Xiaotaoyuan Mosque

Xiaotaoyuan Mosque

Xiaotaoyuan Mosque is a protected cultural heritage site of Shanghai.

Originally known as the Western Mosque or Shanghai Western City Mosque, Xiaotaoyuan Mosque is a center for religious, educational, and cultural activities of Muslims in Shanghai. It earned the name "Xiaotaoyuan Mosque" because its entrance faces Xiaotaoyuan Street. The mosque was first built in 1917. Mr. Jin Ziyun, a board member of the Shanghai Mosque Council, invested over 12,000 silver dollars to purchase a 2.4-acre garden residence and donated it as a mosque. In 1925, it was rebuilt at its current location as a four-domed mosque featuring West Asian Islamic architectural style. It now also houses institutions such as the Shanghai Mosque Management Committee and the Shanghai Islamic Association.

The north-facing main gate of the mosque is an arched wrought-iron gate with floral patterns. The number 1343 represents the Islamic calendar year, equivalent to 1925. The lintel is inlaid with the golden characters “清真寺” (Mosque). A horizontal inscription above the gate quotes a verse from the Quran: “Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam.” The east facade of the building features a Tashkent-style columned porch with pointed arch doors and windows. The roof has a central and four corner Arabic-style domes, with a moon-viewing pavilion atop the central large dome. A tall crescent and star pole stands atop the pavilion, serving as an important symbol of Islamic architecture. Inside the gate lies a spacious rectangular courtyard.

On the east side of the courtyard stands a three-story building with a hall-like structure. The second and third floors house a library and reading room containing various Chinese and foreign editions of the Quran and precious Islamic relics. The ground floor serves as a lecture hall, featuring a Qing Dynasty Chinese woodblock-printed Quran and a large Urdu-annotated Indian edition of the Quran. The walls display calligraphy, scrolls, and decorations, along with incense burners, altars, and vases. At the northern end of the courtyard are the imam’s office, a reception room, and a washing area.

The west side of the courtyard contains a two-story square prayer hall with Islamic architectural features. Its large-span vaulted structure is rare among Islamic buildings in China. The ground floor features a main prayer hall with a clear height of 4.7 meters, while the upper floor has a secondary hall with a clear height of 5.7 meters, accommodating up to 1,000 worshippers. The lintel of the ground floor door bears a plaque inscribed with the words “显扬正教” (Promote the Righteous Religion), and the doorway is adorned with two pairs of redwood Arabic couplets. The upper lintel is inlaid with a verse from the Quran. Between the ground and upper floors on the west side, there is a long gap enclosed by a bronze railing. In the absence of sound equipment, when the imam led prayers and recited the Quran on the ground floor, the sound could be heard upstairs through this gap.

The top of the prayer hall features a stone-paved platform, with a moon-viewing pavilion atop the central large dome. A tall crescent and star pole stands on the arched pavilion roof, one of the symbols of an Islamic mosque. The platform has four Arabic-style domes at its corners, and the southwest and northwest corners each have a stone platform and four benches, designated for Quran recitation and rest.

The prayer hall has three wide main doors, 12 glass windows each decorated with 25 patterns, four octagonal pillars, and a central chandelier. The space between the doors is inlaid with redwood Arabic couplets. The roof of the prayer hall is a stone-paved platform, with a square moon-viewing pavilion at its center. The central dome of the roof platform features a large opening, and those on the upper level can also hear proceedings. The lower part of the hall is elevated two meters deep to prevent moisture, pests, and deformation. The central part of the roof holds the moon-viewing pavilion, and the four corners feature four small Arabic-style domed pavilions, each with a stone platform and four benches for devout Muslims to recite the Quran and rest. On the east side of the courtyard stands a three-story building with a traditional Chinese hall structure. The second and third floors now serve as a library and reading room, housing various Chinese and foreign editions of the Quran.

A major mosque of Shanghai Islam and the location of the Shanghai Islamic Association. Established in 1917 by Muslim residents in Shanghai, the mosque building was redesigned in 1925 under the guidance of benefactor Jin Ziyun, becoming a religious structure with Islamic characteristics. The main building is a square grand prayer hall, with a moon-viewing pavilion at the center of the roof platform and a crescent and star pole, a symbol of Islam. After multiple renovations following the liberation of Shanghai, it has regained its former grandeur and serves as an important venue for religious activities for Muslims from Shanghai and other regions.

Since its establishment, the mosque has hosted various schools: in 1928, it served as the initial site of the Shanghai Islamic Normal School (later relocated to Qinglian Street). Later, it also established traditional religious education and regular elementary schools such as the Qingzhen National Elementary School, Mingcheng Elementary School, Chongben Elementary School, and the Shanghai Muslim Orphanage. From 1917 to 1937, the mosque received Muslims from Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and other parts of China who gathered in Shanghai to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. It provided them with accommodation, food, assistance with passports, currency exchange, and ship ticket purchases, making it a hub for Chinese Muslims embarking on the Hajj.

Renowned Islamic scholars such as Ma Junsan, Ma Jingwu, and Ma Yiting once presided over religious affairs here, spreading the ideas of the Ikhwan movement emphasizing “respect for scriptures and reform of customs,” as well as religious education adapted to the trends of the time.

On April 4, 2014, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government officially designated and announced Xiaotaoyuan Mosque as a Shanghai Cultural Heritage Site (Hu Fu Fa [2014] No. 29).

Address: No. 52, Xiaotaoyuan Street, Huangpu District, Shanghai

Type: Mosque

Recommended visiting time: 0.5–1 hour

Phone: 021-63775442

Opening hours:

4:00-19:00

Ticket information:

Free admission.

Transportation

Take bus routes 932, 569, 11, 126, 736, 920, 926, 930, 66, 929, 24, 64, 581, or 715 and get off at Xiaotaoyuan Mosque.