Located at Xiaotaoyuan Street in
southern Shanghai, the Xiaotaoyan Mosque, also called the Xicheng Mosque , is
one of the famous mosques in the city. It was established in 1917 and rebuilt in
1925.
The mosque features the Islamic
architectural style in West Asia. Inside the gate there is a rectangular
courtyard. On the west side of the hall stands the great worship hall of 500
square meters, which can hold 200 worshipers. The main hall has two storeys. In
its center there is a vault dome, with the Wangyue Pavilion on the top. A
three-storeyed hall building stands on the eastern side of the courtyard, and
there is a library and a reading room on the second and the third floor
respectively, and a sermon room on the first floor. There are the Imam's room,
reception rooms, and bathrooms on the southern side of the courtyard.
Since the mosque was founded, it has
established several schools, including the Islam Normal School, the Primary
School for Muslims, Mingcheng Primary School, Chongben Primary School, and
Shanghai Islam Orphanage, etc. From 1920 to 1940, the mosque received and served
Islamites who gathered in Shanghai from Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai,
Xinjiang, etc., and planned to make a pilgrimage in Mecca. Thus it has become
the transfer center for Islamites who want to go to Mecca by sea.
Currently, organizations such as the
Management Committee of Mosques in Shanghai, Shanghai Islam Association and so
on are located in the mosque.