Who lives in Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter
In the heart of an ancient Chinese capital is a mosque that looks like a Buddhist temple, run by a Muslim people descended partly from Silk Road traders.
Behind Xi’an’s Drum Tower, a few minutes from the city centre, the street signs, the white caps and the smell of grilled lamb tell you you’ve entered the Muslim Quarter, home for centuries to the Hui people.
Who the Hui are
The Hui are Chinese-speaking Muslims, about 11.3 million people, the most widely spread minority in China. Their ancestry combines Han Chinese with Arab, Persian and Central Asian traders and settlers who came along the Silk Road from the Tang dynasty onwards, and especially under the Mongol Yuan. Over generations they married locally, spoke Chinese and kept their faith.
Hui food follows Islamic dietary law, so it is pork-free in a country where pork is the most common meat. That has given Xi’an a distinctive street-food culture of lamb and beef.
A mosque that looks like a temple
The Great Mosque of Xi’an was founded, according to tradition, in 742. Its current buildings date mostly from 1392, in the Ming dynasty, and they look Chinese: courtyards, carved wooden gates and tiled roofs with upturned eaves, and no dome. Its tower, the “Examining the Heart Tower”, is a three-storey octagonal pagoda that probably once served as the minaret.
The complex covers about 1.2 hectares and is still an active place of worship.
Why it matters
Xi’an is often presented only through emperors and the Terracotta Army. Its Muslim Quarter is a reminder that the Silk Road wasn’t just a route for goods. It was also how people arrived and settled, and their descendants still live there.
Bring it up
“There’s a mosque in Xi’an that looks like a Chinese temple, with a pagoda where you’d expect a minaret. By tradition it was founded in 742.”
Follow the thread
- Part ofXi’an was once one of the largest cities on Earth The Hui community is a living legacy of Chang’an’s Silk Road trade.
- RelatedA noodle dish whose name has 58 strokes The Muslim Quarter is one of the best places to eat Xi’an’s famous noodles.
- RelatedThe traveller who went five times farther than Marco Polo The same medieval Muslim world of traders and scholars stretched from Morocco to China.
