Xiaowangzhuang Mosque. Mosque Series 87.
Xiaowangzhuang Mosque, Hebei District, Tianjin.
2022.8.24. After finishing my errands, I passed by my birthplace and childhood home: Tongyi Li, Xiaowangzhuang, Hebei District. Xiaowangzhuang is not a village, but generally refers to the area on both sides of today's Xiaowangzhuang Street (now renamed Tiantai Road). It stretches from the back gate of Guangrong Soy Sauce Factory and Dongli Engine Factory in the east, to Yangqiao Street in the west, Xinkai River in the south, and the Jinpu Railway in the north.
In my memory, Xiaowangzhuang was densely populated, bustling and lively, full of strong rustic charm. On both sides of Xiaowangzhuang Street, dozens of various shops satisfied people's daily needs. Every family had an average of five or six children, so there was never a shortage of playmates.
This area was demolished in 2009 and rebuilt into a residential community called Shengning Home. My old house is nowhere to be seen. However, my nostalgic feelings are still strong. Looking at the towering buildings, my childhood scenes remain vivid.
A renovated mosque stood out conspicuously, so I went closer to take a look. I have no memory of the old Xiaowangzhuang Mosque at all. It turned out that this mosque, built in 1937, had already been emptied and repurposed during the religious system reform in 1958.
Thirty years later, in 1988, the property policy for the mosque was implemented, and the city allocated funds for its restoration. It was completed and opened for use at the end of August 1989. But by then I had already moved away. Occasionally returning to Xiaowangzhuang, I vaguely remembered there was a mosque archway, but I never went inside.
When Xiaowangzhuang was demolished in 2009, some Hui residents came and went, negotiating with the demolition office about compensation for the mosque property rights. That's when I gained some impression. But at that time I was busy traveling everywhere and didn't think to take photos of the old mosque.
Actually, I am quite nostalgic. On the eve of the demolition, I made a point of visiting Andingli Primary School. The school gate was already gone, and the school was about to be torn down. I walked around the campus and felt that the two-story teaching building was very short, and the playground was so small. I also went to the east courtyard where I attended first grade—it was even smaller. I still clearly remember the classroom on my first day of school. Back then, the desks came in pairs connected together, and the chairs were the same.
At that time, there weren't enough classrooms, so the lower grades had classes in the morning and the upper grades in the afternoon. Xu Hongbo was once beaten by an upper-grade student, who claimed that a ballpoint pen left in the desk had gone missing and suspected Xu had taken it. Back then, ballpoint pens and automatic pencils were quite precious. I didn't know about it at first; I only heard about it later from the homeroom teacher.
Next to the school was the Jingjin Cinema, which was demolished very late because it was used as an office for the demolition team. Almost all the movies I watched as a child were seen in this cinema. Only one or two were watched at the October Cinema.
It's a pity that I didn't take any photos of these old buildings, streets, and alleys. At that time, I never thought I would one day write about past events. Actually, during the demolition, I was holding a video camera, which also had a photo-taking function. I brought the video camera to prevent the demolition office from forcibly demolishing my ancestral property; I never thought of preserving any visual records.
During the demolition, I walked around Chenjiatai, Jiudeli, Huiyinli, Zhaojia Old Inn, Jide Street, Andingli Street, Andingli Hutong... What a shame, not a single photo was taken. I was too immersed in nostalgia. Every time I walked into an alley, the faces of a few classmates or neighbors would appear in my mind, along with childhood memories.
The biggest pity is that I didn't take a picture of the overall view of my old house. I learned about the demolition on a train to Yunnan. After returning to Tianjin half a month later, I immediately went to Beijing to take the architect certificate exam, which took another 15 days. Although my company had already been sold at that time, the new legal representative asked me to obtain a first-level certificate for the company's upgrade. By the time I came back from Beijing, eighty percent of Xiaowangzhuang had been demolished. I only took a photo of my own house, and that was for the struggle with the demolition office. Haha, the photo is in the article "Outsmarting the Demolition Office."
Let's get back to the mosque. The old Xiaowangzhuang Mosque has become a cultural relic. Not far away, a new, larger mosque was built. I remember another thing: after I moved to my new home in Nankai District, the Eastern Mosque on Clothing Street was right under my window. I saw it every day, but never took a photo. After Clothing Street was demolished, the Eastern Mosque relocated to a spot not far from the Jinwanbao building. I did photograph the new Eastern Mosque, but it's still a shame about the old one. How nice it would be to compare them!
There was also the Fuxingzhuang Mosque next to the Workers' Hospital, which was expanded and renovated on the same site; I didn't photograph the old mosque either. My son took painting lessons at the Hedong Children's Palace next to the old mosque, and I lived nearby at the time. I remember around 1992, when Dahuoxiang in Hongqiao District was being demolished, I was contracted for renovation work in the area. I saw many Hui people coming to defend the mosque. Later, during urban renewal after 2000, Dahuoxiang was already in its second round of demolition. The renovation projects I had worked on were all torn down again. Haha. Tear it down!
Urban construction in the past 30 years has been too fast. In the blink of an eye, Tianjin has taken on a completely new look. Haha, I haven't even had time to savor the old city. In the process of urban transformation, many unit areas have been expanded, such as schools, temples, cultural institutions, etc. The largest expansion has been in government offices—look at police stations, street offices, neighborhood committees... Their office spaces and conditions have improved tremendously.
I found my way to the entrance of the new Xiaowangzhuang Mosque and walked in. Construction was still going on around the mosque. I exchanged a few words with the site overseer and went inside to have a look. This newly built Xiaowangzhuang Mosque, with Arabic architectural style, was completed and opened in 2015. It seems that due to the surrounding construction, it has stopped opening again. I reached the mosque gate, which was locked with an iron fence. I looked around the area. The mosque's floor area must be about 1,000 square meters—much larger than the old one! Haha, time to go home; my stomach was growling. Later, my wife recalled that in her childhood, there was a Silk, Linen, and Velvet Factory next to the mosque. Her father occasionally mentioned the mosque, but it didn't register with her at the time. Back then, religion was considered "feudalism, capitalism, and revisionism" and could not be promoted.
