Quanzhou

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Quanzhou (泉州) is a coastal city just North of Xiamen in Fujian Province China.

[edit] Understand

The city was once the Eastern terminus of the Maritime Silk Road and home to a large (100,000 by some estimates!) international community, mostly Arabs but also including Persians, Indians and others. The English word "satin" comes from "Zaiton", the Arabic name for Quanzhou, the port from which that fabric reached the West.

Marco Polo sailed home from Quanzhou. He described it as the world's busiest port, with Alexandria a distant second.

After the emperor cut off foreign expeditions, destroyed the records and let the great ships rot in the 1420s, Quanzhou declined considerably. Today it is less well-known than the provincial capital Fuzhou or Special Economic Zone Xiamen, and certainly gets fewer tourists than either. However, it definitely has its own attractions, notably interesting architecture and good shopping.

Like most Chinese cities, Quanzhou has some of the standard ugly 8-storey concrete apartment blocks. However, there are far fewer of those than elsewhere and whole districts are much prettier. The city government has policies that require new buildings to follow certain architectural conventions. Downtown, there are many new 4 to 6 floor buildings with the traditional Chinese tile roofs with points on the corners. Near the old mosque there are new buildings with Islamic themes in the architecture. The rebuilding of the Zhongshan Road shopping area got a UNESCO award[1].

[edit] Get in

Quanzhou, or rather Jinjiang across the river, has an airport with flights to Hong Kong and various mainland cities. Nearby Xiamen has a more important airport with good domestic connections and quite a few international flights.

There are frequent busses from Xiamen (¥27 to 35, 1.5 hours) or Fuzhou (¥46 to ¥65, 2.5 hours).

There are also direct overnight busses to/from more distant places such as Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, in the ¥300 range.

Bus stations in Quanzhou are a bit confusing. There are two main ones, a fairly large one in a new building toward the North of town and one that is much more central and looks more run down. The latter is the "new bus station".

[edit] Get around

Taxis start at ¥7 RMB and you can go almost anywhere in town for under ¥20.

[edit] See

The town has an assortment of religious buildings, some quite old. Only one Mosque of the many that used to exist survives, but it is worth seeing. The Qingjing Mosque is on Tumen Jie. There are Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian temples, as anywhere in China, plus Christian churches. One large and impressive Taoist temple is just East of the mosque. There are also Hindu and Zoroastrian temples, and the world's only surviving Manichean temple.

The "Old Saint", an enormous statue of Lao Tse, the founder of Taoism, on Qingyuanshan just outside town attracts people from all over China.

Quanzhou is famous for puppets. There is an excellent free puppet museum. They sometimes do shows, which are excellent, but not on a regular schedule. You need to be lucky to catch one, or to have a group of 20 or so people and make arrangements.

To find the museum: from the mosque, walk West (away from the Taoist temple) along Tumen Jie, take the first right, go a short distance and take the first right again. (If you reach a park on your right, you've gone too far.) The museum is a short way along on your left. (If you reach the French restaurant, you've gone too far).

Other museums include the Fujian-Taiwan Kinship Museum, the Quanzhou Museum, and the Maritime Museum.

[edit] Do

Climbing Qingyuanshan is a nice way to get away from the city, and some of its heat and noise. Mountain climbing in Qingyuanshan is a different experience from hiking in other places (at least compared to the US) - the paths up the mountain (large hill, really) are clearly marked, and paved in most places, with steps up the steeper parts. There are lots of places to buy drinks or snacks along the way, and temples, pavilions, and even some carnival-style games are there to distract you from your trek, if you like. Nonetheless, its a beautiful, strenuous climb, with dense tree canopies above and cicadas all around, with openings along the way with clear vistas of the city below. Wear good shoes and clothes you can sweat in.

[edit] Buy

There is large area of antique and curio shops on the North side of the mosque. They sell mainly to locals. Quality, variety and price are all better than most tourist areas. You do have to bargain fiercely, though.

White pottery from the village of Dehua outside Quanzhou has been a export item for centuries, known in Europe as "Blanc de Chine". Other ceramics are also made in the area. There are kilns going back a millenium or more.

Anxi outside Quanzhou produces one of China's most famous teas, Tie Guan Yin Oolong. Tie Guan Yin means Iron Goddess. Tie Guan Yin tea is available in countless shops throughout Quanzhou - in most you can sit and try a variety of grades of tea to decide which you want. These shops also sell the miniature tea sets that are most commonly used in this area - making and drinking tea this way is somewhat labor-intensive (each cup is smaller than a shot glass and a 'pot' is about as big as a coffee cup) but an enjoyable social experience. Making and serving tea in this way is not really a tea 'ceremony' in the sense of a Japanese tea ceremony, but it is still a ritualized and celebrated process.

North of the mosque, across the arched bridge over the small creek (Ba Gua Gou), is a traditional courtyard house that has been converted into a teahouse - this is a good place to get an introduction to the local tea service - your server can show you how to prepare the tea. Most tea shops will also be happy to give you an impromptu lesson in brewing tea.

[edit] Eat

Vegetarian There are several vegetarian restaurants near Chengtien temple on Nanjun Road - try Pu Ti, half a block north of Dong Jie (East Street) on Nanjun Road. Between Pu Ti and Dico's (a fried chicken fast food restaurant) is a restaurant called Wumingzi (No Name) that is a decent, buffet style place. There's another good (and quite fancy) vegetarian restaurant across Nanjun Road from the Carp City Hotel (Lichung Dajiudian).

[edit] Drink

Blenz Coffee on Nanjun Lu is good.

Zhuang Yuan Jie (Bar Street) is off Zhongshan Lu North of the center of town. It has many bars. One that expats go to is Mixing Tunnel Bar.

[edit] Sleep

[edit] Contact

The area code for Quanzhou is 0595. When calling from overseas, dial +86 595 XXXX-XXXX

[edit] Get out

There is a train a couple of times a week to Wu Yi Mountain.

Chongwu is an old walled town near Quanzhou. There are good beaches near it.

Wikipedia:Quanzhou