The Oldest Mosque in China


When people think of some of the earliest mosques in the world, they think of places like Mecca, Medina, Damascus, and Jerusalem. One place most people don’t think of is Xi’an (Chang’an). This port city in the province of Shaanxi, is home to China’s oldest mosque, the 1,300 year-old Huaisheng Mosque.

The mosque was given the name Huaisheng, meaning “remember the sage”, in remembrance of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It was allegedly built and named by his maternal uncle Sa’ad ibn Abi Waqqas (Wan Gesi). Hadhrat Uthman ibn Affan (ra) is reported to have sent the envoy in 650 A.D. to invite the Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty to join Islam. The Emperor declined the invitation, but respected Islamic teachings, and believed it to be compatible with his Confucian life philosophy. He even granted permission for the Muslim envoy to build a mosque in the city.

The Huaisheng Mosque became the first in China, and made Xi’an an important settlement for the Arab (Ta’Shi) and Persian (Po’Shi) merchants who travelled there along the Silk Road. The buildup of the settlement populations, and the mixing with the ethnic Turks and Chinese created an integrated populace that now forms the base of the Hui ethnic group







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I think you're probably referring to Huaisheng Mosque 怀圣寺 in Guangzhou. There is a wikipedia article about this mosque at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaisheng_Mosque

Yes, it's one of the earliest mosque built in China sometime around early Tang period.

The current existing mosque was a rebuilt in 1350, after suffering a fire destruction.

This is true, this was a time period when many islamic people's were beginning to settle in China and interestingly enough began the roots of the ethnic Hui people