The Qufu Mosque on the western side of the old city serves the local Hui Muslim community, which has been present in Qufu for several centuries — a reminder that the uniformly Confucian image of the city is historically incomplete. The mosque is built in the Chinese courtyard style, with a green-tiled roof prayer hall that looks externally like a Confucian temple, reflecting the accommodation that Islamic practice made with Chinese architectural norms in inland China.
The mosque is an active place of worship, open to respectful visitors outside prayer times. Its presence in this most Confucian of Chinese cities is quietly interesting: the two traditions have coexisted here for centuries, and the architectural similarity between the mosque and the Confucian temples on the same streets reflects a deep cultural integration that is easy to miss.