Qibla direction in Lichuan

How to face the Qibla in Lichuan

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 9.6° towards north: the result is the bearing of 279.6°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 10° off.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Lichuan to Mecca points to 261.9° (west), a full 17.8° away from the true Qibla of 279.6° (west). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 91 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Lichuan first heads west, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 30.3000° N, 108.8500° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Lichuan to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 6,876 km from Lichuan as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 6,763 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 8 h 35 min, although most pilgrims from Lichuan connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Lichuan run 5 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Lichuan rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Lichuan

On 134 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Lichuan while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in May (31 days); for example, on 1 May 2027 it happens at 18:12 local time.

On 220 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in May (31 days), for instance on 15 March 2027 at 07:53.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Lichuan: at 17:18 and 17:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Lichuan compared with other cities

Compared with Beijing, 1,269 km away, the Qibla in Lichuan is turned 0.7° further clockwise (279.6° against 278.9°), and Mecca is 509 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Enshi (61 km), prays towards 279.9°, a difference of 0.3°.

Across the 612 cities in China on this site, the Qibla ranges from 249.0° in Tacheng to 286.5° in Suifenhe, a spread of 37.5°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for China.

Qibla in cities near Lichuan

• Enshi279.9° · 61 km
• Wanzhou279.2° · 68 km
• Nanbin279.5° · 79 km
• Qianjiang, Chongqing Municipality, China280.0° · 86 km
• Yezhou279.8° · 90 km
• Fengjie279.5° · 99 km