The Phoenix Mosque and the Persians of Medieval Hangzhou

In the early 1250s, Möngke Khan, grandson and successor of the mighty Mongol emperor, Genghis Khan, sent out his younger brothers Qubilai and Hulegu to consolidate his power. Hulegu was welcomed into Iran while his older brother, Qubilai, continued to erode the power of the Song emperors of southern China. In 1276, he finally forced their submission and peacefully occupied the Song capital, Hangzhou. The city enjoyed a revival as the cultural capital of a united China and was soon filled with traders, adventurers, artists, entrepreneurs, and artisans from throughout the great Mongol Empire—including a prosperous, influential, and seemingly welcome community of Persians. In 1281, one of the Persian settlers, Ala al-Din, built the Phoenix Mosque in the heart of the city where it still stands today. This study of the mosque and the Ju-jing Yuan cemetery, which today is a lake-side public park, casts light on an important and transformative period in Chinese history, and perhaps the most important period in Chinese-Islamic history. The book is published in the Persian Studies Series of the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS) edited by Charles Melville.

George Lane is a Senior Teaching Fellow in History of the Middle East and Central Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. His publications are on a wide variety of topics ranging from women in the Islamic world to notables and rulers in Ilkhanid Iran, and from cities in the Middle East to trade along the Spice Route and Silk Road. Qing Chen is a graduate of SOAS, University of London. Her field of studies is Islamic art and archaeology, with special research interest in the development of Islamic communities, practices and culture in China. Alexander (Sandy) Morton (1942-2011) was educated at Oxford, and after working at the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS) in Tehran he began his PhD at SOAS in London under Professor Ann Lambton. A Director of BIPS, Alexander Morton’s influence in his field remains wide and strong.