Xinjiang is usually imagined as a land of domes and minarets, and there are plenty of those, but the province also has a large population of Hui - Chinese-speaking Muslims whose ancestors came from the central provinces - and their mosques look Chinese. The Shaanxi Grand Mosque in Urumqi is the largest and best known of them, built by a congregation with roots in Shaanxi, in the old quarter of the city.
The building
The mosque is laid out on a courtyard plan with the prayer hall at the western end, and it is built in the Chinese architectural tradition: grey brick and timber, a tiled roof with upturned eaves, decorative bracket sets under the overhang, and a wooden pavilion tower that serves the function of a minaret without looking like a Middle Eastern one. The courtyard has trees and a paved area, and the halls are decorated with Arabic calligraphy in a Chinese setting. It is a striking hybrid, and it makes the point that Islam in China has been present for so long that it has taken on local forms.
The quarter around it
The mosque stands in a part of the old city where there is a concentration of Hui businesses and restaurants, with the food you would expect from the Hui tradition: hand-pulled noodles, braised beef and mutton, dumplings, flatbread and offal, along with the dried fruit, nuts and pastries that the community's bakers and confectioners sell. The surrounding streets have been much rebuilt, but the food trade is intact and busy, and a morning spent eating through it is a good counterweight to the more famous Uyghur food of the bazaars, which is different in its spicing and its ingredients.
Practical notes
The mosque is in the Tianshan district of Urumqi, a short taxi ride from the centre, and is generally open to visitors outside prayer times; ask before entering, dress modestly and cover your head, and remove your shoes if you go into the prayer hall. Photography inside is usually not permitted. The surrounding food streets are at their best at lunch and in the early evening. Urumqi is the main transport hub of Xinjiang, so the mosque and the district around it are easy to fit into a half day between flights or trains.
