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China Elevator Stories
Ningxia: The Nanguan Mosque in Yinchuan (China Travel)
I visited the Nanguan Mosque in Yinchuan in 2026.
30/01/2026
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
Ningxia is the Hui Autonomous Region of China. The Hui, one of China’s 56 ethnic minorities, are usually Muslim (but not all of them).
The Nanguan Mosque was first built during the Ming Dynasty, and it was restored a few times because it had been destroyed a few times. The picture above shows the main gate.
Right next to the mosque is a street that features restaurants that can be visited by Muslims, who don’t eat pork and have specific dietary requirements. Fans of Hui cuisine can also visit these restaurants, since Chinese minorities don’t usually see their food as being available only to them, and visitors are welcome to eat it as well. Many Han Chinese also go to these minority-owned restaurants.
Near the main entrance of the mosque, a few butchers were located. Their shops had many dead sheep hanging from iron hooks, often with transparent plastic bags hung around them to keep the meat clean.
The most important kind of meat eaten in Yinchuan is mutton, and the mutton being sold here can even be shipped to other areas in China via Jingdong air delivery, as advertised on these tuk-tuks here.
When I visited, the mosque wasn’t open to visitors, but it was an interesting building to see from the outside.
Have you ever visited the Muslim quarter in Yinchuan?