Quanzhou: The Legendary Eastern Port of the World

For Chinese outside Fujian, the city of Quanzhou is often first encountered in middle school history textbooks. It was the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, a bustling port teeming with merchants and countless ships, once hailed as the "Greatest Oriental Port." It is also China's only UNESCO World Heritage city, known as the "Museum of World Religions" and the "Oriental Cultural Capital."

Initially, due to Quanzhou's inconvenient inland transportation, it never received the same imperial attention as the more accessible port of Guangzhou.

It wasn't until the Song and Yuan dynasties that the long-brewing local culture began to flourish. Leveraging its coastal advantages, Quanzhou rose to prominence under the spotlight of history. It became a marvel in the eyes of travelers—Marco Polo described it as the "world's greatest port," while an earlier Italian traveler praised it as the "City of Light."

Quanzhou, where river meets sea at the estuary.

Starting from Quanzhou, southern Fujian began serving as a window for China to see the world and for the world to see China. Its rise reflects the vision and boldness of the Minnan people.

"Fear not poverty, but the lack of tides to sail."

Ancient Chinese were generally averse to the concept of the "ocean." To emperors, the sea was a natural boundary, a place to exile disgraced officials, or a hopeless escape route. For most inland dwellers, the ocean remained unimaginable, described only as the "ends of the earth"—a place they would never reach.

From the Central Plains' perspective, southern Fujian had three defining traits: marginal, remote, and harsh for survival. Geographically, Fujian is bisected by two parallel mountain ranges: the Wuyi Mountains in the west, towering over 2,000 meters, and the Jiufeng-Boping-Daiyun range in the center. Hills and mountains cover nearly 90% of the province. Though rivers like the Min, Jin, and Jiulong flow eastward to the sea, the rugged terrain creates short, rapid streams, leaving only narrow coastal plains insufficient to support a large population.

Ancient Chinese texts referred to coastal regions as "hai ruan," counterpart to inland frontiers. Historically, debates raged over whether to abandon borderlands like the Western Regions or the Ningxia Plain—for agrarian societies, land was valuable only if farmable, and these barren frontiers were deemed unworthy of the military and financial costs to hold them.

For much of history, few coastal areas in China were as mountainous and isolated as southern Fujian, where the sea was the only way out. Yet for the Minnan people, the ocean, though unpredictable, was a path worth risking their lives to traverse.

The Minnan people were among the most adventurous seafarers, fearless and far-sighted, with an innate understanding of maritime routes. Skilled sailors, they bravely joined the Eurasian trade network, opening a window for the mainland—winds of global change blew in from the deep sea.

"Courage" is the essence of the Minnan spirit.

Quanzhou, also called Citong City or Citong Port, earned its name when the Five Dynasties military governor Liu Congxiao expanded the city and planted coral trees. Its port had early overseas routes. The Tang-era Buddhist text "Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks" records that during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Indian monk Gunavarman tried to sail home from Quanzhou but drifted back to Guangzhou. By the Tang, Quanzhou was one of China's four major ports, alongside Jiaozhou, Guangzhou, and Yangzhou.

From the 10th to 14th centuries, the Chinese and Arab empires dominated global trade. The Arabs, natural merchants, gave English words like "check" and "bank"—many commercial systems trace back to them.

Fishing boats brought prosperity to southern Fujian's three cities.

Many Arab merchants settled in China, forming enclaves called "fanfang." Pre-Tang, they came overland to Wuwei and Chang'an; in the Song, they sailed to ports like Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou, and Yangzhou. Minnan traders joined Arab networks just as Chinese nautical technology advanced.

The compass, adopted in the Northern Song, allowed ships to cross oceans. The "Fuchuan," a sturdy Fujian-made vessel with watertight compartments, became ideal for transoceanic trade. Song-era Quanzhou merchants sailed everywhere—north to Korea, Japan, and Ryukyu; south to Vietnam, Java, Sumatra, and Cambodia; even crossing the Indian Ocean to trade with India, Arabia, Persia, and East Africa.

At this time, Quanzhou surged to become the world's top port, commanding China-East Asia sea routes and integrating into global trade. While "trading with ten thousand nations" is an exaggeration, records show 31 trade partners in 1206, 57 by 1225, and 98 by the Yuan dynasty (1349).

This was China's age of maritime discovery—a new oceanic world opened to Quanzhou. Decades later, Zheng He's voyages merely retraced routes pioneered by Quanzhou's merchants. By the Southern Song and Yuan, Quanzhou peaked: after the Jin invasion of 1127 forced the court to Hangzhou, it became a near-capital port. In 1129, 339 imperial relatives relocated there, driving demand for luxuries and surpassing Guangzhou.

Today's bustling Quanzhou port.

During the transition from the Song to Yuan dynasties, Quanzhou Port remained unscathed by war and continued to thrive until the late Yuan period. Two great travelers who journeyed around the world during the Yuan dynasty witnessed the prosperity of Quanzhou Port and left records. In 1292, Marco Polo and his party set out from Fuzhou and "on the evening of the fifth day, arrived at the magnificent and beautiful city of Zayton (Quanzhou). Along its coast lies a port renowned for its bustling ship traffic... Zayton is one of the largest ports in the world. Countless merchants gather here, goods pile up like mountains, and the scale of trade is beyond imagination." In 1347, the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta also visited Zayton Port, describing it as: "The first city reached after crossing the great ocean is Zayton... Zayton Port is one of the greatest harbors in the world. In my view, it would not be an exaggeration to call it the largest port in the world. I saw over a hundred large ships in the harbor, and the number of small boats was beyond count."

However, starting from the Ming dynasty, Quanzhou Port gradually declined. The destruction caused by war, the dispersal of foreign merchants, and the silting of the harbor... but the root cause was the Ming dynasty's maritime prohibition policy. Unlike the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Ming feared and guarded against the sea, constructing countless coastal defense garrisons along the southeastern coast and repeatedly reinforcing the policy of "not a single plank allowed to enter the sea." Quanzhou Port, right under the eyes of the prefectural city, thus lost its purpose and became a relic for people to reminisce about.

Luoyang Bridge, also known as Wan'an Bridge, is the first cross-sea stone bridge in Chinese history.

During the heyday of maritime trade, the people of Quanzhou built stone pagodas along the harbor to guide the endless stream of ships. Beneath the Liushang Pagoda, which has survived from the Yuan dynasty to this day, now lies Shihu Port—Quanzhou's primary modern container port. The ancient lighthouse still spiritually guides the maritime homecoming of Quanzhou's people.

Maritime trade, diverse religions, and the lineage of foreign merchants forged the seafaring cultural character and mercantile genes of Quanzhou's people. Even today, Quanzhou natives excel at running factories and marketing goods. Dehua kilns continuously export affordable yet high-quality daily utensils and exquisite porcelain carvings overseas, while Anxi Tieguanyin tea is almost synonymous with Chinese oolong tea.

Fine tea and fine porcelain—the dual prides of Quanzhou's people.

Left photo by Chen Jian; right photo by Ye Xiangyu.

"The gods are watching just three feet above your head" reflects the spiritual framework of daily life for the people of southern Fujian. Quanzhou, where domestic and foreign religious cultures converge, is now a "World Religious Museum." It houses China's oldest surviving mosque—the Qingjing Mosque—as well as the Kaiyuan Temple, Fujian's largest Buddhist temple, located at the heart of Quanzhou's ancient city. The temple's two Song-dynasty pagodas stand east and west, having withstood earthquakes, typhoons, and wars for a millennium. While most traces of Song-Yuan Quanzhou have faded with time, the relatively well-preserved religious relics serve as keys to that golden era.

Quanzhou boasts rich theatrical traditions, being both the epitome of southern Fujian's local opera and the heartland of the ancient music Nanyin. Each genre of traditional opera and music carries its own profound and weighty lineage, instilling pride in its practitioners. Nanyin stands apart, disdaining association with entertainments meant to please the ear, tracing its history back to the Han and Tang dynasties. Liyuan opera, classical and refined, with its intricate performances, nourished many later theatrical forms in southern Fujian...

Puppet head artwork by Quanzhou's renowned carver Huang Qinghui.

—"Xiang Yu, the Conqueror of Chu."

As a famous "hometown of overseas Chinese," countless emigrants have spread across Southeast Asia and the world over the centuries. Southern Fujianese have braved the waves of global trade, bringing their descendants to Nanyang (Southeast Asia) and the New World. Overseas Chinese who speak the Southern Min dialect alone number over 60 million, their distribution far exceeding that of any other Chinese dialect.

If you walk the streets of Malacca, Penang, Singapore, Surabaya, Manila, or other Southeast Asian cities, you may hear the familiar Southern Min dialect drift past your ears, catch the lingering melodies of Nanyin at community gatherings, or taste Southern Fujian dishes that evoke the flavors of home...

The bustling seafood markets of southern Fujian are like open-air "museums."

Population mobility and cultural exchange have blurred the lines between homeland and adopted land for southern Fujian and Nanyang. Southern Fujianese bring the customs of their homeland to new shores, cultivating their adopted homes with the same care as their birthplace. In turn, the cultures of these adopted lands influence their homeland, fostering renewal and evolution in southern Fujian's own culture.

At the dawn of China's reform and opening-up, Quanzhou quickly became a hotspot for foreign investment. Overseas Chinese returned to visit relatives and establish businesses, and with favorable timing, geographic advantages, and human unity, Quanzhou entered another period of vigorous development. These overseas Chinese, who had witnessed modern civilization abroad, brought contemporary ideas back to their hometown and became the most active promoters of traditional revival movements, such as ancestral hall construction and genealogy compilation.

The "swallow-tail ridge" of southern Fujian architecture resembles the tail of a swallow.

Over the centuries, some things have vanished, while others have emerged anew. This mysterious and beautiful ancient city still shelters the fervor of southern Fujian's wanderers.

Text | "Authentic Local · Southern Fujian."

Photo editors | Zhang Lütang, Li Xiaofeng, Wang Yiran.

This article was originally published in the mook "Authentic Geography · Southern Fujian" and has been re-edited and compiled. The original authors are Fan Yakun, Xiao Chunlei, Li Zhijun, Nie Jing, and Liu Bozi.

Originally published in the mook "Authentic Geography · Southern Fujian"

This article is original content from 【Authentic Geography】