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Summary: Duolun County sits on the southeastern edge of Inner Mongolia and has long been an important Hui Muslim town on the grassland route. This account keeps the original notes on mosques, local history, food, streets, and photographs from the visit.

Duolun County sits at the southeast edge of Xilin Gol League. During the Qing Dynasty, it served as the political and economic hub of the Mongolian grasslands. In 1691 (the 30th year of the Kangxi reign), Emperor Kangxi held the Dolon Nor Alliance here with nobles from the three Outer Mongolian tribes and the forty-eight banners of Inner Mongolia, officially bringing Outer Mongolia into the Qing Dynasty territory. Later, at the request of Mongolian nobles, Kangxi allowed merchants from the interior to use Duolun as a base to open trade routes across the Mongolian grasslands. He granted these merchants official titles and generous benefits, which drew crowds of traders from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, and Shaanxi. This quickly turned Duolun into a major commercial city for trade with Mongolia. In 1710 (the 49th year of the Kangxi reign), Xinghua Town was officially established in Duolun. In 1741 (the 6th year of the Qianlong reign), Xinshengying was built north of Xinghua Town, eventually forming the layout of the old city of Duolun.

After the city of Duolun was built, Hui Muslims from Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, and Henan traveled through Zhangjiakou to reach Duolun to trade on the grasslands, moving back and forth between the Mongolian plains and the interior. In his book Records of Dolon Nor published in 1908, the late Qing Japanese scholar Jian Hongsheng noted that the Hui Muslim population in Duolun had already reached 3,000 at that time.

Hui Muslims in Duolun built six mosque communities (fang), which were the South Mosque, North Mosque, East Mosque, West Mosque, Central Mosque, and Da'erhao Mosque. Later, the Da'erhao Mosque was transferred to Guyuan County in 1950, and the East Mosque was demolished in the 1960s. Today, the old city still preserves four ancient mosque buildings: the South Mosque, North Mosque, East Mosque, and West Mosque. In 2006, they were collectively listed as a national-level cultural heritage site under the name Nuo'er Ancient Architectural Complex.

The South Mosque is the oldest in Duolun. It is located on Taiping Street in the old city and was first built during the Yongzheng reign. In 1761 (the 26th year of the Qianlong reign), Hui Muslim merchants Mo Tianming and Ma Guifang led an expansion to create the current structure. In July 1933, after the anti-Japanese hero General Ji Hongchang recaptured Duolun, the local Hui Muslims hosted a banquet for him at the South Mosque. The South Mosque is currently closed and not open for visitors.



















The North Mosque is located on Erdao Street in the old city. It was built in 1798 (the 3rd year of the Jiaqing reign) with donations from Hui Muslim merchants who ran cattle, horse, and camel transport businesses. It later became the largest mosque (masjid) in the city. In July 1933, after the anti-Japanese hero General Ji Hongchang recaptured Duolun, he stayed briefly at the North Mosque. Today, the North Mosque is active and holds regular services.

































During the Tongzhi reign, some Hui Muslims from Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu moved to Duolun to settle down. After that, Hui Muslims from North China were called Kouli people, while those from the Northwest were called Westerners.

The East Mosque is located outside the Nanjin Fortress in the old city. It was started in 1869 (the eighth year of the Tongzhi reign) by Hui Muslims Xiu Mingliang and Liu Changfu from Shaanxi, and finished in 1878 (the first year of the Guangxu reign). The West Mosque is on Daxi Street in the ancient city. It was built in 1880 (the fifth year of the Guangxu reign) by camel caravan merchants Li Xianyu and Wang Jichen, who were from Ningxia and Gansu. After the 1960s, the East Mosque was completely torn down, and the West Mosque's main gate and the north and south lecture halls were also demolished. Today, only the main hall of the West Mosque remains, and it is open to the public as a historical site.































The Middle Mosque is on Nanqiangfeng Street in the ancient city. It was built in 1908 (the 34th year of the Guangxu reign) by Wang Guofu and Shan Yunxing. In 1930, He Xingzhou, Cong Dianqing, and others started rebuilding the main hall, which was finished in 1935. The Middle Mosque is currently open as usual.























Plaques and couplets inside the Duolun Middle Mosque:

Do not be greedy for this life, only for the afterlife; follow the heavenly and human way to return to the true faith. Carefully keep to the right path, avoid what is improper, and find joy and peace in recognizing the One: Respectfully presented in the eighth month of the 24th year of the Jiaqing reign.



Heaven's command clearly explains the pure and unique truth, recognized since ancient times; the Prophet's practice spreads the one true faith, returning to the belief in the five daily namaz.



Blessings of the One True God: Presented on an auspicious day in the fifth month of the ninth year of the Xianfeng reign of the Great Qing Dynasty by Zheng Kuishi, Imperial Commissioner overseeing Ningguo military affairs, Commander-in-Chief of Zhejiang Province, in charge of all land and water forces, and titled General Jianwei, Shalamagai Baturu.

Zheng Kuishi was a famous general in the late Qing Dynasty and a Hui Muslim from Wanquan, Zhangjiakou, Hebei. He fought against the Taiping Rebellion and the Nian Army for many years. He was the first to break through the defenses of Luzhou and was wounded over twenty times in Huaiyuan, nearly losing his life, which earned him high praise from the imperial court. When Zheng Kuishi wrote the plaque for Duolun in the ninth year of the Xianfeng reign, he was serving as the Commander-in-Chief of Zhejiang and overseeing military affairs in Ningguo, the highest rank he reached in his life. In a memorial to the throne, Li Hongzhang highly praised Zheng Kuishi, saying he was 'hardworking, resolute, and exceptionally brave... he was the first to face the enemy's sharp edge, risking his life repeatedly. He suffered serious wounds eight or nine times, his body covered in scars. Among all the famous generals north and south of the Yangtze River, everyone considered Kuishi the best.'



The Ancient Pure Faith: Respectfully presented by Song Rui, specially appointed Commander of the Duolun Battalion and recipient of the imperial peacock feather, in the first year of the Guangxu reign of the Great Qing Dynasty, in the month of the lotus.



Benevolent Influence Spreads Everywhere: Presented by the acting Duolun Nuoer Magistrate, Lord Zhu Dezheng, who holds a fourth-rank title and wears a peacock feather. Respectfully presented by Hui Muslim leaders Shan Yunxing, village elder Ma Wanxing, and others in the first month of summer in the 31st year of the Guangxu reign of the Great Qing Dynasty.



Merciful in this life, uniquely merciful in the hereafter: established in the eighth year of the Republic of China, in the seventh lunar month.





The stretch of Longzehu Road to Huimeng Street in Duolun County is full of restaurants, with over a dozen being halal. The night market features all kinds of barbecue, and the restaurants offer both Mongolian food and traditional Hui Muslim dishes, providing a wide variety.































In the evening, we ate a mix of lamb leg bones, lamb spine (yangxiezi), and lamb tail tips at Laojia Banggu in Duolun, Inner Mongolia. They were stewed in a traditional broth (laotang), keeping the flavors very authentic. The lamb tail tips were very tender and tasted better than the long strips of lamb tail I have had in Beijing. Besides dipping vegetables, you can also dip dry flatbread (baiganbing). Once it is in the pot, the texture is very similar to Baoding covered flatbread (zhaobing), which I thought was quite good.











We stayed at the Duolun Hotel in the city center. The family room is great for a large group, parking at the entrance is convenient, and the Duolun night market is right behind it. The food street is just around the corner. They also serve a halal breakfast where you can get vegetables, oily milk tea, and roasted millet (chaomi).







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Summary: Wangjiaying in Huai'an, Jiangsu, sits between the old Yellow River course and the Salt River and has long been an important Hui Muslim town. This account covers its mosque history, family stories, streets, food, and photographs as recorded in the source visit.

Wangjiaying in Huai'an, Jiangsu, sits between the old Yellow River course and the Salt River. During the Ming Dynasty, the government set up the Dahe Guard in Huai'an and built ten military camps along the Yellow River. Wangjiaying was one of them. Travel on the Yellow River section of the canal was slow and dangerous, often leading to broken ropes and sunken boats. Many merchants chose to leave their boats at Qingjiangpu, cross the Yellow River at Wangjiaying, and switch to horse-drawn carriages to head north. Together, Wangjiaying and Qingjiangpu grew into a busy town.

Wangjiaying survived many floods from the Yellow River and moved east three times to reach its current location. In 1831, the Viceroy of Liangjiang, Tao Peng, chose Wangjiaying as a new hub for Huai salt distribution. After that, eighteen salt warehouses and seventy-two salt offices opened in Wangjiaying. Salt boats traveled constantly along the three-hundred-mile waterway from the Huaibei salt fields to Wangjiaying.

The prosperity of Wangjiaying attracted Hui Muslims to settle there. The first Hui Muslims to arrive were the Ma and Sha families, who came from Lingwu County in Ningxia by way of Shandong and Zhenjiang. Later, families named Jin, Dai, Chang, Ge, Fan, Li, and Yang also settled here.

The Wangjiaying Mosque was first built during the Yongzheng era. It started as three thatched rooms next to the Lotus Pond (Hehuawang) in Wangjiapo. After Wangjiaying became a salt hub in the late Daoguang era, the mosque moved to the south bank of the Salt River. Two imams, Chang Tingzhang and Dai Mingxuan, led the religious affairs. Imam Chang Tingzhang was known as 'Third Master Chang.' He was from Jining, Shandong, and was born in 1785 in Taoyuan County, Huai'an Prefecture (now Siyang, Jiangsu). In his youth, he studied in Lingzhou (now Lingwu County, Ningxia). After finishing his studies, he traveled to Jining, Shandong, to continue learning. In 1810, the 26-year-old Imam Chang Tingzhang was invited to lead the Wangjiaying Mosque. Imam Chang Tingzhang had deep knowledge of Arabic classics, astronomy, and medicine. According to the 'Wangjiaying Records,' a man named Third Master Tao from Hangzhou died in Huai'an during the Daoguang era. Because it was the heat of summer, Imam Chang Tingzhang personally bought a boat and traveled south along the canal to take the body back to Hangzhou for the family.

In 1860, the Nian Army burned down the Wangjiaying Mosque. In 1867, Imam Dai Jingzhai, the son of Imam Dai Mingxuan, led the construction of a few thatched huts. Later, with donations from the community, they built a main hall with three thatched rooms.

Imam Chang Tingzhang passed away in 1870. Imam Dai Jingzhai took over, and in 1884, they replaced the thatched rooms with tiled ones. Because Imam Chang Tingzhang had studied at the Jahriyya Banqiao Daotang in Jinjipu, Ningxia, in his youth, the Wangjiaying Mosque later invited five successive imams from the Jahriyya order in Jinjipu to lead the mosque and teach. Future imams also went to Ningxia for advanced study, making the Wangjiaying Mosque one of the nine major branches of the Banqiao Daotang.

In 1912, the Wangjiaying Mosque built a new gate, a south lecture hall, a kitchen, and a washroom. In 1920, with funding from the Jingshan Tang in Gansu and money from selling willow trees at the public cemetery, they rebuilt the three tiled, curved-eave rooms in front of the main hall and added three new rooms for the east lecture hall. Currently, there is a 1920 Republic of China renovation tablet on the north wall of the main hall, but the top part is covered.

In 1958, the Wangjiaying Mosque moved to the east of West Horse Road in Wangying. In 1961, it moved to its current site because a bank needed the land for a building. During the destruction of the Four Olds, the main hall's plaques reading 'The Way Spreads to the Middle Land,' 'The Religion Follows the Western Regions,' and 'Striving for Perfection,' along with gold-lettered Arabic plaques and couplets, were all smashed and burned. The couplets read: 'See the invisible, hear the silent, rectify the intention and sincerity, become a saint or a sage, the original nature; The Way is established, movement brings harmony, reach others through oneself, benefit the world, all is complete.' Funeral tools were also destroyed, and the main hall was used as a warehouse by a shoe and hat factory.

In 1979, under the leadership of Imam Ge Weili, the Wangjiaying Mosque was rebuilt in a traditional style. It was finished in 1985 and underwent two more renovations and expansions in 2003 and 2006 to reach its current appearance.

Imam Ge Weili was born in 1924. He went to Ningxia to study in 1937. In 1945, after completing his religious training and receiving his robe, he became the imam of Wangjiaying Mosque. He took on the role of imam in 1966. Today, the religious affairs at Wangjiaying Mosque are led by Imam Fan Weiming, a student of Imam Ge Weili.

















The inscription from the Republic of China era reads as follows:



Wangying Mosque was founded during the Yongzheng reign of the Qing Dynasty. By the end of the Daoguang reign, our community was at its peak. Our population grew, our businesses thrived, and we had elders like Chang and Dai Mingxuan leading our religious affairs. They taught many students, and this history is recorded in local chronicles for all to verify. In the tenth year of the Xianfeng reign, the Nian Rebellion broke out. The mosque was burned to the ground, our people fled or died, and our community dwindled.

In the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign, Dai Jingzhai, the son of Elder Dai Mingxuan, followed his father's teachings and took over the leadership. He first built a few thatched huts to hold prayers morning and evening. However, the space was too simple for proper worship. It was too small to hold gatherings. The imam was deeply worried. He raised funds from many sources and built a main hall with three rooms made of grass. Later, he consulted with Yang Xuting, Ma Yunfeng, and Guo Daosheng. With their help, they rebuilt the main tiled hall and lecture hall in the tenth year of the Guangxu reign, and things began to return to normal. As more of our people moved here, the original public cemetery became so full there was almost no space left. The imam was concerned that our community lacked its own burial ground, which made things very difficult during times of loss. He planned to buy land to solve this, and Mr. Ma Yunfeng agreed to help. Sadly, Mr. Ma passed away before the task was finished. Fortunately, Mr. Ma's brother, Runzhi, carried on his brother's wishes. With the strong support of local elder Li Yunpo, they set aside differences and raised enough money to buy two new cemetery plots. The imam's kindness to our community was thorough. This was due to the support of many public-spirited people, but it was also the result of the imam's decades of hard work and sincere devotion.

In the first year of the Republic of China, we worked to continue the efforts of our predecessors by adding a main gate, a south lecture hall, and a kitchen. Mr. Ge Ziming built a washroom (shuifang) and donated hundreds of thousands in currency. We also invited Imam Wang Pinqing from Gansu Province to teach the scriptures. Visitors from all over praised the work. In recent years, wind and rain damage made the halls look like they might collapse. We met and decided to sell dozens of willow trees around the cemetery, raising over two hundred thousand. The Jinshan Hall in Gansu also kindly donated many wooden beams and tiles. We then built a three-room tiled hall with curved eaves in front of the main hall, and repaired the surrounding walls, the three-room east lecture hall, and the courtyard gates. This was a massive project funded by public property and donations. We are humble about our own contributions, but we record these details because, despite two hundred years of change, our mosque still stands. This is largely due to the efforts of our ancestors and elders. We hope future generations will remember how hard it was to build this place and will protect it forever so it never falls into ruin. This is our deepest wish. We record this history here.

July, the ninth year of the Republic of China.

Jin Jiasheng, Jin Jialin, Guo Chunlin, Yang Fangtian

Chang Bingkui, Li Shunjie, Chang Guanying, Mu Hongbin

Jin Jiayuan, Ma Jianong, Fan Zhaofeng, Yang Guiyuan

Ge Futang, Li Dianqing, Ma Jiarang, Mu Hong'en

Ma Jialin, Ge Zhenqing, He Wenquan, Zhou Fengling

Sha Faxiang, Liu Lianyuan, Zhou Riyang, Mu Hongye

The most famous Hui Muslim food in Wangjiaying is the fried dough snack (youtoutou) from the Hui Muslim Restaurant, made by Old Li Ku. Their version was added to the Huaiyin District intangible cultural heritage list in 2016. In 1942, Li Dongtian from Shandong brought his family to Wangjiaying to make a living. He and his son, Li Haiquan, sold their homemade fried dough snacks (youtoutou) near the Yanhe Bridge in Huaiyin while carrying trays. That is how the Huaiyin fried dough snack (youtoutou) became popular.

The fried dough snack (youtoutou) is three inches long. It turns golden yellow when fried. It is delicious when wrapped in an egg and served with wheat porridge. Wheat porridge is rare in other places. It has a unique taste and includes peanuts. In Huai'an, breakfast is usually served with several types of pickles, such as pickled mustard greens (datoucai), cold tossed eggplant, tossed snow cabbage (xuelihong), and tossed green peppers. They all go well with porridge.

The history of the Wangjiaying Hui Muslim Restaurant dates back to the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty. After the salt administration expanded at the West Dam in Wangjiaying in 1831 (the 11th year of Daoguang), Imam Dai Mingxuan of the Wangjiaying Mosque opened a halal restaurant at the north end of Yushan Street. He hired the best chefs in Wangjiaying, making it a high-end establishment where many Huai'an officials and dignitaries held banquets.

In 1860 (the 10th year of Xianfeng), after the Nian Army broke through Wangjiaying, the halal restaurant and the Wangjiaying Mosque were both destroyed in the war. In 1886 (the 12th year of Guangxu), with everyone's help, Imam Dai Jingzhai, the son of Imam Dai Mingxuan, reopened the restaurant at the North Weimen Gate of Wangjiaying. It was forced to close after 1937 due to the Japanese invasion of China, but it reopened after 1945. After the public-private partnership in 1958, the halal restaurant was merged into the Huaiyin Food and Beverage Company No. 2, with Ma Hengpu serving as manager. At the end of 1959, it moved to Beijing Road. It had three storefront rooms in the front and four kitchen rooms in the back, with Wang Jinbiao taking over as manager. After the 1970s, Li Haiquan took over as manager and renamed it the Hui Muslim Restaurant. After the 1980s, Ma Hengbao led the construction of a new two-story building, and Dai Peng took over as manager. In 2003, the Hui Muslim Restaurant was restructured into a private enterprise and has continued to operate to this day.



















Besides the fried dough snack (youtoutou), you should also try Huai'an spicy soup (latang) when visiting Wangjiaying. Many restaurants here serve it. Compared to Henan spicy soup (hulatang), the Huai'an spicy soup (latang) has a milder taste. It uses less ginger and pepper. It contains shredded kelp, gluten, dried tofu strips (gansi), and glass noodles (fensi). Those who prefer a light flavor can drink it as is, while those who like it stronger can add chili sauce.

We drank the spicy soup (latang) at the Dachong Small Restaurant in front of the Wangjiaying Mosque and also ate beef potstickers (guotie), beef soup, and beef noodles. The potstickers (guotie) here are quite small. One serving has five, so you can order two servings. They are all pan-fried to order.













The Hui Muslim shops near Wangjiaying are likely the most concentrated in all of Jiangsu Province, which shows the strength of the local faith.















Shops opened by Hui Muslims from Matou Town near Wangjiaying. Matou Town was once the meeting point of the Middle Grand Canal and the Li Canal. Many Hui Muslims have lived there since the Qing Dynasty. They built three mosques over time at Xiyuba Village, the mouth of the Li Canal, and the old long street at the south end of town. The current Matou Mosque was moved and rebuilt in 2008, but I did not have time to visit it on this trip.



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Summary: Changying Hui Township in Beijing has a lively weekend market with halal food, local snacks, and vendors from the Hui Muslim community. This account keeps the market route, dishes, prices where given, and photographs in the original order.

I went to the big market in Changying on Sunday morning. I worked near Changying for nine years and only changed jobs last year, and then the big market opened there. The market is open every day until noon, and it is busiest on weekends.

In the morning, I first had breakfast at Qingyanfang on Changying Middle Road, where I ordered steamed buns (xiaolongbao), lucky bags (fudai), pumpkin porridge, and purple rice porridge. Lucky bags are similar to egg fritters (jidan guozi), but they are rarely seen in Beijing. There were no halal steamed buns before, but some shops have started making them in recent years.







After breakfast, I walked north along the Changying intersection to reach the big market at the southeast corner of Changying Sports Park. There are many halal shops at the market.

We first bought beef head meat at Chen's to take home for a stir-fry. Their shop's water kettle sign (tangping pai) was made by my friend Dong Yidong, and this traditional style of sign is very rare now.











The market also has crispy fried dough snacks (gezhihe) from Hui Muslims in Tongzhou, and they also sell fermented mung bean milk (douzhier) from Baoji; many people buy it, but it was sold out when we got there.



There is a Huadu chicken stall at the market, and we bought a free-range chicken to take home for a big plate chicken (dapanji) dish. Huadu has a halal chicken slaughter and processing plant in Luanping, Hebei, which supplies the Beijing market and also exports to Japan. They have opened online shops in recent years, and much of the halal chicken you can buy online now comes from them.





The market also has all kinds of beef, mutton, fruits, and vegetables, especially free samples; we tried muskmelon, nectarines, apples, and watermelon, which made my son very happy.















The northernmost row of the market is the snack area, where a noodle shop sells cold noodles, which are perfect for summer.



The two most popular snacks at the market are crispy fried cakes (cuipi zhagao) and freshly baked naan bread (kaonang), both of which have long lines. The naan shop uses a bamboo charcoal oven, and the naan they make is especially fragrant with a texture different from electric-baked ones. We arrived a bit late and missed the freshly baked meat pies (kaobaozi), but if you go earlier, they are surely very fragrant when they come out of the oven.













After visiting the Changying market, we took the bus for three stops to Guanzhuang Road to eat at Bu Hui Qiqihar Barbecue. I haven't been here for several years, and it is very popular on weekend afternoons now; we waited for half an hour to get a table. They now offer a nine-grid set meal with meat and shrimp, which is quite rich, and the set also includes almond tofu, sliced frozen pears, and small sticky bean buns (niandoubao). It was my first time eating Northeast-style sticky bean buns, which are made of yellow rice flour wrapped around a kidney bean filling; they aren't sweet, with a light flavor of yellow rice and kidney beans that everyone liked. For our main course, we ordered stone pot bibimbap, basin bibimbap, and cold noodles. My mother-in-law tried stone pot rice (bibimbap) for the first time and really liked the taste. The side dishes inside were also very nutritious. Cold noodles (lengmian) are the main reason I come to this restaurant. The weather is getting hotter now, and a bowl of these sweet and sour noodles is especially refreshing.





















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Summary: Hexia Ancient Town in Huai'an, Jiangsu, connects mosque history, local fried tea snacks (sanzi), and the tomb of Zuo Baogui. This account keeps the town, food, cemetery, and mosque details together as one walking travel note.

Hexia Ancient Town in Huai'an, Jiangsu, is the largest town on the outskirts of Huai'an Prefecture. Because the salt fields along the coast of Huaibei produced high-quality salt, many salt merchants from the northwest and Anhui came to Huaibei in the late Ming Dynasty to work in the salt trade. The Huaibei Salt Transport Office was located in Hexia Town. Salt from the fields had to be shipped to Hexia for inspection before merchants could sell it elsewhere. Hexia Town then entered its most prosperous period. Salt merchants built gardens and courtyards there. The Qing Dynasty record 'Huai'an Hexia Annals' states: 'Wealthy salt merchants brought their fortunes and made their homes in Hexia, and Hexia became extremely prosperous.' The wealth brought by these merchants made the town's commerce thrive, and many Hui Muslims also came to settle in Hexia.

Hexia Mosque (Hexia Si) is located south of Luojia Bridge in Hexia Town. It was first built during the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty. In 1860, during the tenth year of the Xianfeng reign, the Nian Rebellion captured Huai'an and burned down ten rooms of the mosque, which were later rebuilt. The main hall of the mosque is a Qing Dynasty structure with blue bricks, dark tiles, and upturned eaves. It is a typical Jianghuai architectural style and was listed as a Huai'an cultural heritage site in 2006.

Above the main hall door hangs a chestnut wood plaque inscribed with 'Si Wu Xie' (Think No Evil) by Tian Rui, the prefect of Huai'an in the tenth year of the Daoguang reign. The sides originally held plaques from anti-Japanese hero Zuo Baogui and Yunnan commander Ma Chang'an, but these were destroyed after the 1960s.

The imam (sha ahong) of the mosque usually stays at a nearby beef and mutton shop. If you call the number posted on the mosque gate, he will come over to open it.

















An ancient well dug in the early Qing Dynasty.































When I visited Huai'an in 2017, there was still a large Hui Muslim restaurant in Hexia, but it has since closed. Only Chen's Halal Sesame Oil Fried Dough Twists (Chenji Qingzhen Mayou Chagou) remain on the old street. Huai'an fried dough twists (chagou) are very thin, light yellow, crispy, and delicious. Children especially love them.











In the early years of the Republic of China, a Hui Muslim named Zhang Bugao opened the Kaifuxingzhai Halal Restaurant in Hexia, which was a famous Hui Muslim eatery at the time. The restaurant had 11 rooms, with two facing the street as the storefront. The building still stands today. It was listed as a Huai'an cultural heritage site in 2009 and now serves as a Hanfu clothing shop and a private residence.









There is a tomb of Zuo Baogui in the Xiaohu Renjia residential area of Hexia Town.

Zuo Baogui was born in 1837 in the Yimeng Mountains of Linyi, Shandong. In 1856, due to severe local disasters, his parents passed away one after another. Zuo Baogui took his two younger brothers and left home. They spent several months traveling to Hexia Town in Huai'an, Jiangsu, by repairing shoes along the way. In Hexia, Zuo Baogui married a local Hui Muslim woman named Tao Erjie. Shortly after, he joined the army, commanded troops in Fengtian for 20 years, and eventually died heroically while fighting the Japanese invaders in Pyongyang.

After Zuo Baogui died, his body could not be recovered. His soldiers brought his blood-stained clothes and one of his boots back to Huai'an. His wife, Madam Tao, and his three sons buried them in their own field by the river near Luojia Bridge in Hexia. Madam Tao and one of their sons were also buried next to the tomb after they passed away (gui zhen). In 1895, the twenty-first year of the Guangxu reign, his descendants built the 'Zuo Zhongzhuang Gong Shrine' on the south side of the tomb, which was later demolished by Japanese and puppet forces during the War of Resistance Against Japan. Additionally, the main hall of the Hexia Mosque once featured a gold-inlaid couplet written by the Guangxu Emperor as a memorial for Zuo Baogui, but it was destroyed in the 1960s.













Luojia Bridge in Hexia Ancient Town is a gathering place for local Hui Muslims. The old houses are still there, but it is now difficult to see the Hui Muslim character in the decorations.





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Summary: Bolgar on the Volga River is presented as a major Tatar Muslim heritage site south of Kazan. This account keeps the old city, mosques, museum notes, Islamic history, local names, and photographs from the trip.

The ancient city of Bolghar sits on the banks of the Volga River, south of Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. It served as the capital of Volga Bulgaria during the 10th and 11th centuries. The Volga Bulgars converted to Islam in 922, making it 1,103 years ago this year.

Before the Crusades, Bolghar was a key trade hub between Europe and Asia and one of the wealthiest cities in the Islamic world. After 1236, Bolghar was rebuilt into an important economic, commercial, cultural, and religious center for the Golden Horde. Influenced by the Bolgars, the Mongol rulers of the Golden Horde also converted to Islam and built a series of mosques in the city. Most of the ruins standing in Bolghar today date back to this period.

After Ivan the Terrible of Russia conquered the Kazan Khanate in 1552, the ancient city fell into complete decline. In the early 18th century, there were over 70 buildings within the ruins, including nine minarets, but only one minaret remains today. During the Soviet era, because they could not go on Hajj, some Muslims in Tatarstan and other parts of the Soviet Union chose to visit the ancient city of Bolghar for a 'minor pilgrimage'.

Today, the ancient city of Bolghar holds a special place in the hearts of the Volga Tatars. They view the Volga Bulgars as their ancestors and see Bolghar as their historical and religious capital. In 2014, the ancient city of Bolghar was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Palace

The Khan's Palace is located east of the Great Mosque and was built in the mid-13th century during the early Golden Horde period. Since 1994, over 1,000 square meters of archaeological excavations have been conducted, and 30% of the coins unearthed date from 1240 to 1259.







City Gates

Outside the south gate of the ancient city of Bolghar lies the site of a small town from the 13th to 14th-century Golden Horde period. It is believed this was built to strengthen the defenses of the south gate of Bolghar.



Mosque

The Great Mosque (Qingzhen Dasi) is the most important building site from the Golden Horde era still standing in the ancient city of Bolgar. It served as the city center of Bolgar during the 13th and 14th centuries and features the classic architectural style of the Golden Horde period.

The Great Mosque is made of limestone. It measures 34 meters long and 32 meters wide, with 20 columns and a wooden gabled roof. The four walls are plastered and reinforced with buttresses. The north side of the mosque has an arched gate and a minaret, while the south side features a mihrab niche with beautiful carvings. The Great Mosque was renovated in the early 14th century, and corner towers were added in the 1440s.

Archaeologists excavated the Great Mosque three times in 1892, 1915, and 1946. It underwent two restoration projects between 1964 and 1966, and again from 2003 to 2005. The limestone walls are covered with a protective layer. The ground is now paved with white flooring, and walkways and drainage ditches have been built.









A 24-meter-tall Great Minaret once stood on the north side of the Great Mosque. It collapsed in 1841, and locals took the stones away. When Kazan University professor I. Berezin passed through Bolgar in 1846, he saw several stone carvings with Quran verses at the site of the Great Minaret.

Based on a series of drawings and documents from the 18th and 19th centuries, the Great Minaret was rebuilt in 2000.



The Small Minaret was built in the late 14th century during the Golden Horde period. It is similar in design to the Great Minaret of the Great Mosque and is the only minaret in the ancient city that has survived to this day. Archaeologists excavated this site in 1914 and again from 1968 to 1969. Repairs were carried out between 1968 and 1970.





Hammam

The Eastern House is the remains of a public bathhouse built in the 1290s during the Golden Horde period. It is the oldest and largest public bathhouse site remaining in the ancient city of Bolgar. The entire bathhouse consists of three parts. The central space includes a heated changing room, a central cross-shaped hall, and four bathrooms. The western space includes a heated changing room and a boiler room, which consists of a furnace and two hot air ducts. The eastern space consists of a boiler with three air ducts.

Archaeological excavations took place at the bathhouse between 1984 and 1992, and coins found there show it was likely in use from the 1290s to the 1340s.





The White House is a public bathhouse located 250 meters southeast of the Black House; it was built in the 1340s during the Golden Horde period and abandoned in the 1460s.

The bathhouse consists of several rectangular rooms of different sizes, including a cross-shaped central hall that once had a dome. The site still has the washing area with pools, fountains, and soap rooms, where you can clearly see the network of heating pipes, sewage systems, and well water facilities underneath.

Two circular furnaces heat the bathhouse, and these furnaces also have domed covers. The furnaces and air ducts are made of sandstone, while the causeway under the furnaces is made of limestone.

The White House you see today is how it looked after restoration and protection work in 2011.





Mausoleum

The Khan's Mausoleum was built in the early 14th century during the Golden Horde period, on the site of a former stone bathhouse. The mausoleum was rebuilt in the mid-14th century. There are 8 graves inside the mausoleum, some of which have tombstones. The archaeological monument was studied in 1968, and protection and partial restoration work took place in 1968, 1971, 1990, and 2006.





The Eastern Mausoleum is located on the east side of the Great Mosque. It was built in the 1330s during the Golden Horde period, when the Great Mosque underwent its second renovation and the central square of the ancient city of Bolgar was further developed.

The Northern Mausoleum was originally the family tomb of the Bolgar noble family, the Burashbeks. It later became St. Nicholas Church in the early 18th century, when an onion dome and a cross were added.

Archaeological excavations in 1964-1966 and 1991 uncovered 7 graves from the Golden Horde period inside the mausoleum. A strong wind damaged the roof in 1965, and the mausoleum was restored between 1967 and 1968.

The tombstone with an inscription in the mausoleum belonged to Sabar-llchzhi, the daughter of Prince Burash. It was discovered during the renovation of St. Nicholas Church between 1889 and 1890, moved to Kazan in 1994, and the item currently on display in the mausoleum is a replica.





The Northern Mausoleum sits on the north side of the Great Mosque and, like the Eastern Mausoleum, was built in the 1330s during the Golden Horde period.

The Northern Mausoleum was originally a family tomb for Bulgar nobility, but it became a monastery cellar in the early 18th century. Archaeologists excavated the site twice, in 1964 and 1966, and partial restoration work took place between 1968 and 1969.

The interior of the mausoleum was closed when I visited, so I only saw the outside.



Several tombs from the Golden Horde period, dating from the mid-14th to the early 15th century, are scattered throughout the ancient city of Bolghar. These tombs were archaeologically excavated between the 1970s and 1980s.



Hostel

The Black Chamber was built in the mid-14th century during the Golden Horde period using white limestone. The Black Chamber is the only 14th-century civil building in the ancient city that still stands today. Its exact purpose is unknown, though it is thought to have been a courthouse or a pilgrim hostel. Archaeological excavations in 1957 and 1966 revealed that the building once had a surrounding gallery.





Unearthed artifacts

The Museum of Bulgar Civilization displays artifacts from the Golden Horde period found in the ancient city, including items with Chinese and Iranian styles.





Food

There are souvenir shops and snack bars around the ancient ruins. I ate at Tubatay (Тюбетей), a chain restaurant serving traditional Volga Tatar snacks. I had the pilaf and a traditional Volga Tatar meat pie called elesh (элеш), which is made with sour cream and yeast dough and filled with chicken, potatoes, and onions.





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Summary: Jingpeng Town in Hexigten Banner, Chifeng, is shown through its century-old mosque, local Hui Muslim history, and travel route from the grassland. This account keeps the mosque details, town history, food notes, and photographs in order.

Driving east from the Gonde Grassland, we reached Jingpeng Town, the capital of Hexigten Banner in Chifeng City, in 45 minutes. We performed the afternoon prayer (namaz) at Jingpeng Mosque. The imam there is from Pingliang, Gansu, and belongs to the same Shaanxi school of thought as my wife's family, so we had a great conversation. The imam comes from four generations of imams and has a high level of religious learning (erlin). He taught in Hohhot for a long time before coming to Jingpeng.

During the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty, Jingpeng Town became a trade hub on the grassland, located on the main road between Mongolia and the Northeast. During the lama temple fairs, merchants from inland China brought cotton cloth, sugar, and tea to trade with the Mongols for furs, livestock, and local products. In 1723 (the second year of the Yongzheng reign), severe droughts in Shandong and Hebei forced disaster victims to head north of the Great Wall to make a living. To solve the problem of displaced people, the Qing government implemented a policy of borrowing land to support the people in the southeastern Mongolian grasslands, including Hexigten Banner. During the Qianlong reign, Hui Muslims from Yangxin and Guan counties in Shandong, and Cangzhou and Hejian in Hebei, traveled through Chifeng and Duolun to reach Jingpeng Town to trade on the grasslands, eventually settling down.

After the 19th century, the Hui Muslims in Jingpeng included families with the surnames Feng, Cong, Ma, Bai, Li, Jin, and Ha, with a population of nearly 1,000. In 1852 (the second year of the Xianfeng reign), they officially built a mosque (masjid), which started as five mud-brick rooms. In 1902 (the 28th year of the Guangxu reign), the mosque was rebuilt with funds raised under the leadership of Imam Liu Qi, Imam Ha Zhaobin, and community elders Li Wenrong, Cong Laofeng, Ma Changtai, and Jin Fengming. Liu Qi and Ha Zhaobin traveled inside the Great Wall three times to raise funds. It took four years, and the current building was completed in 1908 (the 34th year of the Guangxu reign). It was named a key cultural relic protection site of Hexigten Banner in 1992.

The north and south lecture halls and the main prayer hall of Jingpeng Mosque are Qing Dynasty structures. The main hall consists of a porch, the main hall, and a rear chamber (yaodian), with a moon-sighting tower (wangyuelou) on top of the rear chamber. The moon-sighting tower was demolished in 1967 and rebuilt after 1981.



































Historically, the Hui Muslims of Jingpeng Town lived in single-story houses in the old town on the west side of the river, clustered around the mosque. However, after urban renewal in recent years, they have all moved to apartment buildings on the east side of the river. Today, you can see many restaurants and shops run by Hui Muslims in the new urban area on the east side of the river.

During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China era, Jingpeng grew into one of the four major trading hubs beyond the Great Wall, alongside Zhangjiakou, Duolun, and Kulun (Ulaanbaatar). According to the elders, Hui Muslims in Jingpeng originally made a living by gathering firewood, cutting grass, and making charcoal, only starting stalls or shops after they had saved enough money.

At that time, many Hui Muslims in Jingpeng worked as Mongolian traders and horse brokers (maqiao). Mongolian traders were commonly known as 'grassland runners.' They used ox carts and camels to deliver sugar, tea, cotton cloth, and matches to the yurts of Mongolian herders, then transported local products like furs and dairy products back to places like Duolun, Chifeng, and Zhangjiakou. In the early Republic of China, there were over 20 Hui Muslim families in Jingpeng working as Mongolian traders, with 6 Hui Muslim camel caravans owning more than 300 camels.

Horse brokers (maqiao) handled horse trading. During the Republic of China era, all horse brokers in Jingpeng Town were Hui Muslims, and many inherited the business from their ancestors. The horse market was located at the base of the street lamps in the old Jingpeng street. Every autumn and winter, herders from Xilingol, Ujimqin, and Abaga would drive their horses there to sell. Hui Muslims would buy the horses, train them for a period, and then drive them to Beijing, Tianjin, and Shandong to sell. Because of this, Jingpeng Hui Muslims were skilled at training horses, and the pacing horses they trained were very popular with local wealthy merchants.

In the past, most of the people driving horse-drawn carriages in Jingpeng Town were also Hui Muslims. The trip from Jingpeng to Duolun took ten days of sleeping in the open. The drivers had to handle all kinds of situations and use their wits and courage to escape danger if they met bandits.

At its peak, one-third of the 150 shops in Jingpeng Town were run by Hui Muslims. The eight major businesses were Yuxingzhan, Tianshunxing, Xiyuxing, Detaixing, Jushunxing, Ruishengming, Heji, and Yuji. The largest was Yuxingzhan, founded by Ma Bingyu. Ma Bingyu made a living cutting grass in his early years. Later, he opened a grass shed to sell hay, and it wasn't until middle age that he opened Yuxingzhan, a grocery store that also processed rice and flour. Ma Bingyu learned business methods from Shanxi merchants, hiring Shanxi managers and mostly Shanxi workers. By the Republic of China era, Yuxingzhan had branches or warehouses in places like Great Kulun (Ulaanbaatar), Xilinhot, Chifeng, Zhangjiakou, and Beijing. Yuxingzhan had its own camel caravan. It used its own camels to transport goods in spring and autumn, and used ox carts in the various banners of Xilingol League during the summer.

The Tianshunxing business owned by Hui Muslim Liu Kuishan in Jingpeng mainly sold daily groceries and pastries, and also processed grain. It was a very powerful business in Jingpeng. Besides the pastry and grocery shop, Tianshunxing also ran the Xingshun Hotel on Dazhong Street in Jingpeng. Tianshunxing's camel caravan transported goods for other shops to carrying their own. Tianshunxing's ranch had over a thousand sheep and more than two hundred cows. They originally ran a camel farm too, but the Soviet army drove all the camels away in the summer of 1945.



















In the evening, we had dinner at the Coarse Grain Steamed Dumpling (culiang zhengjiao) restaurant in Jingpeng Town. They own three shops in a row: a clay pot small pie shop, a hot pot shop (doulao xianyang huoguo), and the coarse grain steamed dumpling shop. The coarse grain steamed dumpling shop has quite a few private rooms, but not many open tables. Their menu is very rich. We ordered half an organic rooster, pressure-cooked beef with golden hook beans (huangjingou), steamed oat noodles (youmian) with diced meat, mushrooms, and vegetables in a steam pot, and lamb and bracken steamed dumplings. Their portions are huge. Four of us could not finish three dishes and two staples. Two dishes and one staple should be enough.

The rooster was delicious and the meat had a good chew; it probably wasn't farm-raised. Golden hook beans (huangjingou) are high-end beans from Northeast China, usually stewed with beef. They make them with a sweet and salty flavor. The steamed oat noodles with diced meat and mushrooms were my favorite. It is like a version of 'topped noodles' from the northern frontier. The dough of the oat steamed dumplings doesn't taste as good as white flour, but it is a way to experience what people in the northern frontier ate when they didn't have white flour. They also have black rice flour, buckwheat flour, and corn flour wrappers, offering a wide variety. Bracken is common in the mountains, but this was my first time eating it in a dumpling. It tasted pretty good.



















I woke up early and rode a shared electric scooter around Jingpeng Town. The streets were clean and not crowded. After riding around, I found that the Hui Muslim breakfast spot is the Yishunzhai Lamb Soup Restaurant. We ordered lamb offal soup, boiled lamb, lamb wontons, and plain lamb head with sesame flatbread (shaobing). The lamb offal soup (yangza tang) came in a very generous portion. They served a huge plate of shredded lamb head meat that the four of us could not even finish. I thought the wontons (huntun) were the best part; the broth was very savory. The sesame flatbread (shaobing) was softer and fluffier than the kind in Beijing, and I really enjoyed the texture.

















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Summary: Mishi Hutong Mosque in Beijing has been renovated into a high-end teahouse inside the new Daji Lane business district. This account keeps the mosque history, renovation notes, street context, and photographs from the visit.

I heard the Daji Lane business district at Caishikou in Beijing had officially opened, so I went to take a look at the renovated Mishi Hutong Mosque. Today, the Mishi Hutong Mosque has become a teahouse. The tea is expensive, and you have to book in advance.









During the Republic of China era, many friends (dosti) from the Northwest did business in the Xuannan area. In 1927, they donated money to build the Tianqiao Mosque and established the Association of Hui Muslims from the Five Provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang in Beijing. After the 1930s, the friends (dosti) from the Northwest gradually settled in the Caishikou area. In 1937, the old Bianyifang restaurant on nearby Mishi Hutong closed down. The friends (dosti) from the Northwest living in Beijing pooled their money to buy the two-story building and officially converted it into the Mishi Hutong Mosque in 1940. After that, the association for the five Northwest provinces moved its office to the Mishi Hutong Mosque. Imam Yeliangpu of the Tianqiao Mosque served as the imam for both, and Friday prayers (Jumu'ah) were held at the two mosques in rotation.

A friend (dosti) named Qian bought the street-facing houses of the Mishi Hutong Mosque. The north room of the outer courtyard was the association office, the north room of the inner courtyard held the primary school classroom, kitchen, and restroom, and the west room by the back door was the washroom (shuifang). The second floor of the small building was the main prayer hall, the west room on the first floor was the lecture hall, the north room was the imam's dormitory, the south room was the student lounge, and the north and south rooms in the outer corridor were student dormitories. A glass plaque reading 'Shengdao Qiyang' (The Holy Path is Glorified) hung in the outer corridor, donated by the elders of the Tianqiao Mosque and written by Zong Zheng.

When the Daji area was demolished, all other buildings of the Mishi Hutong Mosque were torn down, leaving only the two-story building. The building was built in the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty. It was originally an 'L' shape made of a north building and a west building. When it was converted into a mosque in 1940, three south-facing open rooms were added, changing the 'L' shape into a 'U' shape. At the same time, a two-story flat-roofed open hall was added in the recessed area, connecting with the south rooms. This created a semi-enclosed open space on the second floor to serve as the main prayer hall, which was a first for a mosque (masjid) at that time.

After the 1960s, the Mishi Hutong Mosque became a dormitory for a toy factory and later turned into a residential compound. I visited the building in 2022 before it was renovated, and the calendar on the wall was still stuck on 2012.

















Finally, here are some photos I took of the Mishi Hutong Mosque in 2022.



























The second floor was originally a private room for the old Bianyifang restaurant, then it became the mosque's main prayer hall, and later it became a toy factory dormitory and a crowded residential compound.















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Summary: The Ulan Butong Grassland in Inner Mongolia is shown through its scenery, travel route, and Hui Muslim mosque communities around the area. This account keeps the place names, mosque notes, food details, and photographs from the original trip.

We started from Jingpeng Town in Hexigten Banner, Chifeng, and reached the Ulan Butong Grassland after a one-hour drive. We bought tickets to enter the grassland, rode a camel cart, walked along the wooden boardwalk, and went horseback riding. The cool weather and strong winds could not stop everyone's excitement for exploring the grassland. This was also Suleiman's first time seeing a grassland and riding a horse. He went from being afraid to even look at the horses to riding one on his own, showing how much braver the young man has become.

Inside the Ulan Butong scenic area is General's Pond (Jiangjun Paozi), an ancient battlefield where the Qing Dynasty fought the Dzungar Khanate in 1690. The Qing army, led by Prince Yu Fuquan, fought fiercely for several days here against the Oirat Mongol army led by Galdan, until Galdan ran out of ammunition and retreated. This is also a great place to reflect on history.





















The biggest surprise of this trip to Ulan Butong was learning that more than 80 Hui Muslim households live inside the scenic area, and there is even a mosque (sifang).

After finishing our tour of the Ulan Butong scenic area, we exited through the east gate to have lunch. The map showed four hand-pulled noodle shops in Junmachang Village of Ulan Butong Sum, and the first one we saw by the road was one of them. We parked and went inside, but it was very crowded. A young couple was busy pulling noodles non-stop. We asked and found out there were ten orders ahead of us, so we left to try the next place. The navigation for the second shop was slightly off, and we missed the turn, so we went straight to the third and fourth shops. The third and fourth shops were right next to each other, and both served hand-pulled noodles. I was ready to park at the third one, but Zaynab had a sharp eye and noticed the fourth one also served home-style dishes, so we parked at the fourth one.

Once inside, we saw the menu on the wall featured Mongolian food and home-style dishes from local Hui Muslims. We asked and learned that the shop is run by local Hui Muslims. We ordered pot tea (guocha), yogurt pancakes (suannai bing), fried milk tofu (jiasha naidoufu), and stomach-wrapped meat (dubao rou). We really enjoyed this Mongolian meal! The pot tea came with milk skin (naipi), milk tofu (naidoufu), clotted cream (naijiaoke), fried millet (chaomi), and dried meat (fenggan rou). Our whole family loved it. They first stir-fried pure butter in the pot until fragrant, then poured in the milk tea. The milky flavor was incredibly rich, something you just cannot find in the city. Gasha milk tofu (gasha naidoufu) is a hit with kids and a specialty of the pastoral areas.

They renovated their guesthouse this year. In the morning, they serve Mongolian steamed buns (menggu baozi), Mongolian fried dough (menggu guozi), and lamb offal soup (yangza tang). If you are a fellow Muslim (dosti) looking for a place to stay in Ulan Butong, you can choose their place, called Rujia Huayi Guesthouse. Their restaurant is smoke-free and alcohol-free. The kitchen is very clean, and the staff are friendly. You can experience the local Hui Muslim culture of the grasslands here.





















Following directions from the lady at the restaurant, we went to the Ulan Butong Mosque (Ulan Butong si). Behind the mosque is a large pine forest, and the environment is beautiful. The imam at the mosque is surnamed Wang and is from Cangzhou. He said that fellow Muslims (dosti) from Changying, Beijing, often visit the mosque.

In 1956, responding to a call, dozens of Hui Muslim families moved from Jingpeng Town in Chifeng to the vast grasslands of Hongshanzi to farm the land. They later formed a united ethnic cooperative, and today more than 80 Hui Muslim families still live here. After the Ulan Butong scenic area was established, more and more Hui Muslims came to visit, so the Ulan Butong Mosque was officially built in 2006.

















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Summary: Yuan Shangdu, also known as Xanadu, appears here through museum evidence of a Hui mosque and a meal of Xilingol lamb hotpot. This account keeps the museum notes, historical context, food details, and photographs in the original order.

We drove from Duolun County and reached the Xilingol League Cultural Heritage Museum in half an hour. The museum is inside a small hill on the Jinlianchuan Grassland, 5 kilometers south of the Xanadu (Yuan Shangdu) ruins. After parking, you can hike up the hill to the museum or take a sightseeing shuttle from the visitor center for 5 yuan per person. There are sika deer in the visitor center courtyard, which is great for kids to see. The shuttle circles the hill, giving you a great view of the Jinlianchuan Grassland.













Kublai Khan ordered the construction of Xanadu in 1256. It became the capital of the Yuan Dynasty in 1263 and served as the emperor's residence from the fourth to the ninth lunar month every year. During these imperial visits, business in Xanadu boomed. The Epitaph of Chancellor He records that everything from grain and cloth to rare and exotic goods arrived from far away. Many Semu people from Arabia, Persia, and Central Asia came to Xanadu to trade. Additionally, a Muslim observatory (Huihui Sitian Tai) was built at the Xanadu palace, managed by a Muslim named Jamaluddin. There was also a Muslim pharmacy (Huihui Yaowuyuan) managed by a darughachi. The National Library of China holds a four-volume manuscript of the Muslim Prescriptions (Huihui Yaofang), which was used by the Muslim pharmacy.

The founding date of the Xanadu mosque (Huihui Si) is unknown. It was originally located southwest of the palace city but was destroyed in May 1321. The History of Yuan records that the Xanadu mosque was destroyed to build the Imperial Teacher Hall on its site. Archaeological research suggests that the main hall in the middle courtyard of site No. 34 in Xanadu, which still has a 2-meter-high rammed earth foundation on its west side, may be the original site of the mosque. In 1324, the Xanadu mosque was rebuilt at a new location and renamed the Mosque (Libai Si). The History of Yuan records that 40,000 ingots of paper money were granted to build mosques in Xanadu and Datong.







Besides the mosque, there were many graves of Muslim people in Xanadu. When excavating the foundation of the Da'an Pavilion in the palace city, 12 Islamic tombstone tops were found in the stone base of the outer wall. More tombstone tops were also found in the pillars supporting the gate arch at the Mingde Gate, the south gate of the imperial city. These tombstone tops were likely taken from a Hui Muslim cemetery and reused. One of these tombstone tops is now on display at the Xilingol League Cultural Heritage Museum. It features praises to Allah and the Prophet on the top, with the Shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith) on both sides.

Shangdu was burned down twice during the late Yuan Dynasty. In 1358 (the 18th year of the Zhizheng era), the Han-Song army captured Shangdu. The History of Yuan records that the palaces of Shangdu were completely destroyed. In 1368 (the 28th year of the Zhizheng era), the Ming army captured Shangdu again. The Beixun Siji records that all palaces and government offices were burned down. The mosque in Shangdu was likely destroyed at this time, and the local Islamic community disappeared.













The Xilingol League Cultural Heritage Museum displays many artifacts unearthed from the ruins of Shangdu. The blue glazed tiles from the Muqing Pavilion are the most beautiful. It is believed that the Muqing Pavilion was previously the site of the Shangdu Islamic Observatory.







After leaving the ruins of Shangdu, it takes two hours to drive back to Xilinhot. You will pass groups of volcanic hills on the grassland, which is a stunning sight.

We ate hot pot lamb (shuan yangrou) at Chunhui in Xilinhot. We ordered a set for two, which included lamb, beef, a mix of tofu, a mix of vegetables, two large and four small lamb skewers, a pot of Pu'er tea, and a serving of hand-rolled noodles. We also added a serving of fresh lamb, a serving of cold oat noodles (youmian), and two bottles of yogurt.

Their meat is truly delicious. The Sunite black-headed lamb and Abaga Banner free-range beef are both specialties of Xilingol League. The cold oat noodles are very appetizing. They are sweet and sour, making them hard to stop eating, much like cold skin noodles (liangpi) in Northwest China. A special feature of this place is the generous amount of dipping sauce ingredients provided. You can add crushed peanuts, dried shrimp, minced garlic, and minced ginger into the pot, or skip them if you prefer the original flavor. Fresh chive flower sauce is also great for adding flavor here. It is delicious to dip the cooked lamb directly into it. Their yogurt is also very good. It is pure, unsweetened, and thick, very similar to Xinjiang yogurt.























If you visit Xilinhot, I recommend the local Hui Muslims breakfast spot Shuangyueyuan. It is inside a residential area on Hanggai Road, and parking is very easy.

We ordered deep-fried dough sticks (youtiao), tofu pudding (doufunao), brown sugar crispy flatbread (tangsubing), milk tea, lamb and pickled cabbage buns, and lamb and celery buns. Everything was delicious. The deep-fried dough sticks (youtiao) were very fluffy and went perfectly with the milk tea and tofu pudding (doufunao). The milk tea was rich and oily with its own milk skin (naipizi). It was much thicker than what we make in Beijing, and one sip made me feel like I was on the grasslands. For the tofu pudding (doufunao), you can add your own soybeans, fresh chive flowers, and cilantro. It tasted great. The brown sugar crispy flatbread (tangsubing) had a brown sugar filling. It was so flaky that it crumbled at a touch, so you have to eat it over a metal tray. The kids loved it. The buns were large with plenty of filling. Two are enough for one person, and the pickled cabbage filling was the best.























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Summary: Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, is shown through the Kazan Kremlin, Tatar Muslim history, mosques, markets, and local food. This account keeps the original route, historical background, Tatar names, and photographs from the trip.

Castle

The Kazan Kremlin is in the heart of Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, and it started as a fortress for the Volga Bulgaria khanate. After the 9th century, the Bulgars along the Volga River kept expanding to the northwest. To protect trade routes on the Volga, the Bulgars built a military fortress at the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries in the middle reaches of the river, featuring a 4-meter-deep steep trench and a 3-meter-high earthen wall, which marks the beginning of Kazan's history as a city.

In the late 12th century, because Russian principalities kept attacking the Volga Bulgaria khanate, the khanate added 2-meter-thick white stone walls to the city of Kazan. After Kazan was incorporated into the Golden Horde in the 13th century, it jumped from a border fortress to become a political and economic center in the middle Volga region, famous for leather, jewelry, ceramics, and metalwork.

After the Golden Horde collapsed in the 15th century, the Kazan Khanate (1438-1552) was established in Kazan. As the capital, Kazan's population grew quickly, and many homes and public buildings were built, including the khan's palace, courtyards, mosques, and mausoleums, with tall minarets defining the city skyline.

In 1552, Ivan the Terrible of Russia attacked Kazan, destroyed the Kazan Khanate, and drove all Tatars out of the city, allowing only Russians to settle there. Between 1556 and 1562, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of the Kazan Kremlin on the site of the old Kazan Khanate fortress. The mosques, the Kazan khan's palace, and the mausoleums were first used as weapon and ammunition depots, but they were all eventually torn down in the 18th century.





In 1977, a hydraulic engineer accidentally dug up a grave while laying rainwater pipes at the Kazan Kremlin and immediately contacted the archaeology department. Archaeological excavations lasted for 10 years and uncovered 5 graves, 2 of which were confirmed to be those of the actual founders of the Kazan Khanate, Mäxmüd Khan (died 1463 or 1466) and his grandson, Möxämmät Ämin (died 1518). The tomb was originally made of white stone and eventually collapsed in the 17th century.

For further research, the remains of the two Kazan khans, Mäxmüd and Möxämmät Ämin, were kept at the Institute of Archaeology of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences for 40 years. In May 2017, after continuous efforts by the Tatar Muslims of Kazan, the two khans were finally reburied not far from their original graves.

Mahmud Khan was the eldest son of Ulugh Muhammad, the Great Khan of the Golden Horde, and a descendant of Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan. Mahmud took the throne in 1445 and kept control over Moscow. During his reign, Kazan completely separated from the Golden Horde, marking the beginning of what later generations call the Kazan Khanate.

Muhammad Amin Khan was the grandson of Mahmud Khan. He got involved in the internal struggles between pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions in the khanate at age 10. As a khan supported by Moscow, he took the throne three times: from 1484 to 1485, 1487 to 1495, and 1502 to 1518. He also paid tribute to Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow. Later in his reign, he stopped paying tribute to Moscow and worked to strengthen his country to oppose the Grand Duchy of Moscow.







Between 2004 and 2005, the Institute of Archaeology at the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences re-excavated the Kazan Khan tombs. They found the graves of four more Kazan khans: Khalil (died 1467), Ibrahim (died 1478), Safa Giray (died 1549), and Canghali (died 1535). Today, these four khans' graves are protected under a glass roof.

Khalil Khan was the eldest son of Mahmud Khan. He was known for breaking treaties with the Grand Prince of Moscow and for his poor relationship with the Nogai tribe. The young khan died early, not long after taking the throne. One legend says he died in prison due to the war with the Golden Horde.

Ibrahim Khan was Khalil Khan's younger brother. He fought the Grand Duchy of Moscow many times and won a major victory in 1467 while resisting Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow.

Safa Giray Khan came from the Giray family of the Crimean Khanate. He served as the Kazan khan three times: from 1524 to 1531, 1535 to 1546, and 1546 to 1549.

Canghali Khan was originally the khan of the Qasim Khanate, a vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. In 1532, Grand Prince Vasily III of Moscow defeated the Kazan khan, Safa Giray, and installed 16-year-old Canghali as the pro-Russian khan of Kazan. He died in 1535 during a coup by Kazan nobles.





At the entrance of the Kul Sharif mosque inside the Kazan Kremlin, there are performances about the Siege of Kazan. In 1552, Ivan the Terrible besieged Kazan. The last imam of the Kazan Khanate, Seid Kul Sharif, led the people in a final stand and died in the city. Today, Seid Kul Sharif is a national hero to the Kazan Tatars, and the Kul Sharif Mosque, built in 2005, is named after him.





Museums

There is a small museum of Islamic culture on the basement level of the Kul Sharif Mosque.



The Kazan Kremlin also hosts regular exhibitions. When I visited in 2019, I saw a special exhibition called The Golden Horde and the Black Sea Coast: Lessons from the Genghis Khan Empire. The items came from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and nine other museums, showcasing the history of the Golden Horde and the Mongol Empire.



The National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan opened in 1895. The building was once the Gostinniy guesthouse and is a historical monument itself. The museum holds over 800,000 items, including pieces related to the Golden Horde, the Kazan Khanate, and the Kazan Tatars.





The Çäkçäk Museum in Kazan is the most direct way to experience traditional Tatar culture. The museum is located in a Tatar wooden house in the historic Tatar district of Kazan. The interior does a great job of recreating a traditional Tatar home, which feels very authentic. If you have a group of six, they can teach you how to make honey cake (çäkçäk) on the spot. Since I was alone, I booked a tasting and tour session on their website (https://www.muzeino.ru/). The museum staff will email you to confirm if you want the tour in English or Russian.

The experience was wonderful. When I arrived at the museum at the scheduled time, a Tatar woman who spoke fluent English was already waiting for me. The whole process felt like visiting a Tatar family. She told me various Tatar legends, daily customs, and cultural traditions, then explained the detailed process of making the national dessert, çäkçäk. Afterward, she brewed some Tatar tea for me. As I tasted traditional Tatar sweets, she told me about Tatar clothing, silver jewelry, and embroidery, and we had a great time chatting.





Mosques

In 1552, Ivan the Terrible conquered the Kazan Khanate, massacred most of the Tatars in Kazan, and tore down every mosque in the city. In 1556, Russia rebuilt the city of Kazan and settled 7,000 Russians there. The Tatars were forced to convert to Christianity, and those who remained were relocated to settlements far from the city. After this, some Tatars who served Russia settled by Lake Kaban, southwest of Kazan. Later, Tatar merchants and craftspeople moved there as well, and the Old Tatar Quarter (Staro-Tatarskaya Sloboda) gradually formed. However, during this time, Kazan did not have any official mosques.

Before the 18th century, most buildings in Kazan were made of wood and were very prone to fires. During the reign of Catherine the Great (who ruled from 1762 to 1796), the city of Kazan began to be rebuilt using brick and stone.

In 1770, more than 200 years after the fall of Kazan, the first brick mosque was completed with the approval of Catherine the Great. From then on, the Kazan Tatars had an official mosque again. Between 1770 and 1930, a period of 160 years, Tatar merchants built many mosques in Kazan, centered around the Old Tatar Quarter. Twelve of these still survive today. Mosques from this period combined traditional Tatar architecture with Baroque, Classical, and Eclectic styles to create a unique Kazan Tatar mosque architectural style.

In 1930, Stalin ordered the closure of the mosques. Except for the earliest one, the Marjani Mosque, all 11 other mosques in Kazan were closed and repurposed. Many mosque buildings were damaged, and their minarets were torn down. It was not until the late 1980s that these mosques were gradually returned to the Kazan Tatar Muslims.

The Marjani Mosque was built between 1766 and 1770 with the permission of Catherine the Great. It was the first brick mosque built in Kazan after Russia destroyed the Kazan Khanate in 1552. This mosque is the oldest surviving mosque in Tatarstan and the only one in Kazan that was not closed during the Soviet era.

The interior of the mosque uses a St. Petersburg Baroque style. The merchant İ.Ğ. Yunısov donated funds to build a staircase in 1861 and expanded the mihrab in 1863. At that time, the mosque was named the Yunısovs' Mosque after his family. In 1885, the merchant Z. Ğosmanov donated funds to renovate the minaret. In 1887, merchants W. Ğizzätullin and M. Wälişin added decorative window balconies to the minaret.





The Apanay (Apanaevskaya) Mosque was the second mosque approved by Catherine the Great to be built in Kazan. It was donated by the merchant Apanaev and built between 1768 and 1771. The mosque architecture blends traditional Tatar style with Moscow Baroque style. In 1872, architect P. I. Romanov expanded the mosque by adding a second floor. In 1882, the mosque built a brick perimeter wall and added a shop. In 1887, the shop was expanded to include a second floor.

The mosque closed in 1930, its minaret was torn down, and it later became a kindergarten. The mosque reopened after 1995, and the minaret was rebuilt in 2011.





Galeevskaya Mosque was built between 1798 and 1801 with funds donated by merchant Musa Mamyashev. The mosque was originally built in the early classicism style of the late 18th century, then expanded twice in the late classicism style in 1882 and 1897.

The mosque was closed in the 1930s, its minaret was torn down, and it was designated an architectural monument in 1981. By 1992, the mosque housed a hotel, a collective farm building, and various utility facilities. After 1998, the site became a campus for the Russian Islamic University and a dormitory for female students of the Muhammad Madrasa. The mosque reopened in 2015 after undergoing restoration.





İske Taş, also known as the Big Stone Mosque, was built in 1802 with a donation from merchant Ğabdulla Ütämişev. Legend says this mosque was built on the site of a grave for soldiers who died defending the city of Kazan in 1552, marked by an ancient big stone (zur iske taş).

In 1830, Alexander Schmidt rebuilt the mosque in a classicism style, featuring a three-story minaret that resembles those found in the ancient Bolghar and Kasimov regions of the Tatars.

Following a decision by the Central Executive Committee of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the late 1930s, the mosque was closed and later turned into a school and warehouse, only being returned to the Muslims in 1994.





The White Mosque was built between 1801 and 1805. It looks like the Iske Tash mosque built in the same period and has a classic style. The mosque closed in 1929 and became a school and a fur workshop. In the 1930s, the minaret was torn down, and the east and south parts of the main hall were rebuilt. The mosque became an architectural monument in 1960. It was returned to the Muslims in 2004, but it is still not open.



The Pink (Rozovaya) Mosque was built in 1808 with a donation from merchant Musa Apanaev. It is the Islamic center of the Novaya Tatarskaya Sloboda area in Kazan. The mosque closed in 1931 and reopened in 1991. By then, Novaya Tatarskaya Sloboda had become an industrial area. Today, it is the Kazan Higher Muslim Islamic Madrasa.



The Blue (Zangar) Mosque was built between 1815 and 1819 with money from merchant Akhmet Aitov-Zamanov. The architect was Alexander Schmidt. Bolshaya Meshchanskaya Street used to be home to the poorest residents of the old Tatar community. These residents built a wooden mosque here in 1778. In 1815, the original wooden mosque was moved to another village, and the current brick mosque in the classic style was built here.

The mosque was expanded twice, in 1864 and 1907. The mosque closed in 1932, the minaret was torn down, and it was turned into housing. It reopened in 1993, and the minaret was rebuilt in 2009.





The Nurulla Mosque was built between 1845 and 1849 with donations from merchant G. M. Yunisov. It has a minaret in the ancient Volga Bulgar style and a dome in the Middle Eastern style.

The mosque is part of a group of buildings around the Sennoy Bazaar. The Sennoy Bazaar was the trade center for the old Tatar community in Kazan during the 18th and 19th centuries. At that time, the mosque was mainly used by Tatar merchants doing business at the Sennoy Bazaar. It was originally named the Sennobazarnaya Mosque after the bazaar.

The mosque was closed in 1929 and turned into apartments and offices. During that time, the minaret was destroyed. It was not returned to the Muslims until 1992 and was renamed Nurulla Mosque. The minaret was restored between 1990 and 1995.





Soltan Mosque was built in 1868 with a donation from the Tatar merchant Zigansha Usmanov. The area where the mosque is located is called Zabulachye, which means behind the Bulak Canal. During the Kazan Khanate period, this place was outside the city and had a settlement called Kuraisheva Sloboda. After Ivan the Terrible conquered Kazan in 1552, this area remained a place where Tatars lived, but it was gradually surrounded by Russian settlements, and churches began to be built right next to the mosque.

In the 19th century, the Tatar merchant Cihanşa Ğosmanov decided to build a mosque here that looked better than the church next to it. The mosque was completed in 1868, and to honor him, people called it Ğosmanov Mosque or Cihanşa Mosque.

At first, the walls of the mosque were red, so it was also called the Red Mosque. Now the mosque is called Soltan Mosque to honor Zigansha's son, Sultan Abdulgaziz Usmanov, who continued to look after the local community after his father passed away.

The mosque closed in 1931, and later the minaret was destroyed. It became an architectural monument in 1980. The minaret was rebuilt in 1990, and the mosque reopened in 1994.





Bornay (Burnaevskaya) Mosque was built in 1872 with funds donated by the Tatar merchant Mukhametsadyk Burnayev, and the architect was Peter Romanov.

The mosque is located in the Old Tatar neighborhood behind Kaban Lake. In 1799, the Tatar merchant Salikh Mustafin built a wooden mosque here. The mosque was first built for students at the Apanaev madrasa, and later, local residents began using it too. Unfortunately, the mosque was later destroyed in a fire. In 1872, Tatar merchant Mukhametsadyk Burnayev donated money to build the current brick mosque on the site of the burned-down wooden one, and it was named after him.

The mosque features a national romantic eclectic style, blending Russian and Tatar architectural decorations. In 1895, shortly before Burnayev passed away, a magnificent minaret was built based on designs by architects Fyodor Malinovsky and Lev Khrshonovich.

The mosque closed in 1930, but fortunately, the minaret was preserved. It reopened in 1994.





The Azimov Mosque was built between 1887 and 1890 with donations from Tatar merchant Mortaza Äcimev. The mosque was built in a national romantic eclectic style and is known as the most beautiful mosque in Kazan.

The mosque is located in an area called Pleten (wicker fence), situated between the Old Tatar and New Tatar neighborhoods. In 1851, Tatar merchant Mustafa Azimov built a wooden mosque here. Between 1887 and 1890, his son Murtaza Azimov donated funds to build the current brick mosque, which was named after them. Because many Muslim workers from soap factories lived in the Pleten area, it is also called Zavodskaya (factory mosque).

The mosque closed in 1930 and was used as a school. It was returned to the Muslims in 1989 and reopened in 1992.





The Zakabannaya Mosque, also known as the Mosque of the 1000th Anniversary of the Adoption of Islam, was built between 1924 and 1926 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the Volga Bulgars converting to Islam in 922. Stalin personally approved the construction of the mosque. It was designed by architect A. E. Pechnikov in 1914 and built with public donations.

The mosque closed in 1930 and reopened in 1991. It was the last mosque built in Kazan before Stalin ordered the closure of mosques in 1930.





Accommodation

I stayed at a traditional Tatar estate called Tatarskaya Usadba by the shore of Lake Kaban, which was originally the home of a 19th-century Tatar merchant named Khamit Sabitov. The estate offers both lodging and dining, but since I didn't book a main meal in advance, I only had breakfast, which was also in the traditional Tatar style.







Cultural Activities

I was very lucky to attend the Tatar cultural festival called the Pechen Bazaar (Pechen bazary) in Kazan. It was very lively, with various Tatar designers, poets, musicians, and filmmakers showing their work and sharing ideas.

For traditional Tatar tea, you can see ingredients like thyme, linden leaves, chamomile, oregano, mint, and sage added to the brew. I also saw an uncle toss pine cones directly into the tea stove, which made it smell wonderful.



Traditional Tatar desserts are a bit like Turkish sweets and go perfectly with tea.



Cakes made by Tatar girls.



Tatar craftspeople.



A young Tatar person is creating Arabic calligraphy on the spot using thread.



A Tatar auntie is selling headpieces for Kazan Tatar women, which are decorated with pearls and look very beautiful.



At the honey stall, the festival invited some Tatar people living in the countryside to sell their own honey, cheese, and sausages, which was also very interesting.



A stall selling traditional Tatar clothing.





An uncle who is an architect specializing in building mosques is sharing how to construct them.



A young Tatar female poet is reading her poetry.



The outfit worn by the host is the formal attire of urban Kazan Tatars from the early 20th century.



This stall is a creative brand featuring a sweet Islamic style inspired by Tatar culture.



A stall selling books about Tatar culture.



Restaurant

While in Kazan, I ate at the famous traditional Tatar restaurant Dom Tatarskoi Kulinarii (Tatar Cuisine House) on Bauman Street. The restaurant opened in 1969. It was founded by Yunus Akhmetzyanov, a Tatar food expert and author of "Dishes of Tatar cuisine," who served as the head chef until 1984.







In the evening, I ate at Teatr Natsionalnoi Kukhni, a restaurant inside another Tatar estate by Lake Kaban that was once the home of the wealthy Tatar merchant Bikmukhametov. I ordered horse meat salad, cream of pumpkin soup with dried apricots and cream cheese, and a fresh horse meat stew called Kullama. Kullama is the Tatar version of the national dish of Kazakhstan, five-finger stew (Beshbarmak).





Tubatay is a fast-food restaurant selling traditional Tatar dishes, and they also have a shop inside the ancient city of Bolghar. The name "Tubatay" refers to the traditional round cap worn by Tatar people.

I ordered steamed dumplings (Manti), a signature meat pie (Belesh) made with sour cream dough and a filling of beef, potatoes, and onions, Tatar clear soup dumplings (Pilmen) served with sour cream (Smetana), and Tatar tea.





Next to where I stayed, there was a large halal supermarket specializing in Tatar goods, with a dazzling variety of traditional Tatar desserts.





Street view

Street view of the Tatar community in Kazan







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Reposted from the web

Summary: Yangzhou, Jiangsu, is covered through seven historic mosques visited across two trips in 2021 and 2025. This account keeps the mosque names, founding dates, architectural details, community stories, food notes, and photographs in order.

I visited ancient mosques in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, twice in 2021 and 2025. I visited seven mosques in total: Xianhe, Majianxiang, Babayao, Shaobo, Lingtang, Gaoyou, and Baoying. I will share them with you here.

Xianhe Mosque

Xianhe Mosque is on Nanmen Street in Yangzhou. It was founded in 1275 (the 12th year of the Zhiyuan era of the Yuan Dynasty) by the Western sage Puhading before he passed away. It was rebuilt in 1390 (the 23rd year of the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty) by Ha San, renovated in 1523 (the 3rd year of the Jiajing era) by the merchant Ma Zongdao and the imam Ha Ming, and repaired again in 1791 (the 56th year of the Qianlong era). The Xianhe Mosque layout uses small courtyards, unlike the common four-sided courtyard (siheyuan) style found in northern mosques. Xianhe Mosque divides the lecture hall, the main prayer hall, and the gate into three separate small courtyards. It also features a moon-viewing pavilion (wangyueting) and a covered walkway (youlang) outside the south gable of the main hall, giving the mosque a garden-like atmosphere.

I visited Xianhe Mosque in 2021, as seen in my article, "The 2021 Trip to Gaoyou, Yangzhou, and Zhenjiang."



Majianxiang Mosque

Majianxiang Mosque is located on Majianxiang in the Dongmen Street area of Yangzhou. According to the Hui Muslims' "Gu Family Genealogy," it was built in 1714 (the 53rd year of the Kangxi era) by Gu Yuanbing, a 24th-generation descendant of Gu Duding.

Majianxiang Mosque originally had dozens of rooms, including a gatehouse, a memorial archway (paifang), a main prayer hall, a reception hall, a water room (shuifang), side rooms, and dormitories. Today, two main halls, a reception hall, and the water room remain. In the early years of the Republic of China, the mosque housed the second Yangzhou branch of the Beijing-based "Zhenzong Newspaper" and a religious book and newspaper room.

In 1932, Liu Binru, a famous Yangzhou imam and one of the founders of the Chinese Islamic Association, along with Hua Ruzhou, then a council member of the Jiangdu County Hui Muslim Association, established the "Chinese Islamic Scripture Translation and Compilation Institute" here to translate religious texts. Liu Binru, who was fluent in Arabic and Persian, was responsible for translating the original Arabic texts. Hua Ruzhou translated the summaries from the English version by the Indian Islamic scholar Muhammad Ali, which were then attached before each section of the scripture. On January 1, 1935, the "Chinese Translation of the Quran with Ali's Summaries" was officially published. The first printing of 2,000 copies was sold by major bookstores across the country.

In 1933, the Yangzhou Islamic Association founded the Hui Muslim Cultural Training Institute at Majianxiang Mosque, with Liu Binru in charge. to teaching Arabic, the institute offered Chinese, English, and arithmetic, reaching a level equivalent to upper primary or junior high school. It replaced the traditional individual scripture teaching method with a classroom-based group instruction format. Teachers included the Majianxiang imam Hua Jinhou, who was proficient in Arabic, the imam Ruan Dechang, the imam of the East Gate Hui Muslim Hall Lan Baohua, and Liu Binru. They also hired Hui Muslim Association members Shen Junchen and Zhang Shaozhe to teach Chinese and arithmetic, and Hua Ruzhou to teach English.

Between 1934 and 1935, the missionary Claude L. Pickens visited the Majianxiang Mosque and saw a reading room inside with many books and magazines. He photographed the 1931 Gu Gong Memorial Stele standing in the mosque. The inscription records the life of mosque board member Gu Jisu, who served for 11 years, repaired the ablution room (shuifang) and market stalls, and built a new heated room (nuanfang), making great contributions to the mosque. He passed away in 1930, before he was 40 years old.

In 1958, the Majianxiang Mosque was converted into a factory workshop and occupied by a craft sign factory, a burlap bag factory, and a brush factory. The property was not recovered until 1997, and it was listed as a municipal cultural relic protection unit in 2008. It is currently used as a residence.















Puhading Tomb Garden

Legend says Puhading was a 16th-generation descendant of the Noble Prophet. He came to Yangzhou during the Xianchun period of the Song Dynasty (1265-1274) and died there in 1275 (the 12th year of the Zhiyuan period of the Yuan Dynasty). He was buried on a high ridge east of the Dongguan River in the New City, a place later called the Huihui Hall (commonly known as Baba Kiln).

According to oral traditions passed down by local imams in Yangzhou, as told by Imam Lan Baohua of the Huihui Hall on July 17, 1947, Puhading was born in 1204 (the 4th year of the Jiatai period of the Song Dynasty) into a wealthy Arab noble family and was the 16th-generation descendant of the Noble Prophet. Puhading was highly learned and mastered the scriptures and religious laws. At 57, following the teaching that one should seek knowledge even if it is as far as China, he spent four years preparing. At 61, he led a team of 17 people across the Arabian Sea toward China.

Puhading arrived in Yangzhou in 1265 (the 1st year of the Xianchun period of the Song Dynasty). During his 10 years in Yangzhou, he presided over the founding of the Xianhe Mosque, expanded the old mosque outside the South Gate, and rebuilt the Nanchaoguan Mosque.

In 1275 (the 12th year of the Zhiyuan period of the Yuan Dynasty), he died on a boat while returning from giving a lecture, at the age of 71. Yuan Guang'en, the governor of Guangling, buried him on a high ridge on the east bank of the Grand Canal in Yangzhou.

The Puhading Tomb Garden has been renovated through the dynasties. Most of the existing buildings reflect the appearance after the 1845 (the 25th year of the Daoguang period) renovation. It was named a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 2001.

The gate of the tomb garden is right next to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the original stone path and stone pillars for tying boat ropes are preserved outside the gate. The lintel of the gate is inscribed with 'Tomb of the Western Sage Puhading,' with the signature 'Rebuilt in the month of lotus in the Bing-shen year of the Qianlong reign.' On both sides of the gate are Qing Dynasty drum-shaped stone bases featuring lions playing with a ball. Inside the gate is a stele from the Daoguang renovation, inscribed with 'In the Yi-si year of the Daoguang reign, people of various surnames donated to build the stone bank and renovate the halls; the management was not easy.' I hope this place is repaired from time to time so it does not fall into ruin, keeping the tomb grounds safe and preserving its memory forever.



















After entering the Pu Hadin tomb complex, you reach stone steps leading up the hill. The stone railings on both sides are carved with traditional patterns and designs, including lions playing with balls, carp jumping over the dragon gate, and the three rams bringing prosperity (sanyang kaitai). At the top of the steps stands a foyer with a four-cornered pointed roof topped with a glazed vase. Above it is a plaque inscribed with the words 'Tianfang Ju Yue' (The Standard of the Holy Land).



















The center of the Pu Hadin tomb complex is the Pu Hadin tomb pavilion. The tomb pavilion has a four-cornered pointed roof with a glazed vase on top, and the interior features a corbelled dome. Inside the pavilion is the tomb cover stone, which follows the classic Song and Yuan dynasty style for Hui Muslims. It has a five-tiered Sumeru pedestal structure carved with scrolling peonies, ruyi flowers, and scripture. Today, the tomb cover stone is covered by a cloth and cannot be seen.

















The pavilion features a stone tablet erected in 1726 (the fourth year of the Yongzheng reign) that reads 'Tomb of the Sage Pu Hadin from the Western Regions who attained the Way,' with carvings of longevity peaches and lotus flowers around the edges.



Inside the north foyer, there is also a 'Record of the Tomb of the Sage Pu Hadin from the Western Regions' erected in 1908 (the 34th year of the Guangxu reign). Besides recording Pu Hadin's birth and death, it includes legendary stories known within the community as 'karamat' (miraculous signs). The inscription records that an old monk from the Dragon King Temple tried to compete with Pu Hadin in magic, but he could not win and was eventually humbled. It also records that in the early Qing dynasty, thieves tried to dig up Pu Hadin's tomb. After they opened the tomb cover stone, a raging fire suddenly broke out and burned many of the thieves. Later, they saw there were no remains in the tomb, only a scroll of the Quran (Tianjing) and a hat, shoes, fan, and staff. The inscription is signed by 'the imam of this mosque and others who supervised the carving.' The imam of this mosque refers to the leader of the Babayao Mosque.



Around the Pu Hadin tomb pavilion are the tomb pavilions of several other sages, including the sage Sa Ganda who passed away in 1278 (the third year of the Jingyan reign of the Song dynasty), the sages Mahamude and Zhanmaluding who passed away in 1469 (the fifth year of the Chenghua reign of the Ming dynasty), the sage Fana who passed away in 1498 (the 11th year of the Hongzhi reign), and the tomb of Wang Keng, a merchant from Xi'an, Shaanxi, who passed away in 1501 (the 14th year of the Hongzhi reign of the Ming dynasty). The tomb pavilions all contain traditional Song and Yuan dynasty Sumeru pedestal tomb cover stones. I saw them in 2017, but when I went back in 2025, they were all covered with cloths and could not be seen.

The pavilion also has a stone tablet from the Qianlong reign commemorating the reconstruction, which lists: 'The great sage Pu Hadin, a 16th-generation descendant of the Holy Prophet from the Western Regions, in the first year of the Deyou reign of the Song dynasty; the sage Sa Ganda from the Western Regions in the third year of the Jingyan reign of the Song dynasty; the sage Mahamude from the Western Regions in the fifth year of the Chenghua reign of the Ming dynasty; the sage Zhanmaluding from the Western Regions in the fifth year of the Chenghua reign of the Ming dynasty; and the sage Fana from the Western Regions in the 11th year of the Hongzhi reign of the Ming dynasty.' The inscription reads, Rebuilt in the lunar eighth month of the Bing-Shen year of the Qianlong reign.















There are two ancient ginkgo trees in the cemetery, one of which is 750 years old and was planted when the cemetery was built in 1275. The 23rd day of the seventh lunar month this year marks the 750th anniversary of Pu Hadin's passing, and a grand memorial event will be held then.

The year 1275 was also when Yangzhou fell to the Yuan dynasty. That year, the Yuan general Wuliangha Ashu besieged Yangzhou, but the Song dynasty defenders refused to surrender, and the Yuan army failed to take the city after repeated attacks. The siege lasted for one year and three months. Eventually, a minor general inside the city opened the gates to surrender. The main commanders, Li Tingzhi and Jiang Cai, were captured, and the Yuan dynasty finally occupied Yangzhou. Therefore, this ancient ginkgo tree in the cemetery is a witness to the transition between the Song and Yuan dynasties.





Most of the Qing dynasty tombstones in the Pu Hadin cemetery show official titles. One of them, from the fifth year of the Xianfeng reign, belongs to Tao Gong, a garrison commander of Gushuijing Fort under the Ningxia Town of Gansu, who was granted a blue peacock feather by the emperor.

There are also some unearthed Yuan dynasty tomb capstones in the cemetery, but they are currently covered with tarps and cannot be seen.













On the cemetery wall, there is a 1932 stele titled Inscription for Han Aheng Yuchun. The inscription records that Imam Han Tongrong was from Hanjiachai in Yucheng County, Shandong. He was born in 1837 (the 17th year of the Daoguang reign), studied the classics from a young age, and later traveled to Ningxia and Hohhot for his studies. After graduating in 1867 (the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign), he returned to Shandong and then traveled south. When he passed through Yangzhou, the local elders asked him to stay. He set up a school at the Baba Yao Mosque next to the Pu Hadin cemetery and taught over thirty students, including several religious leaders with the surnames Lan, Ma, and Wang. Four years later, Imam Han left Yangzhou to preach and teach in Hubei, Fujian, Jiangxi, and other places, with his students spread across the entire southeast region. During this time, Imam Han briefly returned to teach in Yangzhou before traveling to Zhejiang, Suzhou, Tianjin, and Shanghai. He returned to Yangzhou to teach in 1898 (the 24th year of the Guangxu reign) and stayed until he passed away in 1915 at the age of 79, after which he was buried in the Pu Hadin cemetery.



The Pu Hadin cemetery houses four Yuan dynasty tombstones. Three of them are primarily in Arabic with some Persian place names, while the front of the fourth one is written in Chinese characters. These four tombstones were discovered in the city foundations in 1924-1925 when the Dangjun Tower at the south gate of Yangzhou was demolished. It was originally kept in the tomb of the sages next to the Crane Mosque (Xianhe Si) and moved to the Puhading Cemetery in 1959.

During the Song Dynasty, a government hostel was set up at the south gate of Yangzhou. The area outside the south gate became a major settlement for Arab and Persian merchants. An ancient mosque (Nanmenwai Gusi) was built there, but it was later occupied by a glass factory and the main hall was demolished in 1984. A cemetery was also built nearby. In 1357, the 17th year of the Zhizheng era of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang captured Yangzhou and used some of the tombstones to build the Dangjun Tower at the south gate.

One of the Chinese-language tombstones is inscribed with 'Tomb of the Darughachi of Huizhou Circuit, Nie Gubo, Tongyi'. The term Darughachi originally meant 'seal holder' and referred to officials who held real administrative and military power in local areas during the Yuan Dynasty. The Huizhou Circuit was a high-ranking circuit, so the Darughachi held a rank of 3a. Tongyi is short for 'Tongyi Dafu', which is also a 3a rank. During the Yuan Dynasty, most Darughachi were Mongols, though some were Semu people with noble family backgrounds. The back of the stone records Nie Gubo's life and praises him as a 'noble, diligent, and excellent religious educator, an outstanding leader who helped the weak, was charitable and generous, and loved the people, a respected elder... a man of great virtue and wisdom, generous and fair, and blessed with great fortune.' It also notes that he passed away on the 2nd day of the 12th month of the Islamic calendar year 709, which is May 3, 1310, the third year of the Zhida era of the Yuan Dynasty.

The second tombstone records: 'The pardoned deceased Shams al-Din Asif Allah Balaji... at the time of early June, 724 (Islamic calendar).' This corresponds to the end of May or early June of 1324, the first year of the Taiding era of the Yuan Dynasty.

The third tombstone belongs to a Persian woman who also passed away in 1324. Her name was Aisha Khatun, with 'Khatun' meaning 'lady'. The inscription says: 'She was a chaste, virtuous, and capable woman... her father was Lezunding, a well-respected official in the religious community.'

The fourth tombstone is damaged. It belonged to a missionary named Ala al-Din who died in 1302, the sixth year of the Dade era of the Yuan Dynasty. The inscription describes him as a merchant who was skilled in business and highly respected by the people.













On the east side of the Puhading Cemetery is the tomb of General Zhang Xin, who passed away in 1551, the 30th year of the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty. General Zhang's ancestor, Damuchi, came from Samarkand. The 'Continued Records of Jiangdu County' from the Republic of China era states: 'General Zhaoyong, named Xin, was the grandson of the Hui Muslim Damuchi. He held the rank of Cavalry Commandant. Because he was an excellent archer, he was granted the surname Zhang and his household was registered in Yangzhou, located behind the Puhading tomb outside Tongji Gate.'

The spirit way archway for General Zhang was erected by his grandson, Zhang Heng. Zhang Heng was a famous Ming Dynasty general who fought against Japanese pirates and served as the hereditary commander of the Yangzhou Guard. In April 1556 (the 35th year of the Jiajing reign), Japanese pirates attacked Yangzhou. Zhang Heng, a retired Huaiyang assistant regional commander, personally led troops to fight them and died on the battlefield. The stone sheep beside the spirit way was once kept at Slender West Lake until it was moved back in 2011.









Next to General Zhang Xin's tomb is the cenotaph of Zuo Baogui, a famous Qing Dynasty general who fought against the Japanese. During the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894 (the 20th year of the Guangxu reign), Zuo Baogui led his troops to hold the Xuanwu Gate in Pyongyang and dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army. On September 15, Zuo Baogui personally fired a cannon. His right arm was broken, but he bandaged the wound and kept fighting. He was then hit in the chest by a shell and died heroically at the age of 57. That same year, the Yangzhou government followed an imperial decree to build a cenotaph and a shrine for Zuo Baogui in the south section of the Puhading Tomb. The shrine was later destroyed, leaving only the tomb cover stone of the cenotaph.











Babayao Mosque

The mosque southwest of the Puhading Tomb garden is called Huihui Tang Mosque or Babayao Mosque. It was one of the six Hui Muslim districts in Yangzhou during the Qing Dynasty and is the only one remaining of the three districts outside the city. Babayao Mosque currently appears as it did after being rebuilt in 1776 (the 41st year of the Qianlong reign) and renovated in 1845 (the 25th year of the Daoguang reign), featuring the traditional architectural style typical of the Huaiyang region.

The main gate of Babayao Mosque is on the southwest side of the Puhading Tomb garden. The stone plaque above the gate was installed during the Qianlong reign, and the rectangular door-pillow stones are very elegant.

The main prayer hall is on the north side of the gate, right next to the stone path of the Grand Canal, and features upturned eaves. The interior has a hard mountain roof, floor-to-ceiling slanted lattice partition doors, and a large wooden column-and-tie structural frame.





















Shaobo Mosque

Traveling north from Yangzhou city along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the first place you reach is the ancient town of Shaobo. Historically, Shaobo was a bustling canal trading port and a key route connecting Yangzhou and Gaoyou. The ancient town still keeps a three-mile-long stone-paved road and over 20 ancient houses from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Shaobo Mosque is said to have been built by Hui Muslims from Shandong during the Xianfeng era. Its gate and main hall still stand, and it is a protected cultural site in Jiangdu District, Yangzhou. The mosque was once used as a private residence and is now abandoned.

The gate still has its original lintel and drum-shaped stone bases. The main hall is a hard-gable style building with grey bricks and dark tiles, showing typical Jianghuai architectural style.















Shaobo Mosque is three bays wide and seven purlins deep. The gable walls have brick wind boards, the ridge purlin is supported by a dou-gong bracket set, and the columns rest on ancient mirror-style bases carved with patterns. Besides the main hall, Shaobo Mosque once had other buildings, but now only stone remains like column bases are left.































Gaoyou Mosque

Travel north from the ancient town of Shaobo along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to reach the ancient city of Gaoyou. I visited Gaoyou Mosque in 2021 but learned it only opens for Jumuah. This time, I came specifically for Jumuah and finally got inside.

Gaoyou Mosque was first built in the Qing dynasty. According to the Gaoyou Prefecture Records (Qianlong era), local elders Ma Guixing, Liu Tianxing, and Ma Hongxing rebuilt it in 1864 (the third year of Tongzhi). The gate now has a stone lintel inscribed with 'Rebuilt in the middle of winter, the second year of Tongzhi' and a title from the local prefecture office.

Gaoyou Mosque consists of a gate and a main hall, forming an elegant and beautiful traditional Jianghuai courtyard. Inside, there is a 175-year-old boxwood tree, a 225-year-old Chinese juniper, and an ancient Qing dynasty well.



















The main hall of Gaoyou Mosque is quite small, and its mihrab is in the traditional Jiangsu style. The people attending Jumuah are mostly friends (dost) from Northwest China who run hand-pulled noodle (lamian) shops. This is the current situation for many mosques in the southeast region.



















Lingtang Mosque

At the end of the Yuan dynasty, Lingtang had a mosque built at 'Huihui Bay' by Gaoyou Lake, but it was later destroyed by a flood. It moved to Yangdazhuang in the mid-Ming dynasty, then to its current site in the early Qing dynasty. It was rebuilt in 1844 (the 24th year of Daoguang), expanded again in 1921, and finished in 1924. The sweet osmanthus tree next to the kiln hall was planted when local villager Xue Yukuan and his wife, Mrs. Xue Yang, had their nikah ceremony performed by an imam. It has a history of over 130 years.

See "2021 Trip to Gaoyou, Yangzhou, and Zhenjiang".



Baoying Mosque.

Traveling north from Gaoyou along the Grand Canal, you reach Baoying County. This is the northernmost part of Yangzhou, and further north lies Huai'an.

Baoying Mosque was originally located in Guojia Lane inside the east gate of the county town, though its founding date is unknown. It was rebuilt in 1910 (the second year of the Xuantong reign) at the entrance of Luoxiang Lane at the foot of the south city wall. With the help of Tao, the wife of anti-Japanese hero Zuo Baogui, and led by Imam Zhao Dezhai and others, the mosque was officially completed in 1914 through funds raised by many people from Shandong, Anhui, Zhejiang, Huaiyin, Yangzhou, Yancheng, and local Baoying residents like Gao Mu Ma Jinshi. Baoying Mosque closed after 1958, was rebuilt on its original site in 2002, and officially reopened in 2006.

The mosque still has the water well dug during the 1910 reconstruction and the ginkgo tree planted at that time. Imam Li at the mosque is from Siyang, Jiangsu. He usually runs the nearby "Li's Beef and Mutton" shop. If you want to enter the mosque, just call the number posted at the door. Imam Li is very welcoming. He mentioned that some local Gao Mu still come to the mosque for Jumu'ah prayers, which is better than some mosques where almost everyone attending is a dost from the Northwest. Imam Li comes from the Zhe school's Banqiao Daotang, but he treats all sects equally, and the religious community in Baoying County is very united.



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Summary: The second part of the Yangzhou mosque journey focuses on Baoying and local Hui Muslim food connected to the mosque community. This short account keeps the restaurant, halal meat details, and photographs from the original post.













Baoying County also has a beef and lamb restaurant run by local Hui Muslims. You can eat local Hui Muslim specialties there, and all the meat is slaughtered by Imam Li. It is a pity that the owner was busy and the shop was closed when we visited. If you are passing through Baoying County, I recommend that fellow Muslims (dost) stop by and give it a try.

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Summary: Moscow is shown through Tatar history, Muslim neighborhoods, mosques, markets, and the city's older links to the Volga region. This account keeps the original site names, historical notes, food details, and photographs from the trip.

Tatars from the Golden Horde settled in Moscow as early as the 14th century. In the early 17th century, the Romanov dynasty was established and Moscow began to thrive again, drawing many Tatars from the Volga River and the steppes to trade. The Tatar community (Tatarskoy slobode) formed south of the Moskva River, across from the Kremlin, and its main road, Tatarskaya Street, was first mentioned in documents in 1682.

Mosque

The mosque in the Tatar community is now called the Historical Mosque, and its origins date back to 1712. During the Moscow plague in the 1770s, the mosque's owner and many worshippers passed away, leading to the sale of the building, which was eventually destroyed by fire when Napoleon withdrew from Moscow in 1812; after this, religious activities moved to the homes of local Tatar merchants.

After the old mosque was destroyed, Tatar Muslim merchants in Moscow repeatedly applied to build a new one, but their requests were always denied. In 1823, Tatar merchant Nazarbay Khashalov finally received permission to build a mosque on Bolshaya Tatarskaya Street, provided it was not named a mosque (mecheti) and did not look like one from the outside. Because of this, the mosque building looked almost identical to the surrounding houses at the time.

Between 1833 and 1867, the imam of the mosque was Rafek Bekbulatovich Ageev. Through his efforts, the Muslim community in Moscow gradually became more established. From 1867 to 1913, the imam was Khairetdin Rafekovich Ageev, a graduate of a Kazan madrasa who spoke eight languages, taught Islamic studies and the Tatar language to military cadets for many years, and also worked as a translator for the Armory.

In the mid-to-late 19th century, the number of Muslims in Moscow grew, and many people had to pray outside the mosque during Friday Jumu'ah prayers, which was very cold in the winter. In 1881, Tsar Alexander II granted permission for the mosque to have the appearance of a religious building. In 1882, architect Dmitry Pevnitsky led an expansion project for the mosque. The new mosque was expanded on both its east and west sides and a minaret was added, allowing it to hold 1,500 people after the renovation.

The imam of the mosque from 1914 to 1937 was Abdulla Hasanovich Shamsutdinov. He was a Qasim Tatar who studied at an Islamic seminary in Bukhara and once served as an imam in Yining City, Xinjiang. In 1914, he led the opening of a new Islamic seminary at the mosque and helped revive the Moscow Muslim Charitable Society, which made the Moscow Muslim community more united and organized.

The mosque was forced to close in 1939. During the Soviet era, the mosque was occupied by a printing plant and several other departments. Between 1944 and 1947, Moscow Muslims tried to get the mosque back, but they were not successful. The minaret of the mosque was torn down in 1967.

After the 1980s, the elders of the Tatar community repeatedly asked for the return of the mosque. However, since the early 1980s, the printing workshop of the Art Carving Association that occupied the mosque protested, which delayed the return process until it was finally given back to the Muslims in 1991.

The mosque was renovated in 1992 and reopened in 1993. It was renovated again in 1997 to reach its current appearance.







The Moscow Cathedral Mosque was built by Tatar merchants in 1904. It was originally called the Tatar Mosque, and its main congregation was mostly Tatar. Before the 1980 Moscow Olympics, there were plans to demolish the mosque because it was right next to the Olympic Sports Center, but it was saved by the efforts of Moscow religious leaders and ambassadors from Arab countries.

In 2011, amid huge controversy, the original historic mosque building was demolished, becoming the first religious building in Moscow to be torn down since 1978. The new mosque was completed in 2015.





Food

There is a restaurant inside the historic Tatar mosque. It is very crowded during Friday Jumu'ah, and most of the people there are Muslims from Central Asia and the Caucasus.







The Tatar historical community has a Tatar restaurant called Kazan Tea Bar (Kazan Chaguan), which also serves as the Kazan cultural center in Moscow and often hosts various Tatar cultural events.

Inside, I ate five-finger stew (beshbarmak), flatbread pie (kystyby), Tatar-style horse sausage (kazy), pilaf, Kazan chicken salad, and Tatar milk tea. Tatar milk tea is made with black tea, green tea, thyme, linden leaves, chamomile flowers, oregano leaves, mint leaves, and sage.





At the Moscow Cathedral Mosque food shop, the halal label in Russia is written as 'халяль'. By the checkout counter, there are rows of horse meat, along with various pastries. Muslims in Russia and Central Asia are accustomed to eating horse meat.





There is a small tea house set up in a tent in the courtyard of the Cathedral Mosque, where I drank tea and ate a cream bun.





The Moscow Cathedral Mosque also has its own canteen selling pilaf, baked buns (kaobaozi), and pulled noodles (latiaozi), but I ate at the tea house (chaykhana) across from the mosque. The word tea house (chaykhana) refers to tea shops in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Central Asian tea houses usually serve a wide variety of food, while those in the Caucasus focus mainly on tea. to Central Asian food, Moscow's Central Asian tea houses also serve Caucasian food. I ordered the Azerbaijani-style green pilaf (syabzi plov), which can be translated as vegetable pilaf, and also ate grilled beef and Caucasian yogurt drink (ayran). This meal was just like the one I had in the old city of Baku.





In 1951, the Ministry of Trade of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic decided to open a restaurant in Moscow called 'Uzbekistan'. It is now a long-standing Uzbek brand in Moscow, though it has been transferred to private ownership.





Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, a large number of Uzbeks have come to Moscow for work, and some of them have opened restaurants. Moscow has a chain of Uzbek tea houses called Chaihona No. 1. I ate Tashkent pilaf with horse sausage and lamb skewers at one of them.





At the Uzbek Tashkent restaurant 'Pilaf (plov)' in Moscow, I ate pilaf, fava bean soup, and eggplant salad.





Shopping

There is a shop selling Islamic supplies upstairs in the Tatar historical mosque.



Next to the Kazan teahouse is a shop selling Kazan Tatar souvenirs, where I bought two Kazan Tatar female magnets and a traditional Kazan Tatar cap (tubetei).



The shop selling Islamic supplies at the entrance of the Moscow Cathedral Mosque.

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Summary: Qingjiangpu in Huai'an, Jiangsu, is linked to Grand Canal history, Qingjiang Mosque, and Huaiyang-style halal cooking. This account keeps the mosque, restaurant, dish names, street details, and photographs in the original order.

Qingjiangpu in Huai'an, Jiangsu, was dredged in 1415 (the 13th year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty). It served as the grain transport hub for the Grand Canal during the Ming and Qing dynasties, where grain transport ships from all provinces were built and repaired. Because navigating the Yellow River section of the canal was very dangerous and waiting times at locks in Shandong were too long, many merchants chose to leave their boats at Qingjiangpu. They would cross the Yellow River and switch to horse-drawn carriages to continue north, making Qingjiangpu a symbol of the saying 'boats in the south, horses in the north'.

The most important wharf in Qingjiangpu was next to Yue Zha. It was called the Imperial Wharf (Yu Matou) because the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors both landed there during their southern inspection tours. This place was once the busiest and most lively area in Qingjiangpu. Hui Muslims have been doing business on Yuehe Street in front of the Imperial Wharf since the Ming Dynasty, and the earliest Qingjiang Ancient Mosque (Qingjiang Gusi) was built during the Jiajing reign.

In 1677 (the 16th year of the Kangxi reign), the Director-General of Grain Transport moved to Qingjiangpu, making it the center of grain transport. Qing Dynasty writer Huang Junzai recorded in his notes 'Jinhu Qimo': 'Along the Qingjiang River for over ten miles, the markets were bustling, goods were abundant, people from all directions gathered, and the streets were so crowded with shoulders rubbing and wheel hubs touching that it was extremely prosperous.' In 1799 (the 57th year of the Qianlong reign), the Qingjiang Ancient Mosque underwent a large-scale expansion, which was the peak of its prosperity.

In 1860 (the 10th year of the Xianfeng reign), the Nian Army captured Qingjiangpu and the Qingjiang Ancient Mosque was destroyed. The imam, Ma Huanwen, sadly passed away from illness while preparing to raise funds (nietie) for the reconstruction. Fortunately, an elder from Nanjing named Jiang Hengqing took over, organized everyone to raise funds, and finally succeeded in rebuilding it in 1870 (the 9th year of the Tongzhi reign).

In 2006, the Grand Canal was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level. Three ancient mosques were included along the canal: the North Mosque in Linqing, the East Mosque in Linqing, and the Qingjiang Ancient Mosque in Huai'an. It can be said that the Muslim community in Huai'an grew because of the canal and is inseparable from the canal's grain transport history.

Looking from the opposite bank of the Li Canal, you can see the gate of the Qingjiang Ancient Mosque right next to the ruins of the Imperial Wharf, which helps you imagine how it looked during the height of the grain transport era.

















The main hall and the Butterfly Hall (Hudieting) in the north wing of the courtyard are Qing Dynasty buildings. Beside the main hall stands a trumpet creeper (lingxiaomu) that is over 320 years old.



The main hall is a Qing Dynasty structure made of two connected hard-mountain roofs, with a kiln hall (yaodian) at the back, representing the traditional architectural style of the Jianghuai region.





















The north wing of the Qingjiang Ancient Mosque is called the Butterfly Hall, a characteristic name for traditional garden architecture in the Jianghuai region, named because the corners of the hall look like the wings of a butterfly dancing.















Two stone tablets stand inside the ancient Qingjiang Mosque.

The first is the 1792 Prohibition Edict tablet. The county magistrate Wu Li, who held a rank with five recorded merits, wrote and erected this tablet to strictly forbid corruption.







The second is the 1870 tablet recording the renovation of the main prayer hall, which details the process of rebuilding the hall during the Tongzhi era. The inscription lists donors from nineteen places: Henan, Shandong, Jinling, Yunnan, Zhili, Chuanshan, Hexia, Lixiahe, Baoying, Gaoyou, Shaobo, Xiannumiao, Taizhou, Xinghua, Dongtai, Rugao, Shuyang, the Xinzi Cavalry, and Yuanpu. Donors from Henan, Shandong, Yunnan, Zhili, and Chuanshan were mostly traveling merchants, showing the prosperity of Qingjiangpu in the Qing Dynasty when it served as a hub for southern boats and northern horses. The others were local Jiangsu mosque communities. Some, like the one in Shaobo, have since been abandoned, offering a glimpse into the rise and fall of the faith in Jiangsu.







Ancient well.



Column base.



Tabut (coffin) burial box.



The 1888 tombstone of Madam Yang, mother of the Ma family, and the tombstone of the Sai family, wife of the Ma family from Anhui.





Tombstone of the Sai family, wife of the Ma family from Anhui.



Stone railing.



Drum-shaped stone base carved with a cypress and deer pattern.







On Yuehe Road in front of the ancient Qingjiang Mosque, there is a row of storefronts with six restaurants. We tried every one of them this time.

The first one from west to east is Laowan. They serve various Huaiyang dishes and beef and lamb dishes prepared by Hui Muslims from Huai'an. The shop mostly has private rooms. If you are visiting Huai'an with your family and want to try Huaiyang-style halal food, I recommend this place.

We ordered white broth lamb (baitang yangrou), Huai'an mixed stew (dazahui), tea-scented quail, and stir-fried black fish with yellow garlic chives. I feel like Hui Muslims in Jiangsu all make white lamb soup (baitang yangrou), and Jiangsu people really love drinking it. Mixed stew (dazahui) is a specialty dish in Huai'an. It contains many ingredients like stir-fried meat skin (pidu), bok choy, wood ear mushrooms, quail eggs, fried tofu puffs (doupao), and mushrooms. The most unique part is definitely the stir-fried meat skin. To make it, you boil cow skin, cool it down, trim off the fat, dry it in the sun, and then deep-fry it before adding it to the stew. Tea-scented quail is very interesting. The quail is small, so you mostly chew it for the flavor, but I didn't expect Suleiman to like the oil-fried tea leaves so much; he kept eating them. I really like the stir-fried snakehead fish with yellow garlic chives. I have had snakehead fish soup before, but the texture of it stir-fried is also very good. Freshwater fish from the south is truly great.



















Next to the old bowl shop is Ding Si Wonton Noodle Restaurant. It is the most popular shop at the entrance of the Qingjiang Mosque, and you often have to wait for a table. They are very particular, as they prohibit smoking and alcohol. This shows that seeking blessings in this life and the afterlife does not conflict.

We ordered wonton noodles and braised beef noodles. The wonton noodles have a chicken broth and beef filling. The taste is very good, and Suleiman liked them a lot and ate happily. The broth for the braised beef noodles is thicker and has a stronger flavor. However, southern noodles are not nearly as chewy as those in the northwest; the main point is to drink the soup and eat the beef. Also, their shop and the Seman shop next door are connected. Many people buy kebabs at Seman to eat with their wonton noodles, which is a pretty good combination.



















Next to Ding Si Wonton Noodle Restaurant is Lv's Sesame Flatbread and Beef and Lamb Soup. We ate beef bone soup and beef noodle soup there in the morning, along with sesame flatbread (shaobing). I really liked the beef bone soup because it had crunchy cartilage in it. The sesame flatbread is also their specialty; it is very fluffy inside and goes well with the meat soup. Since Ding Si Wonton Noodle Restaurant only opens in the morning and evening and is closed at noon, friends (dost) who come to the mosque entrance after ten o'clock are recommended to come here for beef soup and sesame flatbread.















Basically, every shop in Huai'an provides several types of free side dishes, and pickled mustard greens (xuelihong) are always included. We happened to catch them pickling the mustard greens on-site at the shop, and I feel the mustard greens here are really delicious.



Next to Lv's sesame flatbread (shaobing) and beef and lamb soup is Ayesha Chicken Noodle Shop. Their specialty is a mixed chicken noodle soup served with long fish, beef balls, fish balls, baby bok choy, bamboo shoot tips, wood ear mushrooms, and shredded chicken. The owner of Ayesha is Zhao Haifeng, and Ayesha is his daughter's name. Mr. Zhao says his family moved from Kaifeng, Henan to Huai'an during the Republic of China era. They have been making shredded chicken noodles since his great-grandfather's time. Every night, he simmers seven or eight old hens for three or four hours, then shreds the chicken meat. He then simmers the chicken frames for another four or five hours to make a rich broth.











Next to Ayesha Chicken Noodle Shop is Seman Cafe. I ate at this place when I came to Huai'an in 2017, and this time I brought my son to eat the shawarma wraps. The owner is very devout in his faith, and it is not easy to run a cafe like this in Huai'an. They have improved their shawarma wraps, and you can even add bird's eye chili and sesame paste. We also ordered date milkshakes, masala chai, and saffron tea. It is very pleasant to drink tea and chat by the Grand Canal on a summer evening. The only thing is that their servers seem to be foreigners who do not speak Chinese very well, so communication might be a bit difficult.



















Besides the Qingjiang Ancient Mosque, there is also a Hui Muslim restaurant on Shanghai Road. The owner is the brother of the owner of the Old Bowl Restaurant at Qingjiang Ancient Mosque, and their family name is Chang. The Shanghai Road shop specializes in braised old goose and braised free-range chicken. We arrived at 2:30, but we called ahead and the owner waited for us.

They were very welcoming. When they knew we were fellow Muslims (dosti), they greeted us with salaam and invited us into the kitchen to see the ingredients. The owner recommended a two-year-old free-range chicken. We also ordered stir-fried beef with garlic sprouts, braised dried tofu, shiitake mushrooms with bok choy, and the Huai'an specialty, stir-fried cattail stems (pucai) with dried shrimp. Their braised free-range chicken was truly delicious. The meat was very flavorful, the chicken soup was fresh and tasty, and they even added beef wontons inside. The braised beef goes well with rice and is very flavorful. The dried tofu was braised by the owner that day and can be eaten as a cold dish.



















Cattail stems (pucai) are the tender stalks of fresh cattails that grow in ponds by the river. The Book of Songs mentions, 'What are the vegetables? They are bamboo shoots and cattails,' which shows that people have been eating cattail stems for over two thousand years. In chapter 86 of Journey to the West, after Sun Wukong rescues Tang Seng and his companions at Yinyu Mountain, a woodcutter treats the four of them to a meal. The text mentions cattail shoots (pucai) and water bamboo shoots (jiaoercai), which is an important historical record of cattail shoots. After fresh cattail shoots are brought to the shore, only the root section is kept. You then peel away layer after layer, removing over a dozen skins to reveal the tender, white cattail shoot inside. Cattail shoots are in season from March to August. Because the cold winter weather makes harvesting them very difficult, the price of cattail shoots is quite high during that time.

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Summary: Beirut is covered through its long Mediterranean history, downtown streets, mosques, churches, markets, and food. This account keeps the original walking route, site names, historical details, and photographs from the visit.

Beirut became part of the Arab Caliphate in 635 and has been a trade hub in the Eastern Mediterranean ever since. During the Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid dynasties, the Byzantine Empire tried to take back Beirut but failed every time. Beirut was part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1110 to 1291, was taken back by the Mamluk Sultanate in 1291, and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Empire let local Druze emirs rule Beirut, but they took back control in 1763. With help from Damascus, Beirut broke the monopoly that the city of Acre had on Eastern Mediterranean trade and became a major trade center once again.

Mosque

The Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque was built between 2002 and 2008 in an Ottoman style with funds donated by former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, and it is currently the largest mosque in Lebanon.

This is a Sunni mosque, and it does not have many people coming for namaz. I chatted with an old man for a while. He said the Sunni population in Beirut is not strong enough and suggested I visit Tripoli in the north, saying that is where the powerful Sunni city is. In fact, Lebanon's Sunni population is mainly spread across the north, led by Tripoli, and the Bekaa Valley in the east. In the capital city of Beirut, the northwest is mostly Sunni, the southwest is mostly Shia, and the east is mostly Christian. During the civil war, the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque was near the dividing line between the Muslim and Christian districts. This dividing line was called the Green Line because it grew over with weeds and trees while no one lived there during the war. It used to be full of militia checkpoints and snipers, and many buildings were badly damaged.





The Emir Assaf Mosque was built in the late 16th century by the emir rulers of the local Lebanese Assaf dynasty (1306-1591), and 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 tribe led by the Assaf family to put down a rebellion north of Beirut. Later, the Mamluk Sultanate assigned them to guard the coastal area north of Beirut and manage the local Shia residents. After the Ottoman Empire took the Levant region from the Mamluk Sultanate in 1516, they appointed the Assaf family as the main agents for the Beirut and Tripoli regions. The Assaf dynasty attracted Maronite Christians to settle in northern Beirut by lowering taxes and housing prices to balance out the local Sunni and Shia Muslims. 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, ending the Assaf dynasty.





The Great Omari Mosque is said to have been founded in 635 during the reign of Caliph Umar, and in 1150, the Crusaders built a Romanesque Church of St. John here. After the Mamluk Sultanate captured Tripoli in 1291, they converted it into a grand mosque and added a Mamluk-style gate and minaret in 1350. During the French Mandate for Lebanon from 1923 to 1946, the street-facing facade of the Great Omari Mosque was redesigned with an added portico to unify the architectural style of downtown Beirut. The Great Omari Mosque suffered severe damage during the Lebanese Civil War, and renovations were completed in 2004.





Small Sufi lodge (zawiya).

Zawiyat Ibn Arraq is located at the entrance of the Beirut Souks and is the only remaining Mamluk-era building in Beirut. This building was constructed in 1517 by the religious authority Ibn 'Arraq Al-Dimashqi from Damascus, and it was originally a hospice. After Ibn 'Arraq passed away in 1526, the site became a school of Islamic law and a zawiya (small Sufi lodge) for his followers. The currently remaining vaulted structure once connected to other courtyards and rooms.



Food

I had dinner at a famous local restaurant called T-Marbouta in the Hamra district of Beirut, where I ordered kibbeh mloukiyeh, hommos moutammam, and grilled meat, along with herbal tea and mint tea. Kibbeh is a fried ball made of cracked wheat and minced lamb, a classic appetizer in the Levant region; the one I ate was topped with mloukiyeh (jute leaves), eggplant, walnuts, and pomegranate. Hummus is another classic appetizer from the Levant region made of mashed chickpeas.

Hamra is a lively and trendy neighborhood in Beirut near the American University. It is full of young people and has long been a cultural hub of Beirut. The environment here is relatively nice, making it a good place for shopping in Beirut.





We had steak and fried chicken at a fast-food restaurant in the Hamra district of Lebanon. There are many young people here and a wide variety of restaurants, including Chinese and Japanese food. Because the power supply is unstable, shops here suddenly go dark from time to time. Everyone except us stayed very calm, waiting for the power to come back on by itself. I think it must be hard to use a desktop computer without a battery in Beirut, so everyone definitely chooses laptops first.









We ate at Zaatar w Zeit, a famous Lebanese fast-food chain in the Hamra district. They specialize in Levantine-style flatbread (manakish), and their food is very healthy.

Manakish is a traditional bread that originated with the ancient Phoenicians. You can top it with a spice blend (zaatar), cheese, or minced lamb. We had the one with zaatar, which is a unique mix of thyme, sumac, oregano, marjoram, and sesame seeds.

We also drank Lebanese coffee, which is made with Arabica coffee beans and flavored with cardamom.









In the evening, we had coffee at the legendary Younes Coffee in the Hamra district of Beirut. The founder of Younes Coffee, Amin Younes Sr., immigrated to Brazil in 1894 and worked on a Brazilian coffee tycoon's plantation for 20 years. In 1935, Amin returned to Lebanon and opened Younes Coffee in downtown Beirut. During World War II, the collapse of the Lebanese currency wiped out most of Amin's savings, but he still managed to pull through. In 1960, Amin's son Souheil joined the family business and helped his father open the first branch of Younes Coffee in the Hamra district. It was one of the first coffee shops in Lebanon to buy an espresso machine. The Younes flagship store in downtown Beirut was destroyed during the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, and only the Hamra branch survived.

Abou Anwar worked at Younes Coffee for 60 years starting in 1954. As the cafe's most senior coffee roasting master, his expert skills attracted a large group of loyal customers. The coffee I ordered was named after him, the Abou Anwar Blend, which mixes his favorite fruits and spices.







There is a string of cafes next to Pigeon Rocks, ranging from the Bay Rock Cafe in the south to the Starbucks in the north, all of which are classic spots to watch the sunset. Although many people post about this place online, the cafes are not actually very crowded, making them very relaxing. We ordered two juices and a plate of salad at the Bay Rock Cafe and spent a romantic and wonderful evening there.







Accommodation

I stayed at the Serenada Golden Palace hotel in the heart of the Hamra district in Beirut. The hotel lobby is gorgeous and classic, reminding people of the prosperity and beauty of Beirut in the past. At the same time, opening the window in the room lets you see houses damaged by the war, which immediately pulls you back to reality.

The hotel breakfast is quite rich, with all kinds of cheeses available, paired with various fruits and vegetables for a very healthy meal.





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Summary: Qinhuangdao is presented through a family beach weekend, the Haigang mosque neighborhood, and several halal restaurants on Minzu Road. This account keeps the original notes on beach activities, mosque history, seafood dishes, dumplings, shaomai, and photos.

Our whole family went to Qinhuangdao to see the sea for the weekend. We chose an apartment at Jinmeng Bay First View in the Haigang District. It was a two-story sea-view apartment with two 1.8-meter double beds. Since May isn't peak season, it only cost a little over 200 yuan per night. The beach is right outside the apartment complex, which is very convenient. The apartment is a ten-minute taxi ride from Haigang Mosque and Minzu Road. It is easy to get around because ride-hailing apps pick up requests almost instantly.

You cannot swim in the sea in Qinhuangdao in May. It was windy and a bit chilly on Saturday, but the temperature was perfect on Sunday once the wind stopped.









Jinmeng Bay is not very crowded and the environment is quite nice. In the morning, many families come here to explore the beach. Suleiman played in the sand for a while, but he liked the various activities even more. There are seven or eight types of activities for children here. There are also beach motorbikes and speedboats, but we didn't let him try those. Suleiman tried five activities: the excavator, the four-wheeled electric car, the beach tank, the single-person beach car, and the water tricycle. He really liked the water tricycle because he could sit in the middle and steer. We bargained the price down to 150 yuan for half an hour, which was just the right amount of exercise. There is also a beach crawler that looks like an electric wheelchair. Suleiman loved it because it is very simple to operate—you just move a knob to go forward, backward, left, or right.













Qinhuangdao opened as a port in 1898 and was the only sovereign port on the Chinese coast at that time. A small pier was built at Qinhuangdao Port in 1902. In 1916, the Jin-Yu Railway was extended to the pier, and most of the Kailuan coal was exported from here. After that, people gradually settled in the area, and trade began to flourish.

After Qinhuangdao Port opened, Hui Muslims began to move here. In 1905, Hong Guan-ting, a Hui Muslim from Jing'an Town in Changli County, Qinhuangdao, moved his whole family to the port to sell beef and mutton. Later, three other families—Ma Mingqi, Wang Heqian, and Ma Jingting—moved here from Shanhaiguan and Qian'an. The four families then joined together to open the Sihecheng beef and mutton shop. In 1922, Hong Guan-ting, Ma Jingting, Wang Yue, Wang Heqian, and others raised money to buy a house and establish the first Qinwangdao Mosque. It was officially completed in 1928 and later renamed Qinhuangdao Mosque and then Haigang District Mosque.

In 1985, China established a joint venture with Kuwait and Tunisia in Qinhuangdao called the Sino-Arab Chemical Fertilizer Company. The Tunisian general manager and Kuwaiti vice chairman of the company often visited Haigang District Mosque, so they applied for funds from the Kuwait International Islamic Charitable Foundation to rebuild it. The project was completed in 1987.



















The storefronts north of Haigang Mosque form a food street with lamb soup shops (yangtang guan), sesame flatbread shops (shaobing pu), beef and mutton shops, and smoked chicken shops. The food street was originally called Hongyili, where the Hong family courtyard once stood. Later, Hong Guan-ping tore down part of his courtyard wall to make way for a road, which is how the name Hongyili came to be. Today, you can see signs like Hong's Fresh Beef and Mutton and Hong's Smoked Chicken on the food street. The surname Hong is still a major family name in the Haigang District mosque community.

The two most popular spots on the food street are Zhenhua Soup Shop and Ma's Sesame Flatbread Shop. In the morning, we had the head meat and tripe soup with egg drop at Zhenhua Soup Shop. When they scoop the soup, you can tell the lady not to add MSG and only use sesame oil. You can add white pepper at the window, and there is salt and chili on the table. If you don't add any seasonings, you can taste the pure freshness of the lamb soup. Children really like it too. I personally recommend drinking a few sips without any seasoning first, then adding salt, and finally adding chili after a few more sips so you can taste all the different flavors.

You can pair the lamb bone broth (yangtang) with their freshly fried dough (zhabing). These are much thinner than the fried dough (youbing) in Beijing, but softer than the crispy thin crackers (baocui). The texture is somewhere between the two. They cut them up for you by default, so you can eat them plain or tear them into pieces to soak in the broth. Besides the fried dough, you can also buy sesame flatbread (shaobing) from the Ma family shop next door to go with your broth. The flatbread comes in sweet and savory versions. The savory sesame flatbread is the most popular. It usually sells out as soon as it comes out of the oven, so you have to wait in line for the next batch. This means you are guaranteed to get them hot and fresh.





























We bought sugar-free mung bean cakes (lvdougao) and sweet and savory thousand-layer pastries (qiancengsu) at Yiming Foods. They were perfect to snack on while playing on the beach.









Besides the food street, there is also a Jingjiangshi Steamed Bun Shop (dabao fang) next to the Haigang Mosque. If you visit Qinhuangdao for a two-day weekend, you can have lamb bone broth for breakfast one day and steamed buns with porridge the next.

Their specialty is the savory meat-filled steamed bun (jiangrou bao). We arrived after nine, so they were already out of some varieties. We ordered mushroom and meat-filled buns and pickled cabbage and beef-filled buns, plus a red bean paste bun (dousha bao) for our son. The meat-filled buns are made with beef that has been stewed in sauce beforehand. I think this makes them very flavorful. Everyone really liked the pickled cabbage-filled buns. Eating a little pickled cabbage in the morning is great for the appetite. Suleiman has always loved red bean paste buns, just like I did when I was a kid.

They serve hot drinks like soy milk, millet porridge, and tofu pudding (doufunao). You add your own seasonings to the tofu pudding, including chive flower sauce, garlic juice, chili oil, and sesame paste. I think it goes perfectly with the buns.



















We took the 6:00 PM train from Beijing Station on Friday and arrived at Qinhuangdao Station at 7:40 PM. To avoid the taxi line, we took a few stops on the bus and then grabbed a taxi straight to Qingzhenfang Meat Hot Pot (hunguo) on Youyi Road to try this local Qinhuangdao specialty.

I had heard that the Qinhuangdao meat hot pot was famous, but we usually traveled as a pair, and we could never finish a whole pot. This time, four adults came to Qinhuangdao together, so we were finally able to order a small portion.

When the meat hot pot arrived, it was layered three levels high. The top layer had beef, beef tongue, and starch jelly (mengzi). The middle layer had chicken and meatballs, and the bottom was filled with pickled cabbage and kelp. To eat it, you first take the top layer off and put it on a plate, then start eating the meatballs and chicken. They put a large pot of meat broth next to you. You have to add broth as you eat because the liquid in the pot disappears quickly. If you add it too slowly, the vegetables at the bottom will burn.

After eating some of the chicken and meatballs, you put the beef tongue, starch jelly, and beef back into the pot to eat with the broth. By the end, you are left with the pickled cabbage and kelp, which we thought were also delicious. The pickled cabbage is very appetizing. Even though it was a small pot, all four of us were full by the end.













On Saturday, we had lunch at Fenghuanglou, a famous restaurant in Qinhuangdao. We ate at their Shanhaiguan branch before, but this time we visited the Hebei Avenue branch in the Haigang District.

The blue banner (lanhuang) at their entrance is very traditional. In the past, a soup pot sign and a blue banner were essential for restaurants run by Hui Muslims. They had to hang the blue banner when opening and take it down when closing each day. Some people now call a blue sign a blue banner, but that is incorrect. A real blue banner is a wooden hoop covered with blue paper strips. The 1936 series 'Muslim Restaurants in Beiping' in the Zhenzong Monthly Magazine described this in detail.

They serve traditional Hui Muslim dishes, barbecue, and seafood. We ordered twice-cooked beef (huishao niurou), stewed tofu with fresh shrimp and loofah, steamed flounder, shrimp with garlic and vermicelli, pan-fried dumplings (guotie) with shrimp and three vegetarian ingredients, and spicy stir-fried yellow clams. Twice-cooked beef is a specialty of Hui Muslims in Qinhuangdao. The outside is coated like sweet and sour pork (guobaorou), while the inside contains chunks of stewed meat. It goes perfectly with rice. Their fish and shrimp are very fresh, and everyone really enjoyed the shrimp. The pan-fried dumplings with shrimp and three vegetarian ingredients are also a specialty. If you do not want rice, just order these dumplings as your main dish.

The restaurant has a nice atmosphere with large windows that let in comfortable sunlight.























On Saturday night, I went to the famous Muchunyuan soup dumpling (guantangbao) shop in the Haigang District of Qinhuangdao. I ordered their signature sea cucumber and shrimp soup dumplings, lamb and cucumber soup dumplings, a mixed seafood stir-fry (quanbao), stir-fried bok choy with wood ear mushrooms and tofu skin, grilled squid, and sesame sweet potato. These halal restaurants in Qinhuangdao really have huge menus.

You must take a small bite of the soup dumpling first to sip the broth, or it will definitely squirt onto your clothes. I prefer the lamb and cucumber filling because the diced cucumber makes it taste very fresh. The mixed seafood stir-fry is a big, fragrant plate of various seafood cooked quickly over high heat. The grilled squid is spicy and savory, and the texture is quite good. The sesame sweet potato has a sugary crust that is slightly stringy, and the yellow-fleshed sweet potato inside is very fragrant; children especially love it.



















Besides the soup dumplings (guantangbao), the steamed dumpling (shaomai) shop on Minzu Road in Qinhuangdao is also very famous. There were a lot of people when we arrived just after twelve, but we managed to find an empty table. We ordered steamed dumplings (shaomai) with lamb and fennel filling, and others with a six-ingredient filling of winter bamboo shoots, carrots, wood ear mushrooms, vermicelli, and eggs. One steamer holds 20 dumplings weighing half a jin, but you can also order a smaller portion of three liang. The steamed dumplings (shaomai) are not as oily as the ones in Inner Mongolia. Both the meat and vegetable versions are light and fresh, and kids really enjoy them. We also ordered braised mixed sea fish (jiangmen haizayu) and spinach starch noodles (bocai fengezi). The fish took a little longer to arrive, but it was braised until very flavorful. I really like steamed dumplings (shaomai) with seafood. I often ate them this way back when I was in Shanhaiguan.

















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Summary: Sidon, also known as Saida, is shown through its old streets, mosques, sea views, markets, and local food. This account follows the original day trip south from Beirut while keeping the place names and photos in order.

We took a minibus from the southern suburbs of Beirut and traveled 40 kilometers south to reach Sidon, the third-largest city in Lebanon. Sidon has a history of over 6,000 years and is one of the oldest cities in the world. It played a key role in Mediterranean trade and is now a well-preserved Sunni ancient city on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.

Castle

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





Opposite the Sea Castle, there is a Land Castle on a hill in the southern part of the ancient city. They guard the safety of the ancient city from both ends.

The Land Castle is also called the Castle of Mu'izz or the Castle of Saint Louis. It was ordered to be built in the late 10th century by the fourth Fatimid Caliph, al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah (reigned 953-975), and was named the Castle of Mu'izz.

In 1253, King Louis IX of France (known as Saint Louis), the leader of the Seventh Crusade, ordered the reconstruction of the walls of Sidon. The Land Castle was also rebuilt during this period and has since been called the Castle of Saint Louis. Fakhr al-Din II, the Druze Emir who ruled Lebanon in the 17th century, rebuilt the castle again, but it later fell into ruins, and parts of the walls collapsed in the late Ottoman era.

In 1948, when Israel carried out a mass expulsion of Palestinians, the Land Castle served as a shelter for Palestinian refugees. To persecute Palestinian refugees, Israel ruthlessly shelled the Land Castle, causing further damage. These scars have become a witness to the suffering of the Palestinian people.





Streets

Entering the labyrinthine streets of the ancient city from the north gate, many houses are built over the streets, forming tunnels. People set up stalls in these tunnels, selling a wide variety of goods, which makes the area feel very lively.





Market

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





Food

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







Have a mint lemonade at Bab Al Saray Cafe in the 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 also very authentic.





The famous falafel shop in the ancient city is Falafel Abou Rami. They opened in 1988 and are very famous in Lebanon. Their falafel is made from a mixture of chickpeas and fava beans, and it is fried fresh to order. You can add pickled cucumbers, pickled tomatoes, and yogurt to make a salad, or wrap it in flatbread (bing). We bought one wrap and it was enough for two people; the portion is huge!







Mosque

El Kikhia Mosque was built in 1625 by Mahmoud Kitkhuda and is a representative Ottoman-era mosque in Lebanon. This mosque is famous for its six domes, and the main hall features a white marble pulpit (minbar).





Across from El Kikhia Mosque is Al-Qtaishieh Mosque, where we performed our afternoon prayer (asr). Al-Qtaishieh Mosque was built in the 16th century by Sheikh Ali Ibn Mohammad Qtaish and houses beautiful Ottoman tiles.





The Great Mosque of El-Omari is the main mosque in the old city of Sidon, and it is where the Eid prayer is held. The Great Mosque of El-Omari is located on a hillside on the west side of the old city of Sidon and is built of massive sandstone over a meter thick.

The architecture of the Great Mosque of El-Omari dates back to the Crusader era; in the 13th century, the Knights Hospitaller built it as a military fortress, including a dining hall, a church, and stables. In 1291, the Mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil (reigned 1290-93) conquered the Crusader castles, including Sidon, ending the Crusader states that had existed 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 retains the 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, added a prayer niche (mihrab) and a pulpit (minbar) on the south side, and added an outer courtyard with a water room and a school on the north side. In the late 19th century, the Ottoman Empire renovated the Great Mosque of El-Omari and built the current minaret.

During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Great Mosque of El-Omari was hit by artillery fire multiple times and was severely damaged. The Hariri Foundation led the restoration of the site in 1986, and it received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989.



Al-Bahr Mosque was built in 1373 with a donation from Hassan bin Sawah; it features Mamluk-era architectural styles, including thick walls and cross-vaults, and uses granite columns from the ancient Roman period.





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





Inn

From the Hammam Al Jadeed bathhouse, head west through the intricate alleys to reach the massive Ottoman caravanserai, Khan al-Franj. Khan al-Franj inn 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 live in, 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 why it is called the French Inn. The property is currently owned by France, and the French Cultural Institute is located here. The Hariri Foundation leased the space for 35 years, restoring the heritage site and opening it as a cultural center that hosts various 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.





Entering the old city of Sidon from the north, the first attraction is the underground Khan Sacy Archaeological Museum. Khan Sacy consists of several arched rooms, which 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 period (1201-1517), three wells of different architectural styles, and a multi-purpose oven from the Ottoman period (1517-1918).



Hammam

Continuing south along the main road of the old city of Sidon, you can 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 and is a representative example of a Turkish bath in Lebanon during the Ottoman period. The bathhouse consists of 10 rooms, including bathing, massage, and sauna areas, each connected by corridors and decorated with unique marble floors and skylights.

This bathhouse was used until 1948, when it closed due to the spread of tap water pipes. The bathhouse was later used as a carpentry workshop and warehouse, and it was damaged during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, one of the domes of the bathhouse was shelled and has not been repaired to this day. In 2018, Said Bacho, founder and president of the Sharqy Foundation for Cultural Development and Innovation, acquired the Hammam Al Jadeed bathhouse. In 2019, the bathhouse, which had been closed for 71 years, reopened as a historical site.



Workshop

After leaving the Great Mosque of Omar, we went to visit the Sidon Soap Museum. The soap workshop where the museum is located was built by Hammoud in the 17th century, taken over by the Audi family in the 1880s, and had a residence added upstairs. In the 1950s, the Audi family left Sidon for Beirut, and the building became a school. It was abandoned during the Lebanese War in the 1980s, and refugees lived on the first 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.



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Summary: A 1985 book of Hui Muslim calligraphy and painting offers a rare look at how Muslim life in China was drawn and remembered in the 1980s. This account keeps the artist names, artwork notes, and image order from the original post.

Yesterday at the China Bookstore in Dengshikou, Beijing, I found a copy of the 1985 book Collection of Chinese Muslim Calligraphy and Painting. I want to share some of the works from it with you.





The Holy Prophet's Horse (Zhisheng Xianma) was painted by Yang Zhaosan, a Hui Muslim from Lingyuan, Liaoning. He was the deputy editor-in-chief of the China Environment News.



The Prophet's Cave of Refuge (Musheng Binandong) was painted by Ma Zhaoren, a Hui Muslim from Beijing. He was an art designer at the Beijing Film Studio.



Friday Sermon (Zhuma Ri Xuanjiang) was painted by Ma Fanghua, a Hui Muslim from Lanzhou. She was an art editor for the Feitian monthly magazine at the Gansu Federation of Literary and Art Circles.



Niujie Mosque (Niujie Libaisi) was painted by Wu Biduan, a Hui Muslim from Nanjing. He was a professor and the head of the Printmaking Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.



Tongxin Mosque (Tongxin Qingzhensi) was painted by Ma Ying, a Hui Muslim from Tongxin, Ningxia. He was the director of the Tongxin County Cultural Center.



Lanzhou Floating Mosque (Lanzhou Shuishang Qingzhensi) was painted by Gao Zhiguo, a Hui Muslim from Lanzhou. He was a worker at the Gansu 3512 Factory.



Springtime at Niujie (Niujie Chunguang) was painted by Wang Daguan, a Hui Muslim from Beijing. He was an executive director of the China Railway Literary Association.





New Look of Shadian (Shadian Xinmao) was painted by Yan Fu, a specially invited painter for the Cultural Group of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the CPPCC.



Visiting the Market (Guang Jishi) and Peace (Heping) were painted by Cheng Lian'ou, a Hui Muslim from Xinjiang, Shanxi. He was a labor union official at the Lanzhou Electric Power Repair and Manufacturing Plant.





Light Reflecting the Galaxy, Spirit Soaring to the Heavens (Guang Ying Xinghe Qi Chong Xiaohan) was painted by Sun Jingxiu, a professor at the Shandong University of Arts.

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Summary: Tripoli in northern Lebanon is shown through its old city streets, mosques, markets, and everyday food. The account follows the original route from Beirut to Tripoli while keeping the local names, religious sites, and photographs in order.

Tripoli is in northern Lebanon. It takes about an hour to get there by minibus from across the street from the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque in the capital, Beirut.

In 1289, the Mamluk dynasty took Tripoli from the Crusaders. They destroyed the old city and built a new one 4 kilometers inland below the castle, turning it into an important historic city for the faith. Today, about 35 ancient buildings from the Mamluk period remain in the old city of Tripoli. This makes Tripoli the city with the second-most preserved Mamluk monuments after Cairo.

After the Ottoman Empire left Lebanon in 1918, Tripoli fell into a long decline. The Lebanese Civil War that began in 1975 hit Tripoli hard. In 1985, a battle between Sunni and Alawite militias forced 200,000 people to leave their homes and led to the Syrian army staying in Tripoli until 2005. After the civil war ended, Tripoli seemed to be forgotten, and more than half of its residents live in poverty. At the same time, conflicts between Sunni and Alawite groups happen from time to time, often with bombings and suicide attacks, which has long made Tripoli an unsuitable place for tourism.

Table of Contents

Castle

Tripoli Castle: Rebuilt by the Mamluk dynasty in 1289 and again by Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire in 1521.

City Gates

Al-Mahatra Gate: Named after the military musicians who played to encourage the troops.

Mosques

Mansouri Great Mosque: Built by the Mamluk dynasty in 1294.

Taynal Mosque: Built by the Mamluk dynasty in 1336.

Attar Mosque: Built in the 1350s by a local wealthy perfume merchant; it is currently closed.

Al-Uwaysiyat Mosque: Built by the Mamluk dynasty in 1461.

Hanging Mosque (Muallaq Mosque): Built by the Ottoman Empire in 1561.

Tawba Mosque: Rebuilt by the Ottoman Empire in 1612.

Burtasi Mosque: Built by the Mamluk dynasty in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

Madrasas

In the 14th century, the Mamluk dynasty built six madrasas around the Mansouri Great Mosque.

Hammam

Al Jadid Hammam: Built during the Ottoman period in 1740; it is currently closed.

Ezzedin Hammam: Built by the Mamluk dynasty in the late 13th century; it is currently open for visitors.

Market

Haraj Market: Built in the 14th century during the Mamluk dynasty.

Inn

Al Saboun Soap Inn: Built in 1480 during the late Mamluk dynasty, where you can buy traditional soap.

Misriyyin Soap Inn: Built in the 14th century during the Mamluk dynasty, where you can buy traditional soap.

Khayyatin Tailor Inn: Built in 1339 during the Mamluk dynasty, where you can buy traditional clothing.

Askar Inn: Built in the 14th century during the Mamluk dynasty, currently closed.

Food

Cheese flatbread in the market.

Eat at Akra Restaurant: Traditional bean stew brunch.

Castle

The site of Tripoli Castle was originally a Shia cemetery from the Fatimid dynasty. During the Frankish Crusader siege of Tripoli in 1102-1103, the Crusader leader Raymond of Saint-Gilles ordered it to be built into a castle, so it was later also called Saint-Gilles Castle. In 1289, after the Mamluk dynasty captured Tripoli, they rebuilt the castle using many Roman columns and other building materials found nearby. In 1521, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the castle again, changing the arrow slits into cannon ports. In the early 19th century, the Ottoman governor of Tripoli carried out the last major renovation of the castle, giving it its current appearance.

The castle gate consists of two towers. The moat in front originally had a drawbridge, which has now been replaced by a stone bridge. The black and white marble facade on the gate was built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1521. The stone inscription above reads: 'May the Emir never cease to obey his command, restoring this sacred castle, making it a strong fortress forever.'









City Gates

Al-Mahatra Gate in the old city of Tripoli. The name of this gate comes from the military musicians who played to encourage the army. Now that the war is over, houses have been built on top of the gate, and it has become a quiet alley.



Mosques

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. It is the first building constructed by the Mamluk dynasty in Tripoli.

In 1109, the French Crusaders occupied Tripoli. For the next 180 years, Tripoli was ruled by European Christian nobles. In 1289, the Mamluk army arrived at the walls of Tripoli carrying large catapults. Under the assault of catapults, the two towers of Tripoli soon collapsed. The Mamluk army stormed the city and leveled it to the ground.

Shortly after, the Mamluk dynasty began building a new city at the foot of the castle on Tripoli's Pilgrim Mountain (Jabal al-Hajj). This included the Great Mansouri Mosque, built on the ruins of a Crusader church at the base of the hill. The mosque's minaret (mabkhara) is likely part of the Crusader Church of St. Mary, and the main gate may also incorporate the original Crusader church entrance. The main prayer hall was built by the Mamluk dynasty in 1294, and the courtyard's surrounding colonnades were added in 1314 by the Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad.





Taynal Mosque was built in 1336 by order of the Mamluk governor of Tripoli, Amir Taynal. The main prayer hall of Taynal Mosque consists of two consecutive halls. The most ornate feature is the entrance to the second hall, which has a gate with a stalactite-style cornice (muqarnas) and uses the ablaq technique of alternating black and white marble. Inside the prayer hall are some ancient Corinthian columns, which are thought to have come from a Crusader-era church or an even older Roman temple.





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



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





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





The construction date of Tawba Mosque is unknown, though it is believed to have been built during the Mamluk period. Because it sits right next to the riverbank, the stone inscription marking its construction was likely washed away in a flood. The inscription currently at the mosque entrance states that it was rebuilt after a flood in 1612. Many mosques in Lebanon lock their doors outside of prayer times, so I could not enter and only saw the octagonal minaret.



Burtasi Mosque was built by Isa ibn Umar al-Burtasi during the Mamluk period. Since Isa passed away in 1324, we can assume the mosque was built between the late 13th century and 1324. A flood in 1955 destroyed all the houses around Burtasi Mosque, and it is now the only building left standing on the riverbank. The minaret above the main gate is considered the most beautiful minaret in Tripoli. Above the three-tiered muqarnas cornice is a square balcony featuring Moorish-style double-arched windows. This type of double arch is a classic structure found in Muslim architecture in Andalusia, southern Spain.



Madrasas

During the 14th century, the Mamluk dynasty established six colleges around the Great Mansouri Mosque, which trained a large number of students. These include al-Khayriyya Hasan (1309 or later), al-Qartawiyya (c. 1326), al-Shamsiyya (1349), al-Nasiriyya (between 1354–60), al-Nuriyya (14th century), and the Mashhad Madrasa. The al-Qartawiyya Madrasa outside the east wall of the Mansouri Great Mosque is the most magnificent, though we could not find the main gate in the maze-like alleys of the old city, we did see the calligraphy carvings on the school's wall.







Hammam

Right next to the Hanging Mosque is the Al Jadid bathhouse (Hammam), built in 1740 during the Ottoman period, which was used until the 1970s and closed after the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War. This bathhouse was a gift to Tripoli from the Damascus governor Asad Pasha Al Azem, and its gate is exquisite, featuring a fourteen-link chain carved from a single piece of stone.





The Ezzedin bathhouse (Hammam) was the first public bathhouse built by the Mamluk dynasty after they occupied Tripoli, commissioned by Emir Ezzedin Aibek (who ruled Tripoli from 1293 to 1298) and constructed using many marble pieces from the Byzantine and Crusader eras. This bathhouse operated from the end of the 13th century until 1975, when it closed due to the start of the Lebanese Civil War. It has now been restored and is free to visit.





Market

The markets in Tripoli's old city are very lively, which is a sharp contrast to Beirut. Ibn Battuta wrote in his travelogue: 'Afterward, we arrived at the city of Tripoli.' It is an important town in Sham, with several small rivers flowing through it. It is surrounded by fragrant orchards and lush green trees. The sea surrounds it with its deep blue water, and the earth nourishes it with its treasures. The goods in the market are dazzling and truly amazing.

We drank street coffee at the market and saw all kinds of dairy products, which was very interesting.







The Haraj market was built in the 14th century and has an 8-meter-high vaulted ceiling supported by black granite columns, some of which may be architectural pieces from the ancient Roman or Byzantine eras. The market has two floors; the upper rooms were for merchants to stay in and had wooden windows through which their female relatives could look down at the market, while the lower floor was for selling goods.

The 1983 bombing during the Lebanese Civil War caused severe damage to the Haraj market, which was later restored to its current state after a long process.





Inn

Tripoli has always been famous for producing perfume and handmade soap, with the most well-known brand being Bader Hassoun's Khan Al Saboun (Soap Inn). The history of the Hassoun family producing soap in Tripoli dates back to the early Mamluk dynasty in 1256, while the Soap Inn (Khan Al Saboun) in the old city of Tripoli was built in the late Mamluk dynasty in 1480.

The Soap Inn has a courtyard with two levels of galleries and a pool in the middle. The second floor of the gallery was for caravan merchants to stay, while the first floor was for making and selling soap. People say the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent once received soap from Tripoli as a tribute, and at the urging of the Queen, Suleiman ordered the expansion of the Soap Inn in Tripoli. After it was built, the soap inn became a trade center for making and selling soap, and it started exporting soap to Europe. Today, the Bader Hassoun soap shop is located right here.

In 1993, Bader Hassoun's jewelry store in the old city of Tripoli was robbed, which led him to decide to restore his family's tradition of making soap. He and his wife spent one night making traditional soap with olive oil, dates, glycerin, natural coloring, and spices, and it all sold out the next day.

We bought the most traditional natural soap at the shop, which comes in three scents: green tea, lavender, and cedar. Cedar is an important symbol of Lebanon, and Lebanon is also known as the Land of Cedars. We also bought an olive oil soap safe for babies, which I can use for Suleiman.









Misriyyin Inn is located in the northern part of the old city of Tripoli and dates back to the Mamluk period in the 14th century. There is a Sharkass soap shop on the second floor of the inn, and they have been making traditional olive oil soap since 1803. The Tripoli Soap shop on the first floor opened in 1937, and you can watch the process of making natural soap on-site here.





Right next to the Ezzedin bathhouse is the Tailors' Inn (Khan Khayyatin), a Mamluk-era commercial inn built by Prince Badr al-Din in 1339 that mainly sold needles, thread, textiles, and other sewing supplies. This is not a typical courtyard inn, but consists of two rows of shops with stores on the first floor and guest rooms on the second, which are not connected in the middle, and the top is covered by ten horizontally connected arches. People say it has its current shape because it was built on the foundation of a Byzantine-Crusader building.



Askar Inn (Khan) was built during the Mamluk period in the 14th century and is the largest commercial inn in Tripoli.



Food

Cheese flatbread (manakish) at the market, which is likely the most classic snack in the market.





We had a traditional stewed bean brunch at Akra restaurant, ordering traditional stewed fava beans and chickpeas, along with hummus topped with cashews and peanuts, all eaten inside pita bread.





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