Jinan's Great Mosque on Libei Street is one of the oldest mosques in Shandong, serving the city's Hui Muslim community that has been present here for several centuries. The mosque complex combines a Chinese courtyard layout with Islamic religious function — a pattern common to mosque architecture in inland China, where mosques were built to Chinese aesthetic standards while serving Islamic rites. The main prayer hall has a green-tiled roof in Chinese temple style.
The mosque is an active place of worship and is open to respectful visitors outside prayer times. The surrounding neighborhood is the historic Muslim quarter, with halal restaurants, beef and lamb vendors, and the particular street life of a long-established religious minority community. Mutton soup noodles (yangrou paomo) in this area are excellent and inexpensive.