📜 About & history
Dongguan Grand Mosque was founded around 1380 during the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, when the general Mu Ying oversaw the Gansu-Qinghai frontier and petitioned the court to build a mosque for the Hui community of Dongguan. Rebuilt and expanded many times over six centuries, the present complex covers about 11,940 square metres and blends Chinese palace-style roofs with green-domed Arabic minarets. It is the largest mosque in Qinghai and one of the four great mosques of northwest China, serving Xining's Muslim population of well over 100,000. It is a National Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit.
🕌 Prayer & visiting
Five daily prayers are held. The main hall seats about 3,000; on Fridays and the two Eids the courtyard and adjoining streets fill with tens of thousands of worshippers, one of the largest gatherings in the country.
📍 Address
🇨🇳 Inside China use Baidu or Amap; Google Maps needs a VPN.
🚇 How to reach the mosque
Several city bus lines stop at the Dongguan Grand Mosque stop on Dongguan Main Street; ask the driver for 东关清真大寺.
For Arab and international Muslim visitors this is the must-see mosque of Xining and a gateway on the old Silk Road; halal restaurants and Hui markets surround it. Modest dress is required and non-Muslims may be restricted from the prayer hall during worship.
About 2 km east of the central commercial district around Ximen; roughly a 10-minute taxi ride or a 25-minute walk east along Dongguan Main Street.
The flagship mosque of Qinghai and a major landmark of Xining. Best visited around Friday noon prayer to see the crowds. 请带我去东关清真大寺