Taipei Cultural Mosque was built in 1950 at Roosevelt Road by Xiao Yongtai or Akhond Hsiao from Northwest China. The mosque was initially located at Xiao's Japanese-style house. His main thought was to spread Islam through cultural movement, thus he also reestablished the Chinese Muslim Youth League. Due to the road widening scheme on Roosevelt Road, the mosque had to be relocated to its current location near the old location at Xinhai Road. The old mosque building had to be torn down for the road construction work.
Current building
The new building of Taipei Cultural Mosque was designed by architect Huang Mo-chun. Nevertheless, the new mosque went through several renovations, in which it was rebuilt into its current five-story building in 1983. By then, the mosque was inaugurated during a ceremony attended by the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the Republic of China, Asaad Abdul Aziz AI-Zuhair. In 1990, Xiao died and his son, Xiao Weijun assumed the imam position left by his father. Another renovation was made again in the same year with the help of Indonesia Economic and Trade Office to Taipei, and the latest renovation was made in April 2010.
Activities
Unlike the Taipei Grand Mosque whose daily operation fund is heavily supported by the ROC Government and the Kuomintang, the Taipei Cultural Mosque relies heavily on private donation, this making them a purely "civilian mosque" whose members do not cooperate seriously with the authorities, but concentrate on religious affairs. Consequently, members of Taipei Cultural Mosque accuses supporters of Taipei Grand Mosque of being too political with lack of pure Islamic faith. When imams from Taipei Cultural Mosque practice religious activities, they often adopt some Han Chinese traditions, such as holding incense, visiting graves, receiving money for reciting Quran etc. After an administrator eventually died, the Taipei Cultural Mosque went into decline. Now only few Muslims practice prayer in the mosque with some foreign workers and students from South East Asia and South Asia go there for some group activities. Taipei Cultural Mosque serves as the headquarters of Chinese Muslim Youth League. It also houses the Taiwan Halal Integrity Development Association.
