Guyuan Mosque

　　Guyuan is one of the main settlements of the Hui ethnic group in China. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the Hui people have lived and worked diligently on the yellow land of Xihai Gu, with mosques scattered across the landscape reflecting the unique ethnic character. Among the existing mosques, there are six from the Ming Dynasty, 428 from the Qing Dynasty, 615 from the Republican era, and the rest were built after the founding of the People’s Republic of China—averaging one mosque per 11.46 square kilometers. Notable ones include: Pengyang Chengguan Mosque, Bei Wu Family Mosque, Xiaohé Mosque, Haiyuan Grand Mosque, and Nanguan Mosque.

　　Historical mosques in Guyuan often adopted the architectural style of ancient Chinese palaces—raised ridges, upturned eaves, majestic and simple, solemn and dignified. Newly built mosques today come in various forms, but none can completely escape the influence of the region’s geographic and economic conditions. Their most fundamental characteristics are simplicity, minimal ornamentation, and an overall emphasis on orderliness, plainness, and grandeur.