Bukui Mosque

Bukui Mosque
卜奎清真寺
Religion
AffiliationSunni Islam
Ecclesiastical or organisational statusMosque
StatusActive
Location
LocationQiqihar, Heilongjiang
CountryChina
Location of the mosque in Heilongjiang
Interactive map of Bukui Mosque
Coordinates47°21′3″N 123°57′3″E / 47.35083°N 123.95083°E / 47.35083; 123.95083
Architecture
TypeMosque
Completed
  • 1684 (East)
  • 1852 (West)
Specifications
Capacity450 worshipers
Interior area2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft)
Minaret1 (pagoda-style)
Site area6,400 m2 (69,000 sq ft)
Official nameBukui Mosque
卜奎清真寺
TypeCultural
CriteriaReligion
Designated25 June 2006
Reference no.6-504

The Bukui Mosque (Chinese: 卜奎清真寺; pinyin: Bǔkuí Qīngzhēnsì) is a mosque in Qiqihar, in the Heilongjiang province of China. It is located in Mosque Road (Chinese: 清真路; pinyin: Qīng Zhēn Lù) off Bukui Street.[1] It was built during the Qing dynasty, and was listed as a Chinese major cultural heritage site in 2006.[2][3] It is the largest and oldest mosque in Heilongjiang province.[4]

History and structure

The name "Bukui" is the Chinese transcription of a Daur word meaning "auspicious".[1] Bukui Mosque originally consisted of two separate mosques:[2]

  • The East Mosque, a three-storey, 374-square-metre (4,030 sq ft) building constructed in Kangxi 23 (1684), predating the city of Qiqihar by seven years[2]
  • The West Mosque, a two-storey, 173-square-metre (1,860 sq ft) building constructed in Xianfeng 3 (1852) by followers of the Jahriyya menhuan who immigrated from Gansu[1][2]

The mosque contains approximately 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft) of constructed space; the whole compound covers an area of approximately 6,400 square metres (69,000 sq ft). The two prayer spaces together can hold approximately 450 worshipers.[2]

The mosque's long history has led to a saying in Qiqihar: "the mosque existed long before the town Bukui".[n 1][5] In 1958, the two mosques were reorganised as a single mosque, with the name "Qiqihar Mosque". The mosque was listed as a city-level protected cultural relic in 1980, and as a provincial-level protected cultural relic in 1981; its name was then also changed to the present "Bukui Mosque".[2]

An assessment completed in 1981 found that while the East Mosque was in relatively good condition, there was serious structural damage to the West Mosque.[6] Reconstruction efforts were undertaken in 1989–1990.[3] On 25 June 2006, the Bukui Mosque was entered onto the list of Chinese major cultural heritage sites of national significance.[3]

See also

Bukui Mosque
Simplified Chinese卜奎清真寺
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinBǔkuí Qīngzhēnsì

Footnotes

  1. ^ simplified Chinese: 先有清真寺,后有卜奎城; traditional Chinese: 先有清真寺,後有卜奎城; pinyin: Xiān yǒu qīngzhēnsì, hòu yǒu Bǔkuíchéng.

References

  1. ^ a b c 卜奎清真寺, MOOK 自游自在 (in Chinese), pp. 79–81, 2001, ISBN 957-667-787-4
  2. ^ a b c d e f 卜奎清真寺, Qiqihar News (in Chinese), June 27, 2005, archived from the original on March 3, 2016, retrieved September 11, 2010
  3. ^ a b c 卜奎清真寺 (in Chinese), China Cultural Heritage Foundation, retrieved September 11, 2010
  4. ^ 黑龙江规模最大的伊斯兰建筑:卜奎清真寺, Xinhua News (in Chinese), December 12, 2008, archived from the original on March 12, 2012, retrieved September 11, 2010
  5. ^ 齐齐哈尔第三集, China Central Television (in Chinese), August 29, 2005, retrieved September 11, 2010
  6. ^ Liu, Peilin (刘沛霖) (1981), 卜奎清真寺, 学习与探索 (in Chinese), retrieved September 11, 2010
  • Media related to Bukui Mosque at Wikimedia Commons
  • Photos of the Bukui mosque (in French)