The Nan Guan (South Gate) Mosque is one of several historical mosques in Xining beyond the famous Dongguan. Established during the Ming dynasty, it serves a specific residential quarter and operates on a neighbourhood scale that gives a better sense of how Islamic practice integrates into everyday Xining life than the overwhelmingly large Dongguan Mosque. The architecture is traditional Chinese Islamic — green glazed tiles, carved wooden screens, a minaret that uses a pagoda form with Islamic calligraphy.
Friday prayers here attract a congregation of perhaps a thousand people, filling the courtyard and spilling onto the adjacent lane. The mosque is open to respectful non-Muslim visitors outside prayer times. The surrounding streets have several good noodle shops and the best fresh-baked naan in the area, sold from a small bakery behind the mosque's east wall.