Displaced yet Distinct: Hangzhou’s Relocated Congregational Mosque on the Urban Periphery

Abstract: In 2017, the city of Hangzhou relocated its Muslim congregational site from the historic Phoenix Mosque in the city center to the newly constructed Hangzhou Mosque on the urban outskirts. This article examines the catalysts and reverberations of the policy decision through intersecting prisms of mosque design, heritage preservation, and urban planning under the secularist Chinese state. Drawing on built forms, observatory experiences, and archival materials, the study uncovers the manifold dialectics between the municipal government’s efforts to reinterpret religious institutions in Hangzhou’s urban center as heritage-focused, tourism-oriented spaces and the displaced Muslim community’s quest of an architectural expression that salvages their obscured religious identity. Despite being pushed to the city periphery, the new Hangzhou Mosque demonstrated unambiguous architectural prominence by adopting the highly symbolic, dome-and-minaret design paradigm. The approach reflects an underlying anxiety of the city’s Muslim community about being segregated and silenced, while also highlighting an evolving tension between their marginalization and visibility.