Lingshan Islamic Cemetery, Islamic cemetery in Quanzhou, China

Lingshan Islamic Cemetery in Quanzhou holds two granite tomb covers 0.6 m high, side by side and facing south. A stone pavilion with four round columns and a hipped roof, rebuilt in 1962, stands over them, and a stone corridor 11 m long runs behind.

According to the Ming dynasty Min Shu by He Qiaoyuan, two disciples of Muhammad came to Quanzhou to preach during the Tang Wude era and were buried on Lingshan after their deaths. A stele in the central corridor, erected in 1322, records their deeds in Arabic. In 1417 the eunuch admiral Zheng He left a tablet here commemorating his incense offering before sailing to Hormuz.

The cemetery shows how Islamic burial customs and Chinese design traditions come together in one place. You can see this in the way the graves are arranged and in the patterns carved into the stone markers.

The cemetery is located in central Quanzhou and is easy to reach by public bus. Visitors should allow time to walk through the different sections and appreciate the full layout of the grounds.

The Arabic inscription at the center of the corridor was carved in 1322, during the Yuan Zhizhi era, and records the deeds of the two figures known as the Three Sages and Four Sages. Beside it stands a 1417 tablet left by the admiral Zheng He, who stopped here to burn incense and pray before sailing to Hormuz.