Prayer Hall Under the Imperial Gaze: The Qianlong Emperor (1711–99) and the Huiziying Mosque

Demolished in 1912, the Huiziying Mosque could have become the most prestigious example of Islamic architecture in Chinese history. Following the Qing dynasty’s conquest of Xinjiang in 1759, the Qianlong emperor (1711–99) commissioned the mosque for Uyghur elites resettled in Beijing, situating it near the imperial city and designing it in a predominantly Chinese style. Drawing upon visual and textual records, this article reconstructs the layout and appearance of two major structures within the mosque: a double-eaved square prayer hall and a minaret-gate. By examining the mosque’s connections to the broader imperial cityscape of Beijing, the author demonstrates that Qianlong conceived the mosque as an integral component of the adjacent imperial park. From a tower within the park, the emperor could gaze upon the magnificent minaret-gate and prayer hall for his personal enjoyment while also using the architecture to symbolically assert his authority over the newly conquered Uyghur population.