On the Influence of Chinese Architecture in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties on the Mosques in the Timurid Era

Set against the Silk Road's cross-civilizational network, this study traces 14th–15th-century architectural exchange between Yuan-Ming China and the Timurid Empire through "entangled history". Beijing's Temple of Heaven dougong becomes Samarkand's stucco décor; Persian Sumaliqing cobalt dyes synchronised "Timur blue" and imperial porcelain. Nanjing's porcelain tower bends Islamic geometry into lotus petals, while Herat's Gawhar Shad Mosque scrolls Chinese clouds into vine borders. Yuan-Ming artisan registers and Timurid prisoner camps share Mongol military pattern; Persian builders in Yongle's Forbidden City import cool-tone glazes. "Structural symbolization" argues technical elements shed load to become power codes—yellow tiles or "Timur blue." XRF, 3-D scans and polyglot epigraphy reconstruct the pre-modern Eurasian knowledge network, refuting center-periphery models and casting the Silk Road as an imperial resonator of entangled creativity.