The Pure and Clean Mosque is located in the north of Tonghuai Street of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province.
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In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Quanzhou was a famous coastal city and one of the main ports of foreign trade. At that time a large number of Arabic businessmen from central and western Asia gathered in Quanzhou. The Pure and Clean Mosque is an Arabic mosque with an Islamic architectural style built by Arabic Muslims. Among the preserved mosques, it is the oldest one. The mosque was constructed in the 400th year (1009) of Islamic calendar, and rebuilt in the 2nd year of Yuanzhi calendar (1309AD) by Ihammed Ben Mohammed Gudessi. In the 10th year of Yuanzhi calendar and the 37th year of Mingwan calendar it was renovated twice. The main existing structure of the Pure and Clean Mosque includes the gate of the mosque, the Hall for Worship and the Hall of Enlightened Goodness. The gate of the mosque faces south, and is 20 meters high and 4 meters wide. It is built by piling up green and white granite stones. The corridor of the gate tower is composed of four arcades and three partitions. The first partition has an astroid vault. The second partition is a semi-vault carved out of granite stones. There are honeycomb patterns on all sides of the vault. The four sides of the third partition are piled up with cubic stones. It has an arcaded stone dome.
The Hall for Worship covers an area of 600 square meters. Four sides of the hall are built of granite stones. The wall in the facade is covered with niches. With a huge window on each wall, the lighting in the hall is greatly increased. The decorative stone carving of the Koran in Arabic can be seen everywhere. The dome of the hall is very impressing, but it collapsed in the earthquake in the year 1607. The construction style was a popular mode for the Arabic halls for worship Islam in the 10th century. Today it is seldom seen in the Arabic areas in the Middle East. The Hall of Enlightened Goodness is a small hall for worship in the northwestern corner of the mosque. It has a structure the same as Chinese traditional Siheyuan (traditional-style single-story houses with rows of rooms around the four sides of a courtyard), which can hold more than 30 people. There are stone carvings in Arabic of the Song and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties on the wall of the hall.
Since its construction, the Pure and Clean Mosque has always been appropriately protected by the Quanzhou people. Up till now the piece of inscription with the Imperial Order on it is still well preserved in the mosque. The Order was issued in the 5th year (1407) of the Yongle reign by Emperor Mingcheng (Zhu Li) in order to protect the Pure and Clean Mosque and the Islam. The Pure and Clean Mosque is the historical evidence for the friendly intercourse and cultural exchange between China and Arabic countries.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
