Phoenix Mosque

{{Short description|Mosque in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{distinguish|Phoenix Mountain Mosque}} {{Infobox religious building | name = Phoenix Mosque | native_name = 凤凰寺 | native_name_lang = zh-hant | image = Upper view of phoenix mosque.jpg | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | map_type = Zhejiang | map_size = 250px | map_alt = | map_relief = 1 | map_caption = Location of the mosque in [[Zhejiang]] | mapframe = yes | coordinates = {{Coord|30|14|52|N|120|9|56|E|type:landmark_region:CN|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_footnotes = | religious_affiliation = [[Sunni Islam]] | locale = | location = [[Hangzhou]], [[Zhejiang]] | country = [[China]] | deity = | rite = | sect = | tradition = | festival =  | administration = | consecration_year = | organisational_status = [[Mosque]] | functional_status = Active | heritage_designation = | ownership = | governing_body = | leadership = | bhattaraka = | patron = | website = | architect = | architecture_type = Mosque | architecture_style = {{ubl|[[Chinese architecture|Chinese]]|[[Islamic architecture|Islamic]]}} | founded_by = | creator = | funded_by = | general_contractor = | established = | groundbreaking = | year_completed = {{ubl|{{circa|13th century}} {{small|(original)}}|1451 {{small|(restoration)}}|1743 {{small|(renovations)}}|{{nowrap|1928 {{small|(minarets removed)}}}}|{{nowrap|1953 {{small|(''[[iwan]]'' constructed)}}}}}} | construction_cost = | date_demolished =  | facade_direction = | capacity = | length = | width = | width_nave = | interior_area = | height_max = | dome_quantity = 3 | dome_height_outer = | dome_height_inner = | dome_dia_outer = | dome_dia_inner = | minaret_quantity = 1 {{small|(removed in 1928)}} | minaret_height = | spire_quantity = | spire_height = | site_area = | temple_quantity = | monument_quantity = | shrine_quantity = | inscriptions = | materials = Bricks; redwood | elevation_m =  | elevation_footnotes = | nrhp = | designated = | added = | refnum = | footnotes = | module = {{Infobox designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = Major Historic and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (China) | designation1_offname = Phoenix Mosque<br/>凤凰寺 | designation1_type = Cultural | designation1_criteria = Religion | designation1_date = | delisted1_date = | designation1_partof = | designation1_number = 5-298 | designation1_free1name = | designation1_free1value = | designation1_free2name = | designation1_free2value = | designation1_free3name = | designation1_free3value = }} {{Infobox Chinese | headercolor = #9BE89B | child = yes | ibox-order = zh | order = st  | s = 凤凰寺 | t = 鳳凰寺 | p = Fènghuáng Sì }} }} [[File:Phoenix Mosque 07 2013-11.JPG|alt=A color picture of the structure of the Phoenix Mosque in Hangzhou. Shows the three-domed structure of the mosque with a large central dome and two surrounding dome.|thumb|Three-domed structure of the mosque]][[File:Phoenix Mosque 03 2013-11.jpg|alt=A color photo of a small model of the Phoenix Mosque.|thumb|A model showing the floor plan of the mosque]]

The '''Phoenix Mosque''' ({{zh|s=凤凰寺|t=鳳凰寺|p=Fènghuáng Sì}}) is a [[mosque]] in [[Hangzhou]], in the [[Zhejiang]] province of [[China]]. It is known for being one of the four great mosques of China. It is also one of the earliest mosque built in China. The origin of the mosque dates from the [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] or [[Song dynasty]].

The Phoenix Mosque had been rebuilt several times. It was first destroyed around the end of Song dynasty. During the following [[Yuan dynasty]], in 1281, the mosque was repaired under the financial assistance of Ala al-Din, a Persian settler in China.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=George |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo25077174.html |title=The Phoenix Mosque and the Persians of Medieval Hangzhou |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2018 |language=en}}</ref> The minaret of the mosque was removed in 1928 due to the construction of adjacent roads. In 1953, the mosque underwent a complete maintenance and repair project.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zjol.com.cn/05culture/system/2006/08/04/007787808.shtml |language= |title=凤凰寺 |publisher=浙江在线 |date= |accessdate=2013-12-31 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304194212/http://www.zjol.com.cn/05culture/system/2006/08/04/007787808.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The structure of the main building was heavily influenced by traditional [[Chinese architecture]] while also retaining features of [[Islamic architecture]]. The existing prayer hall was built in 1281 [[Common Era|CE]] during the rule of [[Kublai Khan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zjww.gov.cn/subject/2006-02-13/1036644.shtml |language=zh |title=杭州凤凰寺 |publisher=浙江省文物局 |date= |access-date=2013-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101055756/http://www.zjww.gov.cn/subject/2006-02-13/1036644.shtml |archive-date=2014-01-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Lane |first=George A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LktmDwAAQBAJ |title=The Phoenix Mosque and the Persians of Medieval Hangzhou |publisher=Gingko Library |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-909942-89-9 |location= |pages= |language=en}}</ref>

== Muslim community in Hangzhou == China's southeast coastal region was an important site for exchange between Chinese and Arabic communities through the maritime Silk Road. Particularly, this provided an opportunity for Muslim communities to be established in port cities like Hangzhou.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lei |first=Wan |title=The earliest Muslim communities in China |publisher=Riyadh |year=2017 |isbn=978-603-8206-39-3}}</ref> This cultural exchange was heightened when Hangzhou became the capital of the Song dynasty during its last century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ma |first=Jianchun |date=2011 |title=Muslim Fan and Hu businessmen Dwelling in Hangzhou during the Song Dynasty |journal=China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House |via=CNKI}}</ref> During the Song dynasty, a majority of the Muslim immigrants in Hangzhou came from an Arabic-Islamic cultural background due to the trade relations between the Arab world and Song government. Despite the steady growth of the Muslim community in the region, their influence on local society was still minimal.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=马 |first=娟 |date=2018 |title=元代杭州的穆斯林移民 |url=http://www.mzyj.net.cn/Admin/UploadFile/Issue/treotr2m.pdf |journal=民族研究 |volume=1 |lang=zh }}</ref>

After the fall of the Song dynasty, the new Mongol rulers of the Yuan dynasty continually welcomed Muslim traders and people into the region.<ref name=":4" /> During this period, Hangzhou became a flourishing cosmopolitan city with an influential and active Muslim community. Muslims in Hangzhou had their own settlements, burial grounds, and a few Friday mosques.<ref name=":5" /> Travelers like [[Marco Polo]] and [[Ibn Battuta]], described Hangzhou as being large and vibrant.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Chaffee |first=John |date=2006 |title=Diasporic Identities in the Historical Development of the Maritime Muslim Communities of Song-yuan China |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156852006779048408 |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=395–420 |doi=10.1163/156852006779048408|issn=0022-4995 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> In fact, Italian missionary [[Odoric of Pordenone]] even wrote that Hangzhou was "the City of Heaven" and noted that he met some people in Venice who had also visited Hangzhou.<ref name=":5" /> While a large portion of the Muslim community in Hangzhou were Arab and Persian Muslims, there were also diasporic Muslims from Annam, India, and Korea.<ref name=":6" /> Additionally, there were also some Muslim immigrants from other regions in China as well. Later in the [[Ming dynasty]], there was yet another influx of Chinese Muslims to Hangzhou as the region became a hotbed of the silk industry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zvi |first=Ben-Dor Benite |title=The dao of Muhammad: a cultural history of Muslims in late imperial China |date=2005 |publisher=Published by the Harvard University Asia Center |isbn=0-674-01774-9 |oclc=474878214}}</ref> Indeed, the Muslim community was so well-rooted that during the [[Qianlong Emperor|Qianlong period]] in the [[Qing dynasty]], the Qing emperor's consort, the Fragrant Concubine, visited the Phoenix Mosque whenever she passed through Hangzhou.<ref name=":4" />

== Architecture == The main entrance to the Phoenix Mosque is on the east side of the complex. Due to this, once a worshipper enters the complex, they immediately face the [[qibla]] containing the [[mihrab]]. Notably, it is the oldest mosque with this arrangement.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Steinhardt |first=Nancy Shatzman |title=China's early mosques |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4744-7285-2 |oclc=1145341149 |publisher= |location= }}</ref> The qibla is located at the back of a central, octagonal domed space. There are two domes on either side of the central dome that are hexagonal in shape.

The interior of the central dome is decorated with painting depicting flowers, mountains, animals, and rivers. These paintings are contained with a symmetrical floral motif. These well-preserved decorations date back to the [[Ming dynasty]]. The two surrounding domes have a similar design as well.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=The Mongols' Middle East: continuity and transformation in Ilkhanid Iran |date=2016 |author=De Nicola, Bruno |author2=Melville, C. P. |isbn=978-90-04-31472-6 |publisher= |location=Leiden |oclc=945693873}}</ref> The zone of transition between the dome and the prayer hall is decorated with honeycomb and tiered plaster surfaces. The prayer hall is made of brick and is the oldest remaining part of the building.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Chang, Jing Qi |year=1982 |title=Islamic Architecture in China |journal=The Changing Rural Habitat |volume=2: Background Papers |editor=Taylor, Brian Brace |location=Singapore |publisher=Concept Media/Aga Khan Award for Architecture |issn= }}</ref> The prayer hall is reminiscent of the [[muqarnas]], a structural motif common in Islamic mosque architecture.<ref name=":1" /> The mosque also features [[Dougong|corner bracketing]] and three domes, characteristic of Chinese temples.

The mosque features an I-shaped floor plan, which is named the gong-plan for the Chinese character "工."<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Steinhardt |first=Nancy Shatzman |date=2008-09-01 |title=China's Earliest Mosques |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2008.67.3.330 |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |volume=67 |issue=3|pages=330–361 |doi=10.1525/jsah.2008.67.3.330 |issn=0037-9808 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> This configuration is characterized by two large halls joined by narrow arcade. In Chinese architecture, this plan is usually reserved for important buildings. For instance, some of the halls in the [[Forbidden City]] in [[Beijing]] have this plan as well.<ref name=":0" /> Additionally, the floor plan of the mosque is said to also resembles its namesake "[[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]]," as the main worship hall spreads out beyond the center of the mosque like the wings of a phoenix.<ref name=":1" /> The first written association of the mosque with the phoenix is found on a 15th-century stele written by Liu Zhiping, but it is possible that the name predates the inscription.<ref name=":1" />

=== The steles and tombstones === Much of the historical record of the mosque is recorded on a collection of steles that are now housed within the mosque complex. They corroborate information about the historical location of the mosque and also describe other nearby centers of worship such as a [[Uyghurs|Uighur]] mosque and a [[Nestorianism|Nestorian]] church.<ref name=":2" /> These steles also show that the mosque has had many historical names before its current name. Some historical names include the Temple of Ritual Salutations, Wu-lin Gardens, and Li Bai Temple. Other steles in the mosque complex corroborate evidence that the mosque was built in the Tang dynasty but destroyed by fire at the end of the Song.<ref name=":2" />

In addition to the steles, the mosque currently houses twenty-one [[Yuan dynasty]] tombstones which were retrieved from a Muslim cemetery. These tombstones are written in stylized Arabic and Persian and detail the deaths of some military and religious figures, as well as merchants. Some of the tombstones include dates given in not only the [[Islamic calendar]], but the Turkish animal calendar and [[Chinese calendar]] as well. This shows the multicultural and cosmopolitan characteristic of Mongol rule in the area.<ref name=":2" /> The style of the inscriptions also shows the rich Muslim community of the area during this period in time. Three of the elegies on the tombstones were composed specifically for the memorialized person. Hangzhou not only hosted skilled engravers to inscribe the works, but also poets to write compositions for these steles.<ref name=":2" />

==Current Mosque == Today's Phoenix Mosque is around half the size that it was in the Song or Yuan dynasty. While it used to be one of the six mosques servicing the Muslim community in Hangzhou, at one stage it was the only remaining mosque.<ref name=":0" /> Since 2016, [[Jumu'ah|Friday prayers]] and [[Islamic holidays|festivals]] are not prayed at the mosque, and the prayer moved to the [[Hangzhou Mosque]] during 2016 and 2017.

The Phoenix Mosque has been destroyed, renovated, and repaired several times. Its current form is an amalgamation of changes made during the following periods of reconstruction.

=== 1451 renovation === [[File:Phoenix Mosque 08 2013-11.JPG|alt=A color picture of the main gate of the Phoenix Mosque. |thumb|The main ''[[iwan]]'' of the mosque]] Notably, this restoration contributed the current mihrab of the mosque. It is made from gilded red wood and has inscribed verses from the Qur'an.<ref name=":2" />

=== 1743 renovation === This restoration was presided over by a local Muslim scholar called Scholar Ding. An inscription detailing this project lists 233 donors, including from many regions outside of Hangzhou. The longest distance donation is one from Cangzhou, which today is in the [[Ningxia|Hui Autonomous Region]] near [[Beijing]]. This record shows that long distance donors and diasporic donor networks contributed to the survival of large mosques like the Phoenix Mosque in regions where the Muslim population was the minority.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Tristan G. |date=2013-06-01 |title=Muslim Networks, Religious Economy, and Community Survival: The Financial Upkeep of Mosques in Late Imperial China |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2013.810118 |journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=241–266 |doi=10.1080/13602004.2013.810118 |s2cid=144114084 |issn=1360-2004 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The opening lines of the inscription detailing this renovation evokes an edict passed by the first Ming emperor, [[Hongwu Emperor]]. In this edict, the Emperor commissions two mosques in [[Xi'an]] and [[Nanjing]]. At the time, the 1743 inscription was written, it had been nearly 400 years since the issuing of the Emperor's edict. Unlike Buddhism and Daoism, Islam was less institutionalized by the imperial government. This inscription shows that aspiration of the Muslim community to be institutionally recognized in the same way as other faiths.<ref name=":3" />

=== Other renovations === The mosque used to have a [[minaret]] that was destroyed in 1929 and replaced by a gate. The current gate with two minaret-like towers was constructed in 1953.<ref name=":1" />

== See also == {{stack|{{portal|China|Islam}}}} * [[Islam in China]] * [[List of mosques in China]] * [[List of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Zhejiang]]

== References == <ref>{{cite web | title = 【文化】凤凰寺之谜 | url = https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA4NzMzMjI3OA==&mid=2652851300&idx=1&sn=7c94fac4ab36794afe755adb1ba8a90c&chksm=8aaab569831f6f844ef341fce73aaaec85aaa19e06145127dab478385e8066baa439ee47798e#rd | date = 2026-01-01 | archiveurl = https://archive.today/20260101083536/https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA4NzMzMjI3OA==&mid=2652851300&idx=1&sn=7c94fac4ab36794afe755adb1ba8a90c&chksm=8aaab569831f6f844ef341fce73aaaec85aaa19e06145127dab478385e8066baa439ee47798e%23rd | archivedate = 2026-01-01 }}</ref>{{reflist}}

== External links == {{commons category-inline}}

[[Category:13th-century mosques in Asia]] [[Category:Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Zhejiang]] [[Category:Mosque buildings with domes in China]] [[Category:Mosque buildings with minarets in China]] [[Category:Mosques in Hangzhou]] [[Category:Sunni mosques in China]]