The mosque of the Arab, Persian and other Muslim merchants of Guangzhou.
Old Chinese Muslim manuscripts say it was built in 627 by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas; Wikipedia says that modern historians have found no evidence he ever came to China and that the earliest reliable dates for mosque building in China fall in the Song. It says the mosque very likely existed in the early Song, without a date, and that the minaret, a plain pointed tower of 36 metres, was built earlier than the rebuilding of 1350, also undated. In the Middle Ages the tower served as lighthouse, wind vane and control tower and it was the tallest building of the city until the early twentieth century (Wikipedia).
For 1200 it is therefore safe to put a mosque in the fan quarter and probable that the tower stood; neither is dated by a Song source we read. The Chinese of the Song called Islam "the law of the Arabs" (Dashi fa), not Huihui (Wikipedia, "Islam during the Song dynasty"). The mosque cemetery and school, if any, are not described in the pages we read.
Who holds it
- Title
- Imam of the mosque, under the foreign headman as its patron
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- The Pu family of Guangzhou, descended on Wikipedia's account from the Abbasid envoy-merchant Abu Ali of 1031, is the best-known Muslim merchant house of the city
- Confidence
- low
Not known. The page we read names no imam or patron of the Song period.
Overlord
The foreign headman (fanzhang) under the Superintendent of Maritime Trade and the prefect
What it holds
- The mosque, its minaret and its prayer ground
- The merchants' cemetery, by inference from the fan quarter record
How it was acquired
Founding unknown: tradition says 627; Wikipedia says early Song at the latest.
Allies and rivals
The Pu and Shi merchant houses; the Superintendent of Maritime Trade, who profits from the quarter; the Quanzhou mosque as its rival port community.
How things stand that morning
In use. Nothing is recorded for the winter.
Wealth
The gifts of the merchant community; no source gives endowments.
Places of note
- The mosque and minaret: In the fan quarter west of the old city; position given to about a kilometre
Where the sources disagree
- The 627 foundation by Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas is a tradition without evidence; the page itself says so. Treat it as a legend the community tells.
- The rebuilding of 1350 and the fire and rebuilding of 1695 are later; what a modern photograph shows is not the building of 1200.
Evidence: One Wikipedia page, which gives no Song date for the mosque or the tower. The fan quarter is described in the fan quarter lord record.
On the map: A point only, inside the Guangzhou town record's land.
Primary sources for Southern Song
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
- Outline and Details of Two Reigns (thirteenth century, after 1224). A Song outline-and-detail chronicle of exactly the two reigns around 1200, drawn from the court's daily records. Read online
- Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
- History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Record of the Great Jin State, Attributed to Yuwen Maozhao (宇文懋昭); the attribution is doubtful (preface dated 1234; probably assembled in the Southern Song from Song and Jin material, with later accretions). A Song-side history of the Jin, with annals for each emperor and chapters on institutions, customs, the capitals and the Jurchen way of life. Read online
12 more in the sources library for South China.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.