China's Early Mosques

'This pioneering book opens up an entirely new field for scholars of both China and the Islamic world: the history of Chinese mosques...[it] is unique because its clear prose and copious illustrations portray the physical spaces within which Chinese Muslims operated.' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 'This well-illustrated book is a most welcome addition to art and architectural history studies... There is absolutely no other book in English or any European language that covers China's mosques. Further, in addition to being unique, it is lucidly written, shedding light on a topic that might otherwise seem bewildering to the non-Islamic, non-China specialist. This volume will remain the standard work on Chinese mosques well into the future.' Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Explains how the worship requirements of the mosque and the Chinese architectural system converged What happens when a monotheistic, foreign religion needs a space in which to worship in China, a civilisation with a building tradition that has been largely unchanged for several millennia? The story of this extraordinary convergence begins in the 7th century and continues under the Chinese rule of Song and Ming, and the non-Chinese rule of the Mongols and Manchus, each with a different political and religious agenda. The author shows that mosques, and ultimately Islam, have survived in China because the Chinese architectural system, though often unchanging, is adaptable: it can accommodate the religious requirements of Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Islam. Key Features: - Includes case studies of China's most important surviving mosques, including approximately 70 premodern mosques, the tourist mosques in Xi'an and Beijing, and the Uyghur mosques in Kashgar - Aims to build an understanding of the mosque at the most fundamental level, asking what is really necessary for Muslim worship space - Presents Chinese architecture as uniquely uniform in appearance and uniquely adaptable to something as foreign as Islam - Explores the social and political aspects of China's architectural system, and the challenges faced by religious construction in premodern and contemporary Asia. Nancy S. Steinhardt is Professor of East Asian Art and Curator of Chinese Art at the University of Pennsylvania. She is author or co-author of numerous books including, most recently, Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts (2011) and Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 200-600 (2014).

List of contents

Preface
Chronology of Chinese Dynasties and Major Reign Periods
List of Maps
Captions and Credits
Chapter 1. Muslims, Mosques and Chinese Architecture
Chapter 2. China's Oldest Mosques
Chapter 3. China's Other Early Mosques
Chapter 4. Mongold, Mosques and Mausoleums
Chapter 5. Xi'an and Nanjing: Great Mosques and Great Ming Patrons
Chapter 6. Ox Street Mosque and Muslim Worship in or Near Beijing
Chapter 7. China's most Important Yuan and Ming Mosques
Chapter 8. Mosques and Qubbas in Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai
Chapter 9. Xinjiang: Architecture of Qing China and Uyghur Central Asia
Chapter 10. Mosque, Synagogue, Church: Architecutre of Monotheism in China
Chapter 11. Conclusion: The Chinese Mosque in the Twenty-First Century
Glossary
Bibliography
Image Acknowledgments
Index

About the author

Nancy S. Steinhardt is Professor of East Asian Art and Curator of Chinese Art at the University of Pennsylvania where she has taught since 1982. She received her PhD at Harvard in 1981 where she was a Junior Fellow from 1978-81. Steinhardt taught at Bryn Mawr from 1981-1982. She has broad research interests in the art and architecture of China and China's border regions, particularly problems that result from the interaction between Chinese art and that of peoples to the North, Northeast, and Northwest.Steinhardt is author or co-author of Chinese Traditional Architecture (1984), Chinese Imperial City Planning (1990), Liao Architecture (1997), Chinese Architecture (2003), Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture (2005), Chinese Architecture and the Beaux-Arts (2011), Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 200-600 (2014), and more than 70 scholarly articles. She is a recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, Institute for Advanced Study, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, Getty Foundation, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, Social Science Research Council, American Philosophical Society, Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Fine Arts, Van Berchem Foundation, and Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art. She has given more than 300 public lectures or conference talks. Steinhardt is involved in international collaborations in China, Korea, and Japan. She has been an advisor, guest curator, or author for exhibitions at China Institute, Asia Society, the Metropolitan Museum, Japan Society, Chicago Art Institute, Smart Museum, and the Penn Museum.

Summary

Explains how the worship requirements of the mosque and the Chinese architectural system converged

Product details

• Authors: Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt
• Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.04.2019
• EAN: 9781474437219
• ISBN: 978-1-4744-3721-9
• No. of pages: 368
• Dimensions: 173 mm x 245 mm x 22 mm
• Series: Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Art; Edinburgh Studies in Islamic A; Edinburgh Studies in Islamic Art; Edinburgh Studies in Islamic A
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Art