan was a Hui Muslim from Shandong. He graduated from the Imperial University of Peking in the late Qing dynasty and became a social activist and educator during the Republican era. He served as the principal of Chengda Normal School and made significant contributions to the faith. In 1919, Tang Kesan became the Xiamen Customs Superintendent and donated funds to renovate the Qingjing Mosque during his tenure. In 1936, Tang Kesan appointed Imam Zhang Yuguang to lead the Qingjing Mosque. He started a religious study class and an adult literacy night school inside the mosque. In 1940, the Qingjing Mosque opened the Chengda Normal School Affiliated Primary School, later renamed the Qingzhen National School. It sent three groups of local Hui Muslim youth from Quanzhou to study at the Chengda Normal School in Guangxi.







The Qingjing Mosque keeps a white granite stele of the Ming Dynasty Yongle Imperial Edict. It is a copy of the edict issued by the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di, to Mir Haji in 1407, the fifth year of the Yongle reign. The word 'Mir' refers to 'Amir,' meaning leader, and 'Haji' refers to someone who has made the pilgrimage to the Hejaz. Because of this, the actual name of the person who received the edict does not appear.

The original edict was found in 1956 at the home of Lan Xiaoyang, the hereditary imam of the Puhading Tomb in Yangzhou, and is now kept at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing. This edict provided great protection for the faith, so the mosque in Fuzhou also made a copy of it, just like the one in Quanzhou.



I bought some magnets at the Quanzhou Liwu shop featuring the Qingjing Mosque and the Lingshan Sacred Tomb. I think the designs are beautiful and worth collecting. view all

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Summary: Islamic History Guide: Old Cairo - Bayn al-Qasrayn and a Thousand Years of Heritage is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Old Cairo, Islamic History, Bayn al-Qasrayn while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

In our first article, 'Experiencing the Thousand-Year History of Old Cairo (Inside the North Gate)', we started at the North Gate of Cairo, built in the 11th century during the Fatimid dynasty, to enter the thousand-year-old historic city. We then traveled from north to south to visit 13 historic buildings, including:

The 11th-century Al-Hakim Mosque and the 12th-century Al-Aqmar Mosque from the Fatimid dynasty.

From the 14th-century Mamluk dynasty, we saw the gate of the Qawsun Caravanserai, the Khanqah of Baybars II, and the Beshtak Palace. From the 15th century, we visited the Qaitbay Caravanserai, the Madrasa of Amir Jamal al-Din al-Ustadar, and the Maq'ad of Mamay al-Sayfi.

From the 17th-century Ottoman dynasty, we saw the Al-Suhaymi House, the Sabil-Kuttab of Qitas Bey, and the Sabil-Kuttab of Dhu al-Fiqar. We also visited the 18th-century Sabil-Kuttab of Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda and the 19th-century Mosque-Sabil of Sulayman Agha al-Silahdar.

In this article, we will continue south to visit eight magnificent building complexes from the Ayyubid and Mamluk dynasties in Old Cairo.

Bayn al-Qasrayn is located in the heart of Old Cairo, and its name literally means 'between the two palaces'. This was originally a square between two grand palaces built by the Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century. Later, the Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman dynasties built many structures here, and many of them are still standing today.

Al-Kamil Madrasa: 1225

Barquq Madrasa: 1386

An-Nasir Muhammad Madrasa: 1303

Qalawun Complex: 1285

As-Salih Ayyub Mausoleum: 1250

As-Salihia Madrasa: 1243

Al-Ashraf Complex: 1424

Al-Kamil Madrasa: 1225

The Al-Kamil Madrasa was built in 1225 by the Ayyubid Sultan Al-Kamil, who reigned from 1218 to 1238. During the 13th and 14th centuries, this place was a center for the study of Hadith in Egypt. A great famine hit Egypt between 1400 and 1404, causing the population to drop sharply and leading to the decline of the Al-Kamil Madrasa.

Al-Kamil was the nephew of Sultan Saladin and a key leader for Egypt during the Fifth and Sixth Crusades. During the Fifth Crusade, he opened the Nile dams to trade for eight years of peace. During the Sixth Crusade, he handed Jerusalem over to the Crusaders to trade for ten years of peace, which was the only Crusade resolved through diplomacy.

Today, the only part of the Ayyubid-era building left is the Iwan arch on the west side. The arch once featured plaster decorations in Kufic calligraphy, which are now kept at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. The main hall at the entrance was built in 1752 by the Ottoman official Prince Hassan Sharawi.













Barquq Madrasa: 1386

South of the Kamil Madrasa stands the Barquq Madrasa, built in 1386 by Barquq, the first sultan of the Mamluk Burji dynasty (reigned 1382–1389 and 1390–1399). This was the first building of the Mamluk Burji dynasty (1382–1517) and holds great historical significance.

The architect of the madrasa was Ahmad al-Tuluni. Ahmad came from a family of carpenters and stonemasons. He was one of the few master architects to achieve great success in the late 14th century and was highly valued by the sultan.

The project supervisor for the madrasa was Emir Jarkas al-Khalili. He built the famous Khan el-Khalili market in Cairo, which is named after him.

The entire madrasa complex consists of a prayer hall, classrooms, a mausoleum, and a dervish lodge. It taught knowledge from the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali. The main gate of the madrasa features a monumental arched entrance (Pishtaq), decorated with beautiful honeycomb-like carvings (Muqarnas) and calligraphy.

After entering the gate, a passageway leads to the courtyard (Sahn). In the middle of the courtyard is a fountain (Sabil), which was rebuilt in the late 19th century by the Committee for the Preservation of the Monuments of Arab Art (Comité). The courtyard has an arched hall (iwan) on each of its four sides. The prayer hall on the east side is covered by a massive wooden roof, while the other three sides have stone domes.

The prayer hall ceiling features intricate painted designs, and the floor is decorated with colorful marble mosaics and panels. The pulpit (minbar) inside the prayer hall was a gift from the Mamluk Sultan Sayf al-Din Jaqmaq (reigned 1438–1453) in 1440. It is made of Aleppo pine and inlaid with ebony and ivory. Sadly, the pulpit was stolen twice in 2012 and 2013, and most of its decorative pieces are now missing.





















Beneath the dome of the Barquq Madrasa is a tomb chamber, but Sultan Barquq himself is not buried here. His daughter Fatima is buried in this space instead.

The following photos show the wood carvings and copper work on the main gate of the madrasa.

Barquq was born into a Circassian family living under the rule of the Golden Horde. After a battle, he was captured as a slave and sold to a bathhouse in Crimea. Later, he was sold again and moved to Egypt, where he became a Mamluk slave soldier. In 1377, civil unrest broke out in the Mamluk Sultanate. The young sultan who had just taken the throne held no real power. Barquq used this chance to strengthen his own position. In 1382, he seized the throne, ending the 132-year rule of the Kipchak Turkic Bahri dynasty and establishing the Circassian Caucasian Burji dynasty.

During his reign, Barquq joined forces with the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I to fight against the Timurid Empire and executed Timur's envoy. In 1394, Barquq and Timur fought a war near the Euphrates River, which ended with Timur leading his army in retreat.

















The days and nights at the Madrasa of Barquq are busy, as the lively Al-Mu'izz Street in Old Cairo sits right in front of the gate. This street is known as the main artery of Old Cairo. It connects the north gate to the south gate and serves as the main axis of the old city.





An-Nasir Muhammad Madrasa: 1303

To the south of the Madrasa of Barquq stands the Madrasa of Al-Nasir Muhammad, which was built between 1295 and 1303 by the Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad (who reigned from 1293-1294, 1299-1309, and 1310-1341).

Al-Nasir Muhammad was the youngest son of Sultan Qalawun. He took the throne at age 9, but he did not hold real power until his third period of rule at age 24. Under his rule, the Mamluk Sultanate reached its peak. The economy thrived at home, there were no major threats from abroad, and envoys from the Pope and the King of France visited his court with gifts. The reign of Nasir Muhammad is known as a high point for Egyptian culture, the greatest since the Ptolemaic Hellenistic period. He reopened the canal connecting Alexandria to the Nile, built many public buildings in Cairo, and renovated over thirty mosques.

The madrasa has a very unique Gothic gate. It was taken from a church in Acre after the Mamluk Sultanate completely defeated the Crusaders in 1291. The 1291 Siege of Acre is called the last battle of the Crusades, marking the end of the nearly 200-year-long Crusades. When the Siege of Acre ended, the Sultan ordered his army to tear down the city walls and churches, and this gate was transported back to Cairo.

The minaret of the madrasa has very complex stucco decorations. It is the only remaining all-stucco minaret in the old city of Cairo. The medallions and arched decorations follow the styles of the Fatimid and Ayyubid dynasties, while the floral patterns are a signature feature of the Mamluk period. The plaster decorations feature both Kufic and Thuluth calligraphy, and they are carved beautifully. Some historians believe that craftsmen from the Maghreb or Andalusia likely helped create these high-quality plaster carvings.

Like the Barquq Madrasa to the north, the Madrasa of an-Nasir Muhammad taught the four major schools of Islamic law: Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i, and Maliki. The main hall contains the last plaster mihrab in Egypt, which features a unique egg-shaped protrusion similar to plaster carvings from Tabriz, Iran, during the Ilkhanate period. Because of this, historians suggest that this mihrab was likely made by craftsmen from Iran.



















Qalawun Complex: 1285

Further south is the most magnificent part of the Bayn al-Qasrayn area, the Qalawun complex. This complex includes a hospital, a madrasa, and a mausoleum. It was built in 1285 by the Mamluk Sultan Qalawun, who reigned from 1279 to 1290, and it is considered a masterpiece of Mamluk architecture.

Standing at the entrance of the building complex, the most eye-catching feature is the towering three-story minaret (bangke ta). The top of the minaret features a unique decoration called a papyrus cornice, which is how the Mamluk dynasty showed its legitimacy by looking back to the era of the pharaohs.

The facade of the entire complex is 67 meters long, similar in style to Gothic Crusader churches of the same period, with windows surrounded by pointed arch panels of different sizes and exquisite stucco calligraphy carvings underneath.



















The Mausoleum of Sultan Qalawun is known as a symbol of the power of the Mamluk dynasty and held great significance in 13th to 16th-century Egypt. This is one of the most magnificent imperial mausoleums I have ever visited, with an incredible wealth of stucco carvings, marble mosaics, and gilded woodwork. The tomb hall is supported by four towering stone columns decorated with Corinthian capitals. Above the capitals is an architrave decorated with vine patterns and stucco carvings in Thuluth calligraphy.

Sultan Qalawun was known as the King of Victory. In 1281, he led the Mamluk army to defeat the Mongol Ilkhanate forces commanded by Mongke Temur, the son of Hulagu Khan, in Homs, Syria. Mongke Temur was wounded and fled. The following year, the Ilkhan Tekuder converted to Islam and formed an alliance with the Mamluk Sultanate. The Battle of Homs is known as a major turning point in the Mongol westward expansion, marking the first time Mongol cavalry suffered a defeat in the Middle East.

After the threat from the Ilkhanate faded, Sultan Qalawun launched a series of wars against the Crusaders starting in 1285, eventually recapturing Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, in 1289.



















The mihrab in the mausoleum of Sultan Qalawun is considered the most exquisite mihrab of the Mamluk period. The design of the mihrab was inspired by Syria and was created using colorful marble mosaics.



















The madrasa of Sultan Qalawun consists of two iwan vaulted structures, with classrooms and a prayer hall on either side of the courtyard. The mihrab in the center of the prayer hall does not use the marble mosaics common in the Mamluk period, but instead features glass and mother-of-pearl mosaics. This is a throwback to the decorative art of the Umayyad Caliphate in Syria, showing how the Mamluks claimed to inherit the orthodoxy of the faith.



















As-Salih Ayyub Mausoleum: 1250

Across from the Qalawun complex stands the tomb built in 1250 by Shajar al-Durr, the widow of the Ayyubid Sultan As-Salih Ayyub (reigned 1240–49), for her husband.

Sultan As-Salih was the last major ruler of the Ayyubid dynasty, and he saw the rise of the Mamluk dynasty. Because he did not trust the local Egyptian emirs, he began buying large numbers of Kipchak Turks who had been enslaved after the Mongol invasion of Central Asia. These slaves soon became the core of the Ayyubid army and were known as Mamluks.

Sultan As-Salih also made great progress in the wars against the Crusaders. In 1244, he invited 10,000 Khwarazmian mercenary cavalrymen to sack and retake Jerusalem, which caused great panic among the surrounding regimes. A Christian army made up of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Teutonic Knights, the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Order of Saint Lazarus formed an alliance with a Muslim army led by the emirs of Homs, Damascus, and Kerak to fight against as-Salih. The two armies met in a small village northeast of Gaza, where as-Salih's army and Khwarazmian mercenaries fought hard and eventually won. More than 5,000 Crusaders died in this battle, including the Grand Master and Marshal of the Knights Templar, as well as bishops from several cities.

After this battle, Christian power in the Holy Land collapsed, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem was never again able to organize an effective military campaign. In 1245, the Pope called for a new Crusade. In 1249, the Seventh Crusade, led by King Louis IX of France, officially began. When as-Salih heard the news, he quickly returned to Egypt to set up camp, but he died of illness shortly after. After as-Salih died, his widow Shajar al-Durr decided to hide the news of the Sultan's death and ordered the Mamluk army to successfully defeat the Crusader attack.



















As-Salihia Madrasa: 1243

On the south side of the Sultan Salih Ayyub tomb stands the Salihiyya madrasa, which Salih built in 1242. Known as the 'Castle of Scholars,' the Salihiyya madrasa was the first in Cairo to teach the four major schools of Islamic law: Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i, and Maliki. The north building of the school taught Shafi'i and Maliki law, while the south building taught Hanafi and Hanbali law.

The Salihiyya madrasa was abandoned after the Ottoman Empire conquered Egypt in the early 16th century. Today, most of it is a market, but the main gate and the minaret remain. The Salihiyya madrasa broke the Ayyubid tradition of only building minarets at Friday mosques by adding one to the gate of the school.







Al-Ashraf Complex: 1424

Continuing south, you will find the Al-Ashraf complex, built in 1424 by the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Barsbay, who reigned from 1422 to 1438. The entire complex includes a main hall, a school, a tomb, and a prayer hall (daotang), featuring a dome with geometric carvings, which is an early example of decorative dome carving.

Barsbay was once a Mamluk slave of the Mamluk Sultan Barquq, and he later became the tutor for the young Sultan Muhammad. With the support of the governor of Damascus and other emirs, Barsbay deposed the young sultan in 1422 and took the throne as the new sultan.

The 16 years of Barsbay's rule were a time of relative safety and stability for the Mamluk Sultanate, with almost no war. He was very generous to the poor and to Sufis, and he carried out a series of administrative reforms.

Barsbay was known as the "Merchant Sultan" and placed great importance on the role of trade. He took a series of measures to strengthen control over the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, diverted Indian Ocean trade routes through Jeddah, and established state monopolies on sugar and pepper. He attracted merchants by lowering tariffs and monopolized most of the trade from the East, which angered many European powers. view all

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Summary: Halal Travel Guide: Lebanon - 15 Mosques in Beirut, Tripoli, Baalbek and Sidon is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Lebanon, Mosques, Muslim Heritage while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

1. Beirut

Emir Assaf Mosque: late 16th century

Great Omari Mosque: renovated in 1291

2. Tripoli

Taynal Mosque: 1336

Mu'allaq Hanging Mosque: 1561

Mansouri Great Mosque: 1294

Al-Uwaysiyat Mosque: 1461

Attar Mosque: 1350s

Tawba Mosque: Mamluk period

Burtasi Mosque: late 13th century to early 14th century

3. Baalbek

Umayyad Great Mosque of Baalbek: 715

4. Sidon

El Kikhia Mosque: 1625

El Qtaishieh Mosque: 16th century

Great Omari Mosque: renovated in 1291

El-Bahr Mosque: 1373.

El Barrane Mosque: late 16th to 17th century.

1. Beirut

Emir Assaf Mosque: late 16th century

The Emir Assaf Mosque was built in the late 16th century by the Emir rulers of the local Lebanese Assaf dynasty (1306-1591). The Emir's palace and gardens used to be next to the mosque.

The Assaf dynasty was a Sunni Turkmen dynasty. In 1306, the Mamluk governor of Damascus sent the Turkmen tribes led by the Assaf family to suppress a rebellion north of Beirut. Later, the Mamluk dynasty appointed them to guard the coastal area north of Beirut and manage the local Shia residents. In 1516, the Ottoman Empire took the Levant region from the Mamluk Sultanate and appointed the Assaf family as their main agents for the Beirut and Tripoli areas.

The Assaf dynasty lowered taxes and housing prices to attract Maronite Christians to settle in northern Beirut, using them to balance the local Sunni and Shia populations. In 1579, the Ottoman Empire established the Tripoli Eyalet to keep the Assaf dynasty in check. In 1591, the Ottoman governor of Tripoli ordered the execution of the last Assaf emir by gunfire, which brought the Assaf dynasty to an end.

We joined the praise of the Prophet (zansheng) at the mosque, which is part of the Mawlid celebrations. Twelve men in formal wear sat on the east side of the main hall, chanting praises to the Prophet in unison, sometimes accompanied by the beat of a drum. Their voices were deep, loud, and very powerful.



















Great Omari Mosque: renovated in 1291

The Great Mosque of Al-Omari is said to have been founded in 635 during the reign of Caliph Umar, and in 1150 the Crusaders built a Romanesque Saint John's Church here. After the Mamluk dynasty captured Tripoli in 1291, they converted it back into a mosque, and in 1350 they added a Mamluk-style gate and minaret. During the French Mandate for Lebanon from 1923 to 1946, the street-facing facade of the Great Mosque of Al-Omari was redesigned to match the architectural style of downtown Beirut, and a porch was added. The Great Mosque of Al-Omari was severely damaged during the Lebanese Civil War, and renovations were completed in 2004.



















2. Tripoli

Taynal Mosque: 1336

The Taynal Mosque was built in 1336 by order of the Mamluk governor (Na'ib) of Tripoli, Emir Taynal. In the mid-14th century, Taynal served three terms as governor of Tripoli and one term as governor of Gaza. The famous 14th-century traveler Ibn Battuta wrote in his travelogue: 'About forty Turkic princes and nobles live in the city.' The city governor was an emir named Taynal, who was known as the 'King of Chiefs'. His residence was commonly called the 'House of Blessings' (Dar al-Sa'ada). He usually went out riding every Monday and Thursday, accompanied by various chiefs and a large group of guards, and only returned to the city when he was satisfied. Amir Taynal passed away in Damascus in 1343. Although a tomb was built for him at the Taynal Mosque, he was ultimately buried in Damascus.

The main hall of the Taynal Mosque consists of two connected halls. The most magnificent part is the entrance to the second hall, which features a gate with a honeycomb-like muqarnas cornice and uses the ablaq technique of alternating black and white marble. Inside the main hall are some ancient Corinthian columns, which are thought to have come from a Crusader-era church or an even older Roman temple. The original pulpit (minbar) in the mosque dated back to its construction in 1336, but it had already been replaced with a new one by the time I visited.



















Mu'allaq Hanging Mosque: 1561

The Hanging Mosque (Muallaq Mosque) was commissioned in 1561 by Mahmud Lutfi al-Za'im, the governor of Tripoli under the Ottoman Empire, during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The ground floor of the Hanging Mosque is a culvert on the street, so you must climb the stairs to the side to reach the main prayer hall on the second floor. The octagonal minaret next to the main prayer hall is very eye-catching and features two levels of balconies.











Mansouri Great Mosque: 1294

The Mansouri Great Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Tripoli, was ordered to be built in 1294 by the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil and was the first building constructed by the Mamluk dynasty in Tripoli.

In 1109, the French Crusaders captured Tripoli, and for the next 180 years, the city was ruled by European Christian nobles. In 1260, the Mongol army captured Damascus and took the last Ayyubid sultan prisoner, ending the Ayyubid dynasty. From then on, the center of Islamic power on the eastern Mediterranean coast shifted to the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt. In 1289, the Mamluk army arrived at the gates of Tripoli with large catapults. Under the attack of the catapults, two towers in Tripoli soon collapsed. The Mamluk army entered the city and leveled it to the ground.

Soon after, the Mamluk dynasty began building a new city at the foot of the castle on Pilgrim's Mountain in Tripoli. This included building the Great Mansouri Mosque on the ruins of a Crusader church at the foot of the mountain. The minaret inside the mosque today is likely part of the Crusader Church of St. Mary, and the main gate may also contain parts of the original Crusader church gate. The main hall was built by the Mamluk dynasty in 1294, and the courtyard colonnade was built in 1314 by the Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad.





















Al-Uwaysiyat Mosque: 1461

The Al-Uwaysiyat Mosque was first built in 1461 during the Mamluk period and was renovated in 1534 during the time of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.



















Attar Mosque: 1350s

The Attar Mosque was built in the 1350s by a local Tripoli perfume merchant named Badr al-Din al-Attar on the ruins of a Crusader church. It was also the first mosque in Tripoli not built by the Mamluks. Attar Mosque is known as one of the most beautiful ancient mosques in Tripoli, but it has been closed for several years for renovations.





Tawba Mosque: Mamluk period

The exact age of Tawba Mosque is unknown, but it is believed to have been built during the Mamluk period. Because it sits right next to the riverbank, the mosque's foundation stone was likely washed away during a flood. The inscription at the mosque entrance now says it was rebuilt after a flood in 1612. Many mosques in Lebanon lock their doors outside of prayer times, so I could not go inside and only saw the octagonal minaret.





Burtasi Mosque: late 13th century to early 14th century

Isa ibn Umar al-Burtasi built Burtasi Mosque during the Mamluk period. Since Isa passed away in 1324, we can guess the mosque was built between the late 13th century and 1324. A flood in 1955 washed away all the houses around Burtasi Mosque, and today it is the only building left standing on the riverbank. The minaret (bangke ta) above the main gate is known as the most beautiful one in Tripoli. Above the three-story stalactite-style cornice (muqarnas) sits a square balcony featuring Moorish-style double-arched windows. This type of double arch is a classic feature of Muslim architecture from Andalusia in southern Spain.







3. Baalbek

Umayyad Great Mosque of Baalbek: 715

The Umayyad Mosque of Baalbek was built in 715 by the Umayyad Caliph al-Walid I, the same year as the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, and both stand together as the oldest surviving mosque (masjid) buildings in the world.

Compared to the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, the Umayyad Mosque of Baalbek is simpler, but their overall styles are still very similar. Some stone parts inside the main hall may have come from the nearby Roman-era Baalbek Castle, and the column capitals show a strong Roman-Byzantine style. A flood hit Baalbek in 1318 and caused serious damage to the Umayyad Mosque, washing away walls and the pulpit (minbar). The Mamluk prince ruling Baalbek at the time, Najm al-Din Hassan, later repaired it.

The Umayyad Mosque was badly damaged in a 1996 earthquake in Baalbek. A team led by Dr. Saleh Lamei Mustafa, the former dean of the Faculty of Architecture at Beirut Arab University, later carried out the repairs. The repair work lasted for two years and was finished in 1998.

Today, many ancient stone pieces are still scattered around the courtyard of the Umayyad Mosque in Baalbek, giving it a rich sense of history.



































4. Sidon

El Kikhia Mosque: 1625

El Kikhia Mosque was built in 1625 by Mahmoud Kitkhuda and is one of the representative works of Ottoman-era architecture in Lebanon. The mosque is famous for its six domes, and inside the main hall, there is a white marble pulpit (minbar).

















El Qtaishieh Mosque: 16th century

Sheikh Ali Ibn Mohammad Qtaish built the El Qtaishieh mosque in the 16th century, and it still holds beautiful Ottoman tiles.



















Great Omari Mosque: renovated in 1291

The El-Omari Grand Mosque is the main mosque in the old city of Sidon, and it is where the Eid prayers are held. The Great Mosque of El-Omari sits on a hillside on the west side of the old city of Saida and is built from massive sandstone blocks over a meter thick.

The building dates back to the Crusader era, when the Knights Hospitaller turned it into a military fortress in the 13th century, complete with a dining hall, a church, and stables. In 1291, the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil (who reigned from 1290 to 1293) conquered the Crusader castles, including Saida, ending the Crusader states that had lasted for nearly two hundred years. The Mamluk dynasty then built the Great Mosque of El-Omari on the foundation of the Knights Hospitaller fortress.

The main hall of the Great Mosque of El-Omari keeps the Byzantine style of the Crusader church, with a ten-meter-high ceiling supported by five sturdy buttresses. The Mamluk dynasty changed the orientation of the main hall from east-west to north-south. They added a mihrab niche and a minbar pulpit on the south side, and built a water room and school in the outer courtyard to the north. In the late 19th century, the Ottoman dynasty renovated the Great Mosque of Omar and built the current minaret (bangkelou).

During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Great Mosque of Omar was hit by artillery fire many times and suffered serious damage. The Hariri Foundation led the restoration of the site in 1986, and it won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989.



















El-Bahr Mosque: 1373.

Hassan bin Sawah donated the money to build the El-Bahr mosque in 1373. It features Mamluk-era architecture, including thick walls and cross-vaulted ceilings, and uses granite columns from the ancient Roman period.













El Barrane Mosque: late 16th to 17th century.

El Barrane Mosque was built between the late 16th and early 17th centuries during the reign of the Druze Emir Fakhr al-Din II. Barrani means "outside" because the mosque was located outside the Beirut Gate, the north gate of the ancient city, at that time. view all

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Summary: Halal Travel Guide: Sidon, Lebanon - Old City, Sea Fort and Mosques (Part 1) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Sidon, Lebanon, Mosques while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

We took a minibus from the southern suburbs of Beirut and traveled 40 kilometers south to reach Saida, the third-largest city in Lebanon. Saida has a history of over 6,000 years. It is one of the oldest cities in the world and played a major role in Mediterranean trade.

The landmark of the old city of Saida is the Sea Castle (Qalaat al-Bahr) located on a small island to the north. The Crusaders built it in 1228, and it connects to the mainland by an 80-meter-long bridge. The Sea Castle was destroyed many times, then repaired and expanded during the Mamluk and Ottoman dynasties. Today, the Sea Castle consists of two towers. You can see many Roman-era stone pillars on the outer walls, and there is a small domed mosque built during the Ottoman period on the roof.



















Next to the Sea Castle on the shore is a very famous restaurant called Saida Rest House. The restaurant preserves an Ottoman-era inn (khan) with beautiful inlaid marble and colorful carvings, and the lighting inside is excellent.



















At the seaside seats of Saida Rest House, we ordered the Lebanese specialties of tomato sausage and fish salad with tajen sauce. Tajen is a spicy sesame paste that goes perfectly with pita bread.













The ancient city of Sidon is a well-preserved Sunni Muslim old town on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Enter the maze of streets from the north gate. Many houses are built over the streets, creating tunnels. People set up stalls inside these tunnels, selling all kinds of goods. It feels very lively and full of daily life.



















In the market inside the ancient city of Sidon, you can buy fresh dates (yezao). They have a soft, powdery texture and taste great. You can also buy traditional clothing here. It feels very unique.



















Entering the ancient city of Sidon from the north side, the first attraction is the underground Khan Sacy Archaeological Museum. Khan Sacy is made up of several arched rooms. They date back to stables and warehouses from the Crusader period (1099-1291). Since 2010, archaeological excavations at Khan Sacy have uncovered two bathrooms from the Mamluk dynasty (1201-1517), three water wells with different architectural styles, and a multi-purpose oven from the Ottoman period (1517-1918).















Follow the main road of the ancient city of Sidon south to see the largest Turkish bath in the old city, Hammam Al Jadeed. Hammam Al Jadeed was built in 1720 by the Moroccan merchant Mustafa Hammoud. It is a representative example of a Turkish bath in Lebanon from the Ottoman dynasty. The bathhouse consists of 10 rooms, including bathing, massage, and sauna areas. Corridors connect each area, which features unique marble floors and skylights.

This bathhouse stayed in use until 1948, when it closed because tap water pipes became common. The bathhouse was later used as a carpentry workshop and storage room, and it suffered damage during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90). During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, one of the bathhouse domes was hit by shelling and remains unrepaired today.



















In 2018, Said Bacho, the founder and president of the Sharqy Foundation for Cultural Development and Innovation, purchased the Hammam Al Jadeed bathhouse. In 2019, the bathhouse reopened as a historical site after being closed for 71 years.

In 2019, Said Bacho invited the famous British artist Tom Young to create art for the bathhouse. Tom Young interviewed elderly people who had bathed in the bathhouse over 70 years ago. He listened to their memories and gained valuable inspiration.

In 2020, the Revival exhibition officially opened inside the bathhouse. The 10 rooms of the bathhouse displayed 60 oil paintings by Tom Young, featuring not only the past and present of the bathhouse but also many other historical sites in the old city of Sidon. Tom Young also painted a portrait of the bathhouse's former owner, Zahia Al Zarif, based on archival photos from the 1940s.



















Day and night in the old city of Sidon.









Heading west from the Hammam Al Jadeed bathhouse and through the winding alleys, you reach the massive Ottoman caravanserai, Khan al-Franj. Khan al-Franj was built in the late 16th century by order of the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, who served from 1565 to 1579. The inn has a large courtyard, with the ground floor used for storing goods and the second floor for travelers to stay, which is the typical structure of an Ottoman caravanserai.

The inn served as the residence for the French consul in the early 17th century, which is how it got the name French Inn. The inn is currently owned by France, and the French Institute of the Near East (Institut français du Proche-Orient) is located here. The Hariri Foundation leased the space for 35 years. They restored the historical site and opened it as a cultural center, where they host various cultural events from time to time.

You can buy handicrafts made by local Lebanese women at the inn, and we bought a hand-woven hat. This is part of the Hariri Foundation's effort to create jobs for local women and promote tourism and handicrafts in Sidon.



















We had a mint lemonade at Bab Al Saray Cafe, located in a small square in the center of the old city of Sidon. It is one of the oldest cafes in Sidon, and people say their brunch is very authentic.



















After resting, we visited the El Kikhia Mosque. Built in 1625 by Mahmoud Kitkhuda, the El Kikhia Mosque is a representative example of an Ottoman-era mosque in Lebanon. The mosque is famous for its six domes, and inside the main hall, there is a white marble pulpit (minbar).

















Across from the El Kikhia mosque is the Al-Qtaishieh mosque, where we performed our afternoon namaz. Sheikh Ali Ibn Mohammad Qtaish built the Al-Qtaishieh mosque in the 16th century, and it still holds beautiful Ottoman tiles.



















Next, we visited the Great Mosque of El-Omari, the main mosque in the old city of Saida, where the Eid prayers are held. The Great Mosque of El-Omari sits on a hillside on the west side of the old city of Saida and is built from massive sandstone blocks over a meter thick.

The building dates back to the Crusader era, when the Knights Hospitaller turned it into a military fortress in the 13th century, complete with a dining hall, a church, and stables. In 1291, the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil (who reigned from 1290 to 1293) conquered the Crusader castles, including Saida, ending the Crusader states that had lasted for nearly two hundred years. The Mamluk dynasty then built the Great Mosque of El-Omari on the foundation of the Knights Hospitaller fortress.

The main hall of the Great Mosque of El-Omari keeps the Byzantine style of the Crusader church, with a ten-meter-high ceiling supported by five sturdy buttresses. The Mamluk dynasty changed the orientation of the main hall from east-west to north-south. They added a mihrab niche and a minbar pulpit on the south side, and built a water room and school in the outer courtyard to the north. In the late 19th century, the Ottoman dynasty renovated the Great Mosque of Omar and built the current minaret (bangkelou).

During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Great Mosque of Omar was hit by artillery fire many times and suffered serious damage. The Hariri Foundation led the restoration of the site in 1986, and it won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989.



















After leaving the Great Mosque of Omar, we visited the Soap Museum in Sidon. The soap workshop where the museum is located was built by Hammoud in the 17th century. The Audi family took it over in the 1880s and added a residence on the upper floor. The Audi family left Sidon for Beirut in the 1950s, and the building became a school. During the Lebanese Civil War in the 1980s, the building was abandoned and refugees lived on the ground floor. The Audi Foundation began restoring the workshop in 1996 and opened it as a soap museum in 2000.

At the soap museum, you can learn how traditional olive oil soap is made and see the remains of the workshop's plumbing from the 17th to 19th centuries. The museum's gift shop is worth a visit. You can buy traditional olive oil soap there, as well as a variety of creative scented soaps. view all

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Summary: Halal Travel Guide: Sidon, Lebanon - Old City, Sea Fort and Mosques (Part 2) is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Sidon, Lebanon, Mosques while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.









Across from the Sea Castle, another fortress sits on a hill in the south of the old city of Sidon. Together, they guard the old city from both ends.

The Land Castle is also called the Castle of Mu'izz or the Castle of Saint Louis. The fourth caliph of the Fatimid dynasty, al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (reigned 953–975), ordered it built in the late 10th century and named it the Castle of Mu'izz.

In 1253, King Louis IX of France, known as Saint Louis and a leader of the Seventh Crusade, ordered the walls of Sidon to be rebuilt. The Land Castle was also rebuilt during this time, and it has been called the Castle of Saint Louis ever since. Fakhr al-Din II, the Druze emir who ruled Lebanon in the 17th century, rebuilt the castle again. It later fell into ruin, and parts of the walls collapsed during the late Ottoman era.

After Israel expelled large numbers of Palestinians in 1948, the Land Castle served as a shelter for Palestinian refugees. To persecute the Palestinian refugees, Israel ruthlessly shelled the Land Castle, causing further damage. These scars now stand as a witness to the suffering of the Palestinian people.



















Before it became a Fatimid fortress, the hill where the Land Castle stands held an important place as far back as the Phoenician era, more than 1,000 years before the common era. On the hillside next to the castle, you can see many crushed murex shells. These are the waste left behind by the Phoenicians more than 3,000 years ago when they used the shells to make purple dye. Tyrian purple is also called Phoenician purple or royal purple, because only Roman emperors could wear clothes dyed with it during the Roman Empire.

Roman Emperor Elagabalus (reigned 218-222) established a colony in Sidon, and archaeological excavations of the land castle revealed ruins of Roman-era buildings. These ruins might include a Roman theater, so researchers suggest this was the site of the Roman-era acropolis of Sidon.





















After visiting the castle, we went to the famous falafel shop in the old city, Falafel Abou Rami. They opened in 1988 and are very famous in Lebanon. Their falafel is made from a mix of chickpeas and fava beans, and they fry it fresh to order. You can add pickled cucumbers, pickled tomatoes, and yogurt to make a salad, or wrap it in flatbread. We bought one wrap and it was enough for two people; the portion is huge!



















In the afternoon, we prayed the Maghrib namaz at Al-Bahr Mosque by the sea in the ancient city of Sidon. Hassan bin Sawah donated the funds to build Al-Bahr Mosque in 1373. It features Mamluk-era architecture, including thick walls and cross-vaulted ceilings, and uses granite columns from the ancient Roman period.













Afterward, we went to El Barrane Mosque at the entrance of the market on the north side of the ancient city. Many mosques in Lebanon only open for the five daily prayers and stay locked at other times. This mosque was built between the late 16th and early 17th centuries during the reign of the Druze Emir Fakhr al-Din II. Barrani means "outside" because the mosque was located outside the Beirut Gate, the north gate of the ancient city, at that time.











Street view of the ancient city. view all

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Summary: Halal Food Guide: Huairou - Ya'er Li Ji Courtyard in the Mountains is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Huairou, Halal Food, Beijing Travel while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

Last weekend, our family of three went to the Yarliji courtyard by the Shayukou Reservoir in Huairou. The courtyard is a little over an hour from the city by highway. If you take the bus, take the 924 express from outside Dongzhimen to the final stop, Chawu Railway Station, then transfer to the H27. The H27 runs very rarely, but we caught the 11:50 bus on our way back.











The courtyard has two rooms with large beds and two rooms with large heated brick beds (kang). It gets busy on Saturday nights, so you need to book in advance. The courtyard provides breakfast, which consists of corn, fried steamed bun slices (mantou), porridge, eggs, and pickled vegetables. For lunch and dinner, they serve stewed pots, hot pot meat (shuanrou), and barbecue, but there are very few stir-fried dishes.









The courtyard is right next to the Shanba Resort. Inside, there is all kinds of fitness equipment, small slides, and swings, which Suleiman loved playing on. Behind the resort, you can climb up to the Shayukou Reservoir dam to see the view. The stone path was a bit slippery on the way down, and Suleiman took a tumble. I guess that counts as his first memorable fall while hiking. view all

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Summary: Halal Travel Guide: Heritage Hotels - History, Architecture and Muslim Travel is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear, natural English. The account focuses on Heritage Hotels, Muslim Travel, Architecture while preserving the names, places, food, photos, and historical details from the Chinese source.

I am sharing 12 heritage hotels where I have stayed.

No. 21 Mansion (Ershiyi Hao Gongguan) in Dalian, Liaoning.

Xianting Boutique Resort (Xianting Jingpin Dujia Minsu) in Jianshui, Yunnan.

Xiulu Yuan branch of Xiushan Inn (Xiushan Kezhan Xiulu Yuan Dian) in Tonghai, Yunnan.

Sarang Paloh Heritage Stay & Event Hall in Ipoh, Malaysia.

23 Love Lane in Penang, Malaysia.

Hotel Puri in Malacca, Malaysia.

Omah Sinten Heritage Hotel & Resto in Solo, Indonesia.

Maristan Tarihi Konak in Mardin, Turkey.

Gamaleya Boutique Hotel in Cairo, Egypt.

Komil Hotel in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

Bahitgul Boutique-Hotel in Bakhchysarai, Crimea (Russian-occupied).

Tatarskaya Usadba in Kazan, Russia.

No. 21 Mansion (Ershiyi Hao Gongguan) in Dalian, Liaoning.

In Dalian, we stayed at Number 21 Mansion (Ershiyi Hao Gongguan) on Russian Style Street. The hotel sits in a courtyard that is part of the Yantai Street Russian-style building complex, which includes 28 European-style villas and marks the starting point of Dalian's history. In 1898, Tsarist Russia leased Dalian Bay and began building Dalian city the following year. The first street built was called Engineer Street, which is now known as Russian Style Street. Soon after, Timov Street was built right next to Engineer Street, and it was renamed Yantai Street after 1946. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tsarist Russia hired German and Russian designers to build a series of European-style villas on Yantai Street, and 28 of them still stand today.

After the Russian-style building complex on Yantai Street was restored in 2011, several hotels and restaurants moved in. When we visited, several places were hosting weddings, which felt a bit like the Italian Style Street in Tianjin. Several villas in the courtyard belong to the Dalian Railway 1896 Garden Hotel, which you can stay in at any time. The No. 21 Mansion where we stayed is military property and only opens during holidays, but you can book it online.

Building No. 21 was built in 1903 and designed by the famous German architect Jan Hendel. In 1920, early labor movement leader and Manchurian Provincial Committee Secretary Wang Ligong lived here. The house we stayed in had windows on both the north and south sides, making the environment very pleasant. The courtyard was very quiet, which was a sharp contrast to the busy Russian-style street next door.

















Xianting Boutique Resort (Xianting Jingpin Dujia Minsu) in Jianshui, Yunnan.

Jianshui is a famous historical and cultural city in Yunnan, known as the Zou and Lu of Southern Yunnan for its thriving Confucian studies. The Jianshui Xianting Boutique Homestay where we stayed is a typical three-courtyard house with one large central courtyard and four smaller ones. The main hall, courtyards, and side rooms are all connected, creating a very peaceful atmosphere. It is rare to find such elegant furnishings in the courtyard; walking through the door feels like stepping back into ancient times. Our room had traditional door bolts and wooden beds, which really satisfied our modern imagination of ancient times.



















Xiulu Yuan branch of Xiushan Inn (Xiushan Kezhan Xiulu Yuan Dian) in Tonghai, Yunnan.

Tonghai Ancient City in Yuxi, Yunnan, is also a national historical and cultural city, and it preserves many ancient buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. We stayed at the Tonghai Xiushan Inn Xiulu Branch, which was converted from the old county committee compound. The compound itself is one of the first historical buildings in Tonghai County. After the renovation, it looks brand new, and the courtyard is filled with many lush potted plants.













Sarang Paloh Heritage Stay & Event Hall in Ipoh, Malaysia.

Ipoh is a historical and cultural city in Malaysia, known as the City of Tin. A fire broke out in Ipoh in 1892, destroying more than half of the original wooden shophouses. Later, a local Datuk led the reconstruction into arcade streets typical of the Straits region, which is now Ipoh Old Town. In 1907, Chinese community leader Yao Desheng funded the construction of a new street across the river from the Old Town. It is 1 kilometer long and consists of 216 arcade shophouses, which is now Ipoh New Town. Today, Ipoh has a large area of old streets with covered walkways (qilou) made up of the historic New Town and Old Town districts. Many of these buildings are decades or even centuries old and are well worth a visit.

We stayed at the Sarang Paloh Heritage Stay & Event Hall, a heritage hotel in the Old Town located inside the Yik Foong gold shop built in the 1930s. The hotel was converted from two buildings with covered walkways. The facade on the left is in the Art Deco style, while the right side is Neoclassical. Inside, it features traditional Malaysian Chinese decor.

Our room was on the second floor of the Yik Foong gold shop building. It had very high ceilings and looked out over the main road of Ipoh Old Town. Brewing two cups of the complimentary Ipoh white coffee felt like stepping back into the Nanyang of a hundred years ago.































23 Love Lane in Penang, Malaysia.

Penang is an island in northwestern Malaysia. In 1786, the Sultanate of Kedah ceded it to the British East India Company. George Town, which was established on the island shortly after, became the first British base in Southeast Asia. After George Town was built, the British East India Company kept encouraging people to move there. After the 19th century, the Chinese, Malay, Indian, Peranakan (local-born Chinese), Eurasian, and Siamese people living in Penang each formed their own communities.

Penang has many heritage hotels converted from grand mansions, and the one we stayed at, 23 Love Lane (Le Lin), is a very interesting example. The 23 Love Lane mansion was first built in the 1790s. British, Indian, and Chinese people have all been its owners, so the architecture is a mix of Eastern and Western styles, serving as a miniature reflection of Penang's cultural melting pot over the last century.

In the 1860s, it was an Anglo-Indian bungalow. A Straits Eclectic style building was added in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and a Jack Roof Annex villa was built in the 1920s. Around the 1930s, an Indian shop house was built inside the courtyard. After the 1990s, the mansion became the budget Oasis Hotel, until it became the current 23 Love Lane heritage hotel in 2011.

We stayed in an Anglo-Indian shop house built before the war. This place used to be a shop and home for a Tamil merchant. Now it is a two-story vintage suite with a bathroom on each floor, making it perfect for trips with family and friends.



















Hotel Puri in Malacca, Malaysia.

We stayed at the famous Hotel Puri in the old town of Malaysia, which is where the TV show The Little Nyonya was filmed.

Hotel Puri is a century-old mansion once owned by overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. It is a classic three-section, two-story Baba Nyonya house. Malacca became quiet in the 20th century as many people moved to larger cities like Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. This old house sat abandoned for a long time until it was carefully renovated into the hotel it is today.

During the time it was abandoned, bats and swifts moved in. After the house became a hotel, the swifts in the third section refused to leave, so the hotel let them stay. They now build their nests right next to the old plaques.













Omah Sinten Heritage Hotel & Resto in Solo, Indonesia.

Solo is a historic cultural city in Central Java, Indonesia, and was the final capital of the once-powerful Mataram Sultanate on Java island. In 1755, at the direction of the Dutch East India Company, the Mataram Sultanate was split into the Yogyakarta Sultanate and the Surakarta Sunanate, with Surakarta city becoming the capital of the Surakarta Sunanate.

During the Dutch East Indies era, the Surakarta Sunanate held autonomous status just like the Yogyakarta Sultanate and was considered a vassal state of the Dutch Empire. The Republic of Indonesia was declared in 1945, and in 1946 the Surakarta Sunanate lost its ruling power and was incorporated into Central Java Province. Although it has no real power, the Surakarta Sunanate still holds royal authority and a special status for maintaining traditional Javanese culture.

In Surakarta, I stayed at the Omah Sinten Heritage Hotel & Resto across from the royal palace. The hotel uses traditional Javanese architectural style, and the breakfast area is a teak wood pavilion built in the 1930s, surrounded by many trees, making it very cool.













Maristan Tarihi Konak in Mardin, Turkey.

The ancient city of Mardin is located in southeastern Turkey, bordering Syria and Iraq, and sits in the Upper Mesopotamia region at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The entire ancient city is built on the southern slope of a ridge. At the very top of the cliff sits a thousand-year-old castle, with a terraced stone city built below it. Because of this, you can look out over the Mesopotamian plains from any terrace in the city, and the view is spectacular.

Our hotel, Maristan Tarihi Konak, is located in a 700-year-old building. It was originally built by Jewish people and is now run by Kurds. Five hundred years ago, many Armenians and Jews lived in the ancient city of Mardin. Today, it is mainly home to Kurds and Arabs, along with a significant number of Assyrian Christians.

The taxi drove into the maze-like alleys of the old city, weaving left and right up very steep slopes, which made us feel quite nervous. The car finally stopped on a slope. Idris, a young Kurdish man from the hotel, greeted us warmly by the side of the road. It was a coincidence that my name is also Idris, which is the name of a prophet.

Idris led us up the small stone steps until we finally reached the Maristan Tarihi Konak hotel. Before I went, I checked online and found that most hotels in the old city of Mardin feature stone houses. This one is relatively good value because it is not on the main road. The reviews also specifically mentioned that the staff are very friendly, and that turned out to be true.

The walls of our stone house are very thick. Even when it is 30 degrees outside in the summer, you do not need air conditioning inside. The only downside is that it does not get as much light as a wooden house because the windows are very small. It is very interesting that our room door is also very traditional. You have to insert the large key and turn it several times in the opposite direction, which feels especially ancient.

The breakfast we had on the hotel terrace was very rich. It included four types of cheese, yogurt, two kinds of olives, honey, fig jam, pomegranate jam, and grape jam. The main staple was not the bread common in Turkey, but Kurdish flatbread (nan).

The hotel manager is a Kurdish friend named Zahit. He took us for a walk through the old city bazaar and then pointed out the general direction of various historical sites on the main road, which was very thoughtful.



















Gamaleya Boutique Hotel in Cairo, Egypt.

As a cultural metropolis with a history of over a thousand years and hundreds of historical sites, the ancient city of Cairo was listed as a World Cultural Heritage site as early as 1979. However, due to the noisy environment, traffic congestion, and worrying sanitary conditions, it seems that not many Chinese tourists are willing to explore it deeply, except for the Khan el-Khalili market which specializes in tourist souvenirs. I stayed in the old city of Cairo for four days this time and basically visited all the various mosques, shrines (gongbei), religious halls (daotang), mansions, inns, and madrasas in the city.

To make it easier to walk around the old city, I started looking for suitable accommodation online. Most tourists visiting Cairo choose to stay in the embassy district where the environment is a bit better, as there are almost no places suitable for tourists to stay inside the old city. However, I still managed to find the Gamaleya Heritage Hotel, which only opened in 2021.

The owner of Gamaleya, Ibrahim Kassissia, has had his family living here since the 1930s. He moved to Canada 40 years ago, but during a trip to China, he got the idea to return to his hometown to open a heritage hotel. He later bought back the long-abandoned old house and turned it into the hotel it is today.

The first floor of the hotel is a cultural workshop where master craftsmen in silver, copper, wood, and leather work and teach apprentices. Every morning when we head out, we see a group of students learning diligently from the masters. The second floor is where breakfast is served. It is a semi-buffet style where food is made fresh to order every morning based on what guests want. The third floor and above are the guest rooms. While the accommodations aren't as fancy as a big hotel, they are definitely a great choice for visiting Cairo's old city.



















Komil Hotel in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.

In the ancient city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, I stayed at the Komil Hotel, which is recommended by Lonely Planet. The hotel is in an alley in the center of the old city. It is a wealthy merchant's house built in the 19th century. Komil's grandfather bought it 50 years ago, and it opened as a hotel in 2000. The owner, Komil Kadirov, speaks fluent English and is very welcoming to guests.

The hotel still keeps the wood carvings and paintings of traditional 19th-century Bukhara architecture. My room was partially renovated, but the dining room where we ate breakfast is perfectly preserved. It feels like traveling back to 19th-century Bukhara. Their breakfast is very generous. Even for one person, they fill the whole table, which made me feel a bit embarrassed. Breakfast was a real highlight of my trip to Uzbekistan. Almost every hotel prepares more than ten dishes. They always ask if you want boiled or fried eggs, and black or green tea. The service is truly excellent.



















Bahitgul Boutique-Hotel in Bakhchysarai, Crimea (Russian-occupied).

Bakhchisaray is an ancient mountain city on the Crimean Peninsula. It was the capital of the Crimean Khanate from 1532 to 1783 and is the cultural center of the Crimean Tatars. In May 1944, Stalin deported all 240,000 Crimean Tatars from the Crimean Peninsula to Uzbekistan and other remote regions. For nearly half a century after that, there were almost no Tatars on the Crimean Peninsula.

After 45 years of struggle by the Crimean Tatars, the Soviet Union finally declared the deportation illegal in 1989, and the Crimean Tatars finally gained the right to return to their homeland. Today, 250,000 Crimean Tatars have returned to the Crimean Peninsula, working hard to rebuild their lives, overcome social and economic obstacles, and keep their culture alive.

The hotel where I stayed in Bakhchysarai, Bahitgul Boutique-Hotel, is a beautiful traditional Crimean Tatar house. They serve traditional Crimean Tatar food, so I ate breakfast at my accommodation most days. The view while eating there is also excellent, as you can look out over the entire ancient capital.



















Tatarskaya Usadba in Kazan, Russia.

As the former capital of the Kazan Khanate, the city of Kazan was completely destroyed after being captured by Ivan the Terrible in 1552. In 1556, the Russians built a new city of Kazan. Only Russians were allowed to live inside the city, so the Tatars settled by Lake Kaban to the southwest, which gradually became the Old Tatar Quarter.

The early Old Tatar Quarter was made of wooden houses, which caught fire very easily. During the reign of Catherine the Great (1762-1796), the city of Kazan was rebuilt with brick and stone, which gradually created the look of the current Old Tatar historical district.

Although part of the Old Tatar Quarter was turned into an industrial zone during the Soviet era, the historical district still covers 88 hectares today. It preserves 75 historical buildings from the 18th to 20th centuries, including mosques in the traditional Tatar style, estates of wealthy Tatar merchants, and theaters.

I stayed in a traditional Tatar estate by Lake Kaban this time, which was originally the home of 19th-century Tatar merchant Khamit Sabitov. The estate offers both lodging and meals. Since I did not book their dinner in advance, I only had breakfast, which was also in the traditional Tatar style.

I tasted a Tatar specialty meat pie (bekken), which is made with sour cream dough and filled with cabbage and eggs. I also ate a cake with frosting and Eastern European stuffed buns (pirozhki). view all