Xiaotaoyuan Mosque

Located at Xiaotaoyuan Street in southern Shanghai, the Xiaotaoyan Mosque, also called the Xicheng Mosque , is one of the famous mosques in the city. It was established in 1917 and rebuilt in 1925.

The mosque features the Islamic architectural style in West Asia. Inside the gate there is a rectangular courtyard. On the west side of the hall stands the great worship hall of 500 square meters, which can hold 200 worshipers. The main hall has two storeys. In its center there is a vault dome, with the Wangyue Pavilion on the top. A three-storeyed hall building stands on the eastern side of the courtyard, and there is a library and a reading room on the second and the third floor respectively, and a sermon room on the first floor. There are the Imam's room, reception rooms, and bathrooms on the southern side of the courtyard.

Since the mosque was founded, it has established several schools, including the Islam Normal School, the Primary School for Muslims, Mingcheng Primary School, Chongben Primary School, and Shanghai Islam Orphanage, etc. From 1920 to 1940, the mosque received and served Islamites who gathered in Shanghai from Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang, etc., and planned to make a pilgrimage in Mecca. Thus it has become the transfer center for Islamites who want to go to Mecca by sea.

Currently, organizations such as the Management Committee of Mosques in Shanghai, Shanghai Islam Association and so on are located in the mosque.