Qibla direction in Mengzi

How to face the Qibla in Mengzi

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 11.6° towards north: the result is the bearing of 281.6°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 12° off.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Mengzi, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Mengzi to Mecca points to 268.1° (west), 13.5° away from the correct 281.6°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 54 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 281.6° obtained? From the coordinates of Mengzi (23.3678° N, 103.3821° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Mengzi to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 6,483 km from Mengzi as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 6,422 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 8 h 08 min, although most pilgrims from Mengzi connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Mengzi 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 Mengzi rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Mengzi

On 121 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Mengzi 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 18:38 local time.

On 218 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 March (31 days), for instance on 1 March 2027 at 08:03.

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

Mengzi compared with other cities

Compared with Beijing, 2,208 km away, the Qibla in Mengzi is turned 2.7° further clockwise (281.6° against 278.9°), and Mecca is 902 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Gejiu (23 km), prays towards 281.5°, a difference of 0.1°.

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 Mengzi

• Gejiu281.5° · 23 km
• Kaiyuan, Yunnan, China281.4° · 38 km
• Wenshan City281.8° · 89 km
• Yuxi280.7° · 139 km
• Haikou, Yunnan, China280.5° · 177 km
• Anning280.4° · 195 km