Qingjing Mosque

Qingjing Mosque, also known as Ashab Mosque, stands on Tumen Street in the Licheng District of Quanzhou, Fujian. Tradition dates its founding to 1009 during the Northern Song dynasty, and an inscription records a major rebuilding in 1310 under the Yuan dynasty by a Persian-descended craftsman, Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Quds of Shiraz. That date places the surviving gate tower in the heyday of Quanzhou's role as the eastern terminus of the maritime Silk Road. The most striking remnant is the monumental granite gate, with a pointed iwan-style arch, a dome-like vault and bands of white and green stone, which follows West Asian architectural models and is built entirely of locally quarried granite. Behind it, the original prayer hall roofed with a dome collapsed after an earthquake in 1607, and the walls of the hall survive as a roofless enclosure with a mihrab niche on the south-west side. A Ming-era restoration in 1609 added a Chinese-style ritual hall and a courtyard, so the compound combines Middle Eastern and Fujianese elements. Inscribed stone tablets in Arabic and Chinese record the history of the mosque, including an imperial edict protecting it. Nearby, the Tomb of the Two Muslim Sages on Lingshan reflects the same community. The mosque is a working place of worship for Quanzhou's Muslim population, which has expanded the compound with a modern prayer hall, so a visit involves modest dress and quiet behaviour. Curation is informal: visitors walk through the courtyard past explanatory stelae and a small exhibition room covering Islam in China. Conservation work has stabilised the gate and the ruined hall walls, and the site is protected at national level.