Bukui Mosque

The Bukui Mosque is a mosque in Qiqihar, in the Heilongjiang province of China. It is located in Mosque Road off Bukui Street. It was built during the Qing dynasty, and was listed as a Chinese major cultural heritage site in 2006. It is the largest and oldest mosque in Heilongjiang province.

History and structure

The name "Bukui" is the Chinese transcription of a Daur word meaning "auspicious". Bukui Mosque originally consisted of two separate mosques:

The East Mosque, a three-storey, building constructed in Kangxi 23, predating the city of Qiqihar by seven years
The West Mosque, a two-storey, building constructed in Xianfeng 3 by followers of the Jahriyya menhuan who immigrated from Gansu

The mosque contains approximately of constructed space; the whole compound covers an area of approximately. The two prayer spaces together can hold approximately 450 worshipers.
The mosque's long history has led to a saying in Qiqihar: "the mosque existed long before the town Bukui". In 1958, the two mosques were reorganised as a single mosque, with the name "Qiqihar Mosque". The mosque was listed as a city-level protected cultural relic in 1980, and as a provincial-level protected cultural relic in 1981; its name was then also changed to the present "Bukui Mosque".
An assessment completed in 1981 found that while the East Mosque was in relatively good condition, there was serious structural damage to the West Mosque. Reconstruction efforts were undertaken in 1989–1990. On 25 June 2006, the Bukui Mosque was entered onto the list of Chinese major cultural heritage sites of national significance.