Introduction of The Great Mosque:

Location in Huajue Alley, northwest of the Drum Tower, the mosque is also named the Huajue Alley Mosque. Deemed to be one of the two most significant ancient mosques in the city of Xian (the other is the mosque in Daxuexi Alley), it was ostensibly founded by the naval admiral and Hajji Cheng Ho, the son of a prestigious Muslim family who is famous for clearing the China Sea of pirates and leading the great Ming naval expedition to south and west. Since the fourteenth century, the mosque has undergone numerous reconstructions. Most of the buildings extant today are from the Ming and Qing Dynasties of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The Great Mosque is the major spot for the religious activities of over 60,000 Moslems in Xian. It is also an important historic monument in Shaanxi Province. Like the Great Mosques at Hangzhou, Quanzhou and Guangzhou, the Great Mosque of Xian is thought to have existed as early as the seventh century. Unlike Arabic mosques which have splendid domes, minarets reaching into the clouds, and colorful engraved sketches with dazzling patterns, Chinese architectural elements were synthesized into the mosque's architecture. As a result the mosque resembles a fifteenth century Buddhist temple.