During our travel to Guilin last year, we came about an old mosque situated not far from the hotel where we stayed. Built in the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, the Guilin Ancient Mosque was located along the Taohuajiang River.
The mosque covers an area of 5669 square meters. Its building is rather inwards making it not visibly spotted from the main street. Like many of the typical mosques in China, the Ancient Mosque was built with emphasis on symmetry that connotes a sense of grandeur.
The mosque was badly damaged during wars but it was rebuilt in the middle years of Ming Dynasty. It then suffered another unfortunate fate when during the Japanese occupation in Guilin.
In 1944, the mosque was burnt after the Japanese occupied Guilin.
After 1945 Muslims in Guilin began to raise funds for the reconstruction of the ancient mosque. Finally in 1947, the prayer hall and some auxiliary houses were built in combined efforts, and Guangxi Arabic Language School was established too.
Again in 1967, it was seriously ruined, resulting in the total disappearance of the grand occasions in the old days. After 1979, under the advocating of the Islam Association of the city, a start-up group responsible for the reconstruction of the mosque was founded. Not long after that, they began to raise funds in the rebuilding of the Guilin Ancient Mosque .
Fresh slaughtered meat sold at the entrance of the mosque
At present, there are about 4500 Muslims living in the community of Guilin Ancient Mousque, all of whom are Hui Nationality.
No comments:
Post a Comment