Gongbei (Islamic architecture)

Part of a series on Islam in China
History By dynasty Tang Song Yuan Ming Qing Rebellions and revolts Jahriyya revolt Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873) First Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) Second Dungan Revolt (1895–1896) Afaqi Khoja revolts Post-dynastic China 1912–present Second Sino-Japanese War Islamophobia
Major figures Afaq Khoja Du Wenxiu Hu Dahai Hu Songshan Kasim Tuet Liu Zhi Ma Anliang Ma Bufang Ma Buqing Ma Fuxiang Ma Gui Ma Hualong Ma Laichi Ma Mingxin Ma Qixi Ma Wanfu Ma Yize Ma Zhu Shams al-Din Su fei-erh Yeheidie'erding Yusuf Ma Dexin Wang Daiyu Zhang Chengzhi Zheng He
Culture Architecture Cuisine (Uyghur) Han Kitab Mosques Shrines Sini script Sufi orders Uyghur Arabic Xiao'erjing Islamic Association of China
Cities Regions Hong Kong Kashgar Linxia Macau Ningxia Sichuan Xinjiang Xunhua
Groups Ahmadis Bonans Dongxiang Hui Ili Turks Kazakhs Kyrgyz Salar Tajiks Tatars Tibetans Utsul Uyghurs Uzbeks
Islam portal • China portal
v t e

Gongbei (Chinese: 拱北; pinyin: Gǒngběi; from Persian: گنبد gonbad,^[1] meaning "dome", "cupola"), is a term used by the Hui and Uyghur Muslim populations of China in the Northwestern region to indicate an Islamic shrine complex centered on the grave (qabr) of a Ṣūfī Muslim murs̲h̲id ("master") or walī ("saint"), typically the founder of a menhuan (a Chinese Ṣūfī ṭarīḳa, or "saintly lineage"). The grave itself usually is topped with a dome.^[1][2] Similar Islamic facilities with the same purpose, known as dargāh or türbe, can be found in several other regions of the Muslim world.

Between 1958 and 1966, many Ṣūfī shrines and tombs in Ningxia and throughout Northwestern China in general were destroyed, viewed by the Chinese Communist government and authorities as relics of the old "feudal" order and symbols which the Chinese Communist Revolution (1946−1950) had attempted to eradicate through a series of atheistic and anti-religious campaigns, as well as for practical reasons ("wasting valuable farmland"). Once the right to freedom of religion became recognized once again in the 1980s, and much of the land reverted to the control of individual farmers, destroyed gongbei were often rebuilt once again.^[3]