Niu Jie Street (Ox Street)
and Muslim Mosque

The Islamic faith was 
introduced into 
Chinaduring the Tang 
Dynasty and has followers 
amongmore than 10 
Chinese ethnic groups,
including the Huis, Uygurs, 
Ozbeks and Kazaks.

Today, Beijing’s Muslim 
community, estimated at
about 250,000, is largely
integrated throughout the 
city, with the mainconcentration found south of Guanganmen Nei Dajie around Niu Jie (Ox 
Street).The famous Muslim Mosquestands here, which is the oldest and biggest mosques in 
Beijing.
 
The Mosque, built of timber, protects some important cultural relics and tablets, such as the 
upright tablet of an emperor's decree proclaimed in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. Altogether
there are 42 rooms, of which the main part is The Prayer Hall .It takes up more than 600 
square meters and the hall can permit more than 1000 persons to pray at the same time and 
consists of three spacious enclosing corridors. There are also 18 posts forming 21 arches 
that support the Hall. Parts of Alcoran are carved on two of the arches. In the middle of the 
Hall is a tablet of scriptures written in letters of gold. The Prayer Hall goes by the name of Kiln
Hall. At the back of the Hall is a hexagonal pavilion with a vault, which makes the Hall like a 
kiln, explaining the origin of this name. The kiln roof is a formof Chinese traditional architecture
called Zaojing, which is also often found in the roofs of buildings in China. Usually, Zaojing is 
square or round.  The Zaojing in the Prayer Hall is ornated with colorfulengravings and 
drawings. Outside the Hall are two stele pavilions. One is at the north and the other at the 
south side. Stone tablets are inside the pavilions, which were set in 1496 during the Ming 
Dynasty and have remained in their initial setting.On both sides of the Hall are the northern
and southern lecture roomsused to lecture about the scriptures. The northern lectureroom
still has parts of ancient porcelain and is decorated with various kinds of scriptures. Also 
exterior to the Hall is the Xuanli Tower,which was used to call people to prayer.East of this 
tower is a hall that was used as a gathering spot for Muslims.

Finally, there is a yard at the southeast corner of the Mosque. Inside the yard are the tombs
of two noble monks from the nearby countries, who came to China to spread the word of 
religion and died there. The  words carved on the tablets of the two ancient tombsremain in 
perfect condition and are a rare cultural relic in China. 

Nowadays, Niu Jie still preserves original appearance,and many Muslimpeople reside in there
for several decades. With the rapidly construction of many new apartments, Niu Jie is
becoming a new residential area. A famous and authentic Muslim food street was built there.
As the investment and restoration to this area by Beijing government,you can find kinds of 
supermarket, schools and other facilities in Niu Jie.