Crane Mosque

The English name, Crane Mosque, is a partial calque of its Chinese name 仙鶴寺, pronounced Xiānhè Sì in Mandarin. The name is sometimes explained by the supposed resemblance of the mosque's shape to a crane,^[1][2] although the Chinese name references a Taoist immortal. As the most historically important mosque in the city, it is also known as the Yangzhou Mosque and as the Qingbai Liufang Mosque.^{[citation needed]}

The Crane Mosque was reportedly built in 1275 CE^{[dubious – discuss]} by Puhaddin, an Arab Muslim and 16th-generation descendant of Muhammad,^[1][2][3][4] in the year after his death^[5]: 30 and the year before the Mongol general Bayan received the surrender of Yangzhou following the execution of Li Tingzhi by the Southern Song.^[6][5]: 6

The mosque was severely damaged during the Red Turban Rebellion that ended the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. An Arab Muslim named Hasan^[which?] rebuilt the mosque in 1390 under the early Ming.^{[citation needed]} It was further renovated and refurbished in 1523 under the Jiajing Emperor.^{[citation needed]}

The Crane Mosque is accounted as one of the Four Great Mosques of China—alongside the Huaisheng, Qingjing, and Phoenix Mosques in Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Hangzhou^[1][2][3][4]—and was inscribed as a cultural relic protected by the Jiangsu government in April 1995.^{[citation needed]} It now includes a small collection of documents concerning China's relations with Muslim countries.^[7]

• Islam in China
• List of mosques in China
• List of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Jiangsu