Take a stroll through Shanghai's mosque route

Three of Shanghai's seven mosques are within walking distance of each other in the Old City. If you ask us there's no better excuse to pull on your walking shoes this holiday and wander around one of the most vibrant areas of the city during Chinese New Year. 

In past times, the area was heavily populated with Hui Muslims, but that has changed as Shanghai has grown. 

Xiao Taoyuan Mosque.

“Before people would move to wherever a mosque was, but since the real estate market has developed, it’s not so easy for people to get to their mosque,” says Haj Dawood Wu Jin De, mosque manager at Xiao Taoyuan mosque.

But come Friday mid-day, just before Jum'ah (Friday prayers) begins at 1pm, most make an effort to get to their mosque. 

Shanghai mosque stop 1: Xiao Taoyuan Mosque

Built in 1917, renovated in 1925, and now under massive reconstruction in preparation for the Shanghai 2010 World Expo, this mosque is one of Shanghai’s largest and holds a courtyard, prayer hall, library and classrooms as well as the Shanghai Islamic Association headquarters.

Squeezed in among the surrounding residential buildings it’s easier to find by looking up -- follow the crescent and star protruding from its roof. 

Dawood, who took over as manager of the mosque after retiring from a career in the hotel industry, is eager to show us around the domed prayer hall, and he speaks candidly about its past. “During the Cultural Revolution many of our artifacts were smashed,” he says. Usually about 400 people show up for Friday prayers and 2,000 people or more for festivals.
52 Xiao Taoyuan Jie, near Fuxing Xi Lu and Henan Lu 小桃园街52号, 近复兴西路和河南路

Stop by [Fuyou Lu Mosque] on Fridays when Xinjiang vendors sell dried fruits and breads at the entrance or on festival days when the streets are packed.

Shanghai mosque stop 2: Nuxingzhenshi Women’s mosque

A few steps away is the women’s mosque, founded in 1933. Manager Fang Ling Di proudly informs us that it’s the only independent women’s mosque in Eastern China. 

“The women’s mosque has historical prestige,” she says. “It was the place where women came to study, to find work and also to find marriage prospects.”

The mosque was revitalized in 1994 and today the small building holds a prayer hall, library, resting quarters and bathing rooms. Because women are traditionally not required to attend Jumah at a mosque, there’s no acting imam and those who come to Friday prayers listen to prayers over loudspeakers from the neighboring mosque.

The mosque holds weekly study events and celebrations on International Women’s Day.
24 Xiaotaoyuan Jie, near Fuxing Xi Lu and Henan Lu 小桃园街24号, 近复兴西路和河南路

Fuyou Lu Mosque.

Shanghai mosque stop 3: Old Guy Muslim restaurant

Dawood introduces us to a hole in the wall restaurant -- a good place to grab a bite a good break from the temples on your exploration. The old Beijinger owner and namesake of this noodle joint serves up homey Hui noodle dishes and oxtail soup in a second floor seating area with a view of the tourist drag below.
409 Fangbang Zhong Lu 方浜中路409号

Shanghai mosque stop 4: Fuyou Lu Mosque

Behind Yu Gardens lies central Shanghai’s oldest mosque, built in 1870 in Qing Dynasty style. The congregation was started by Nanjing Hui Muslims who migrated to Shanghai. When the area was heavily Hui, the mosque was a center of cultural life. In the early 1900s, a primary school, the Shanghai Islamic Board of Directors and the Muslim Business Society were all based there.

The mosque regularly holds 700 prayer goers for Friday prayers and more than 1,000 for festivals. Stop by on Fridays when Xinjiang vendors sell dried fruits and breads at the entrance or on festival days when the streets are packed.
378 Fuyou Lu, near Houjia Lu 福佑路378号, 近侯家路