Longgang Mosque

The Longgang Mosque or Lungkang Mosque (Chinese: 龍岡清真寺; pinyin: Lónggāng Qīngzhēnsì) is a mosque in Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan. It is the fifth mosque to be built in Taiwan. As of September 2008, the Imam was Abdullah Liu (Chinese: 柳根榮; pinyin: Liǔ Gēnróng).[2]

Longgang Mosque
龍岡清真寺
Religion
AffiliationSunni Islam
Location
LocationNo. 216, Long Dong Road, Zhongli,[1] Taoyuan City, Taiwan 320
Taiwan
Geographic coordinates24°55′47.16″N 121°15′13.55″E
Architecture
TypeMosque
Completed1967 (original building)
1989 (current building)
Construction costUS$712,000
Capacity150 worshipers

History

In 1953, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the Taipei government for its actions and guerilla warfare inside Burma.[3] Finally, an agreement was reached between Taipei, Rangoon, and Bangkok for evacuation of all Kuomintang Irregular forces under command of General Li Mi to Taiwan. Civil Air Transport transported 5,583 Kuomintang soldiers and 1,040 dependents to Taiwan.[4] The majority of these guerrilla forces were Muslim and had no place to worship in their new Taiwan home and so they started to raise funds to construct a mosque in 1964.[5]

First building

The original building of Longgang Mosque was completed in 1967.[6] Built over an area of 1,289 square meters, at first the mosque was very small. But after joining the Chinese Muslim Association, they were able to raise money, including funds from Saudi Arabia, to build a larger mosque.

Current building
Longgang Mosque

To make a bigger mosque, they purchased a plot of land at Longdong Road (Chinese: 龍東路) in Zhongli. At this US$312,000 initial development stage, only the main prayer hall and basement area of the mosque were built. The mosque building occupies an area of 1,300 square meters and the mosque's main worship area can hold 150 worshippers.[7]

At the US$400,000 second development stage, the mosque's minarets, a kitchen, dormitory and shower room were added to the main building.[6]

Over time, due to the poor materials used to construct the building because of lack of funds, the mosque quickly deteriorated. After some discussion, a plan to reconstruct the mosque was finally put in place. With financial assistance from inside and outside Taiwan, the first reconstruction project for the mosque began in March 1988 and was completed in January 1989.[7][8] And in 1995, the second reconstruction was completed again resulting in the mosque in use today.

Activities

By 2008, the population of Muslim faithful in Zhongli had reached 2,000. On weekends, and during winter and summer vacations, the mosque holds basic courses on Arabic and the Islamic faith to educate children about Islam.[9]

Architecture
Longgang Mosque prayer hall

The Longgang mosque is a green structure which has one prayer hall that can accommodate more than 150 people simultaneously.[7] The other features of the mosque includes the imam office, staff office, reception room, children chanting room etc.[5]

Transportation

Longgang Mosque is accessible South East from Zhongli Station of the Taiwan Railways. In the future, the mosque will be closer served from Longgang Station of the Taoyuan Metro.

See also

References
  1. No. 320, Longdong Rd, Zhongli City (1 January 1970). "Longdong Road, 320 Zhongli City - Google Maps". Maps.google.com. Retrieved 26 April 2014.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Loa, Iok-si (6 September 2008). "Feature: Muslims learn to deal with hurdles living in Taiwan". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  3. "Practicing Islam in Taiwan - AmCham | American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei | 美國商會". AmCham. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
    • Taylor, Jay. The Generalissimo's Son: Chiang Ching-Kuo and the Revolutions in China and Taiwan. ISBN 0-674-00287-3.
  5. "(Tourist Attraction) Longgang Mosque — The One and Only Islamic Religious Centre in Taoyuan". Tranews.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  6. Underwood, Laurie (1 May 1992). "Building Faith". Taiwan Today. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  7. "Longgang Mosque(龍岡清真寺)". Taoyuan, First Stop in Taiwan. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  8. Hsu, Cho-hsun; Chan, Jonathan (10 January 2019). "Pork restaurant to change billboard for mosque goers". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBG3jKqYdx0
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