the mosque is a walled complex of five courtyards, with the prayer hall located in the fourth courtyard. each courtyard contains a central monument, such as a gate, and is lined with greenery as well as subsidiary buildings. the first courtyard, for instance, contains a qing dynasty monumental gate, while the fourth courtyard houses the phoenix pavilion, a hexagonal gazebo. many walls throughout the complex are filled with inscriptions of birds, plants, objects, and text, both in chinese and arabic. stone steles record repairs to the mosque and feature calligraphic works. in the second courtyard, two steles feature scripts of the calligrapher mi fu of the song dynasty and dong qichang, a calligrapher of the ming dynasty.