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Secondary sourceArtifact1009 or 1010 CE

Qingjing Mosque

1009 or 1010 CE

An ancient mosque in Quanzhou, China, the port city where Ibn Battuta landed and found a thriving Muslim merchant community.

This mosque marks the Muslim merchant community Ibn Battuta encountered on landing at Quanzhou, China.

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Front view of a stone mosque gateway with a tall green-tiled central portal topped by a crenellated parapet, flanked by long low stone walls with arched openings. A paved plaza in the foreground has a small cart with a person beside it on the right.
Qingjing Mosque gateway, Quanzhou, Fujian, China.

About this source

What it is

Qingjing Mosque, also called the Ashab Mosque, stands in Quanzhou, Fujian, China, and was built in the early 11th century. Its surviving stone gateway blends Arabic and Chinese architectural styles.

Why it matters

Quanzhou, known to Arab travellers as Zaitun, was a major international trading port with a large foreign Muslim population of merchants from Arabia, Persia and elsewhere. Ibn Battuta landed here on his journey to China and described the Muslim community he found, and this mosque is physical evidence of the long-distance Islamic trade networks he travelled along.

Look closer

  • What does a building combining Arabic and Chinese styles tell you about the people who used it?
  • Why would a Muslim traveller feel at home in a foreign port that had a mosque like this?
  • What does the mosque's survival over many dynasties suggest about the status of its community?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ibn Battuta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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