From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
as Chinchew, is a -level
beside the
, . Its is Fujian's largest metropolitan region, with an area of 11,245 square kilometers (4,342 sq mi) and, as of the , a population of 8,128,530. Its built-up area is home to 6,107,475 inhabitants, encompassing the , , , , and the Quanzhou District for Taiwanese Investment. Quanzhou was China's 12th-largest extended metropolitan area in 2010.
Quanzhou was China's major port for foreign traders, who knew it as Zaiton, during the 11th through 14th centuries. It was v both travelers praised it as one of the most prosperous and glorious cities in the world. It was the naval base from which the
were primarily launched and a cosmopolitan center with
and , , and , including a
monasteries.
prompted a massacre of the city's foreign communities in 1357. Economic dislocations—including
to it during the
and —reduced its prosperity, with
shifting to
and other foreign trade restricted to . Quanzhou became an
center in the 19th century but the
of its harbor long reduced its capacity for trade by larger ships.
Quanzhou is the
of the city's
name , using its pronunciation in the
. The name derives from the city's former status as the seat of the
("") . Ch‘üan-chou was the
romanizat other forms include Chwanchow-foo, Chwan-chau fu, Chwanchew, Ts'üan-chou, Tswanchow-foo, Tswanchau, T'swan-chau fu, Ts'wan-chiu, Ts'wan-chow-fu, Thsiouan-tchéou-fou, and Thsíouan-chéou-fou. The romanization Chuan-chiu, Choan-Chiu, and Shanju reflect the
pronunciation Cho?n-chiu.
name of the city was "Chinchew", a variant of Chincheo, the
transcription of Chiāng-chiu, the
name for , the major Fujianese port trading with
in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is uncertain when or why British sailors first applied the name to Quanzhou. Variants include Kangiu, Chinchu, and Chincheu.
name Zaiton or "Zayton" (?????), once popular in English, means "[City] of " and is a
of Quanzhou's former Chinese nickname Citong Cheng meaning "tung-tree city", which is derived from the avenues of -bearing
ordered to be planted around the city by the city's 10th-century ruler . Variant transcriptions from the Arabic name include Caiton, ?aiton, ?ayton, Zaytún, Zait?n, Zaitún, and Zaitūn. The common
as deriving from "Zaiton cloth" seems, however, unsupported by the record.
Quanzhou proper lies on a spit of land between the estuaries of the
as they flow into
on the . Its surrounding prefecture extends west halfway across the province and is hilly and mountainous. Along with
to its south and
to its north, it makes up
's Southern Coast region. In its mountainous interior, it borders
to the southwest and
to the northwest.
The city features a . Quanzhou has four distinct seasons. Its moderate temperature ranges from 0 to 38 degrees Celsius. In summer, there are
that bring rain and some damage to the city.
The year of 1394
29 December 1604
Tomb of the two worthies, who were among the earliest
missionaries in .
Trade routes in
during Quanzhou's heyday.
Zayton as imagined by a 15th-century European illustrator of
(王國慶) used the area as a base of operations for the
State before he was subdued by the
in the AD 590s. Quanzhou proper was established under the
in 718 on a spit of land between two branches of the . Muslim traders reached the city early on in its existence, along with their existing trade at
Already connected to inland
and , Quanzhou grew to international importance in the first century of the . It received an office of the maritime trade bureau in 1079 or 1087 and functioned as the starting point of the
into the , eclipsing both the
and . A 1095 inscription records , each of twenty ships, arriving from the Southern Seas each year. Quanzhou's maritime trade developed the area's , , , and
industries. 90% of Fujian's ceramic production at the time was -colored , produced for export.
was such a coveted import that promotions for the trade superintendents at Guangzhou and Quanzhou were tied to the amount they were able to bring in during their terms in office. During this period it was one of the world's largest and most cosmopolitan seaports. By 1120, its prefecture claimed a population of around 500,000. Its
was formerly the most celebrated bridge in China. The
is also well known.
Quanzhou initially continued to thrive under the
produced by the . A 1206 report listed merchants from , , , , , , , , and the
of . One of its
inspectors, , completed his compendious
c. 1225, recording the people, places, and items involved in China's foreign trade in his age. Other imperial records from the time use it as the
for distances between China and foreign countries.
merchants carved
and constructed . Over the course of the 13th century, however, Quanzhou's prosperity declined due to instability among its trading partners and increasing restrictions introduced by the Song in an attempt to restrict the outflow of copper and bronze currency from areas forced to use . The increasing importance of
to China's foreign trade also benefited
merchants at Quanzhou's expense, given their extensive contacts with Japan's major ports on
, a superintendent of foreign trade was established in the city in 1277, along with those at , , and . The former Song superintendent , an
, was retained for the new post, using his contacts to restore the city's trade under its new rulers. He was broadly successful, restoring much of the port's former greatness, and his office became hereditary in his descendants. Into the 1280s, Quanzhou sometimes served as the provincial capital for Fujian. Its population was around 455,000 in 1283, the major items of trade being , gemstones, , and .
recorded that the Yuan emperors derived "a vast revenue" from their 10% duty on the port' he called Quanzhou's port "one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce" and "the
simply called it the greatest port in the world. Polo noted
were famed throughout Southeast Asia. It was the point of departure for Marco Polo's 1292 return expedition, escorting the 17-year-old
to her fiancé a few decades later, it was the point of arrival and departure for Ibn Battuta. 's
sailed primarily from its port. The Islamic geographer
noted c. 1321 that
remained ruined from its conquest by the Mongols. In the mid-1320s,
noted the town's two
monasteries, but admitted the
monasteries were much larger, with over 3000 monks in one. In 1357, the
garrison undertook the
against the Yuan and their local
leadership. By 1362, they controlled the countryside as far as the outskirts of , but after a defeat by the Yuan there they retreated to Quanzhou. There, their leaders were killed by Nawuna, a descendant of Pu Shougeng, who was killed in turn by . Chen began a campaign of persecution against the city's Sunni community—including massacres and grave desecration—that eventually became a general anti-Muslim pogrom. Emigrants fleeing the persecution rose to prominent positions throughout Southeast Asia, spurring the development of Islam on
and elsewhere. The Yuan were expelled in 1368.
discouraged foreign commerce other than formal . By 1473, trade had declined to the point that Quanzhou was no longer the headquarters of the imperial customs service for Fujian. The , most of whom were actually disaffected Chinese, forced Quanzhou's Superintendency of Trade to close completely in 1522. The
that followed did not help the city's traders or fishermen: they were forced to abandon their access to the sea for years at a time and coastal farmers forced to relocate miles inland.
In the 19th century, the
still protected a circuit of 7–8 miles (11–13 km) but embraced much vacant ground. The bay began to attract
from 1832. Following the ,
proposed using Quanzhou as an official opium depot to keep the trade out of
and the other
but the rents sought by the imperial commissioner
were too high. When Chinese pirates overran the receiving ships in
to capture their stockpiles of
in 1847, however, the traders moved to Quanzhou Bay regardless. Around 1862, a
was set up in Quanzhou. As late as the middle of the century, large
could still access the town easily, trading in , , , , and , but
created by the rivers around the town had generally incapacitated its harbor by the . It remained a large and prosperous city, but conducted its maritime trade through .
In 2004, Quanzhou was listed among 's "Ten Most Charming Cities in China".
of Quanzhou administers four , three , four , and two special economic districts. The People's Republic of China claims Jinmen County, more widely known as , as part of Quanzhou, but the territory is currently under the jurisdiction of the .
English Name
Simplified
Population
Lǐchéng Qū
Lí-si??-khu
Fēngzé Qū
Hong-te?k-khu
Luòjiāng Qū
Lo?k-kang-khu
Quán'gǎng Qū
Ch?an-káng-khu
Shíshī Shì
Chio?h-sai-chhī
Jìnjiāng Shì
Chìn-kang-chhī
Nánān Shì
L?m-oa?-chhī
Huì'ān Xiàn
Hūi?-oa?-kūi?
?nxī Xiàn
An-khoe-kūi?
Yǒngchūn Xiàn
?ng-chhun-kūi?
Déhuà Xiàn
Tek-hòe-kūi?
Jīnmén Xiàn
Kim-mn?g-kūi?
*: Since its founding in 1949, the
("Mainland China") has claimed the Jinmen Islands as part of Quanzhou but has never controlled them. They are presently administered as
("Taiwan").
's Renshou Pagoda
Medieval Quanzhou was long one of the most cosmopolitan Chinese cities, with , , ; and , including a cathedral (financed by a rich
lady) and two
monasteries.
served as the
of the city from 1322.
was responsible for relocating the
of the four Franciscans martyred at
in 1321 to the mission in Quanzhou.
raised a chapel around 1862. The
dates to 1009 but is now preserved as a museum. The Buddhist
has been repeatedly rebuilt but includes two 5-story 13th-century . Among the most popular folk or
temples is that to
(关帝庙), the
who is honored for his control of
and . Jinjiang also preserves the Cao'an Temple (草庵寺), originally constructed by
under the Yuan but now used by , and a
(文庙, Wenmiao).
Locals speak the Quanzhou variety of
similar to
(spoken in Xiamen), similar to South East Asian
and . It is essentially the same as the dialect spoken in Xiamen and is unintelligible with . Many overseas Chinese whose ancestors came from the Quanzhou area, especially those in Southeast Asia, often speak mainly Hokkien at home. In Taiwan, the locals speak a version of the Minnan language which is called Taiwanese. Around the "Southern Min triangle area," which includes Quanzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou, locals all speak Minnan languages. The dialects they speak are similar but have different intonations.
New developments east of the city center
Quanzhou has been a center for
and . Some of these communities date to Quanzhou's heyday a millennia ago under the Song and Yuan dynasties. About 6 million
trace their ancestry to Quanzhou. Most of them live in Southeast Asian countries like , , , , , or .
Quanzhou's Sunwu Creek
Historically, Quanzhou exported , , , , , ceramics, cloth made of , and some minerals. They imported, primarily from , wool cloth, wine, and watches, as of 1832. As of that time, the
was exporting an estimated ?150,000 a year in black tea from Quanzhou.
Quanzhou is a major exporter of agricultural products such as , ,
and . It is also a major producer of quarry
and . Other industries include , , fashion and , packaging, machinery,
Quanzhou is the biggest automotive market in F it has the highest rate of private
possession.
Its GDP ranked first in Fujian Province for 20 years, from 1991 to 2010. In 2008, Quanzhou's textile and apparel production accounted for 10% of China's overall apparel production, the production of sport and tourism shoes accounts for 80% of Chinese, and 20% of world production, stone exports account for 50% of Chinese stone exports, resin handicraft exports account for 70% of the country's total, ceramic exports account for 67% of the country's total, and candy production accounts for 20%.
Different districts and counties in Quanzhou have their own special industries which are known to the rest of China. Jinjiang and Shishi are famous for apparel and textiles, Huian is famous for its stone, Quangang is famous for petrifaction, Dehua for Ceramics, Yongchun for Citrus, Anxi for wulong tea, Nan An for building materials, and Fengze for resin.[]
(德化瓷器)
(惠安石刻)
(安溪铁观音)
Jinjiang International airport
Quanzhou Railway Station
Buses in Quanzhou
Quanzhou is an important transport hub within southeastern Fujian province. Many export industries in the Fujian interior cities will transport goods to Quanzhou ports.
was one of the most prosperous port in
while now still an important one for exporting. Quanzhou is also connected by major roads from
to the north and
to the south.
There is a passenger ferry terminal in , with regular service to the Shuitou Port in the -controlled
is Quanzhou region's airport, served by passenger flights within Fujian province and other destinations throughout the country.
Quanzhou has two kinds of railway service. The , a "conventional" rail line opened ca. 2001, connects several cargo stations within Quanzhou Prefecture with the interior of Fujian and the rest of the country. Until 2014, this line also had passenger service, with fairly slow passenger trains from Beijing, Wuhan, and other places throughout the country terminating at the Quanzhou East Railway Station, a few kilometers northeast of the center of the city. Passenger service on this line was terminated, and Quanzhou East Railway Station closed on December 9, 2014.
Since 2010, Quanzhou is served by the high-speed , part of the , which runs along China's southeastern sea coast. High-speed trains on this line stop at
of , some 10 miles north of Quanzhou city center) and . Trains to Xiamen take under 45 minutes, making it a convenient weekend or day trip. By 2015, direct high-speed service has become available to a number of cities in the country's interior, from Beijing to Chongqing and Guiyang.
Long-distance bus services also run daily/nightly to Shenzhen and other major cities.
(national)
Quanzhou is generally ignored by Chinese tourists in favor of nearby . Nonetheless, Quanzhou was one of the 24 famous historic cultural cities first approved by the . Notable cultural practices include:
(提线木偶戏)
(南音), a musical style dating to the Han but performed in the local dialect
(泉州五祖拳)
The city hosted the Sixth
in 2008. Signature local dishes include
Notable Historical and cultural sites (the 18 views of Quanzhou as recommended by the Fujian tourism board) include the Ashab Mosque and Kaiyuan Temple mentioned above, as well as:
Qing Yuan mountain (清源山) - The tallest hill within the city limits, which hosts a great view of West lake.
East Lake Park (东湖) - Located in the city center. It is home to a small zoo.
West Lake Park (西湖公园) - The largest body of fresh water within the city limits.
(状元街) - Champion street about 500 meters long, elegant environment, mainly engaged in tourism and cultural crafts.
Notable Modern cultural sites include:
Fengze Square - Located in the city center and acts as a venue for shows and events.
Dapingshan - The second tallest hill within the city limits, crowned with an enormous equestrian statue of .
The Embassy Lounge - Situated in the "1916 Cultural Ideas Zone" which acts as a platform for mixing traditional Chinese art with modern building techniques and designs
Relics from Quanzhou's past are preserved at the Maritime or . It includes large exhibits on Song-era ships and Yuan-era tombstones. A particularly important exhibit is the so-called , a seagoing
that sunk some time after 1272 and was recovered in 1973–74.
The old city center preserves "balcony buildings" (骑楼, qilou), a style of southern
from the Republican Era.
, son of Li Lu, visited
in 1376, converted to , married a
girl, and brought her back to Quanzhou. Li Nu was the ancestor of the
reformer .
in Quanzhou claims descent from the Muslim leader
through his son Nasr al-Din or Nasruddin (Chinese: Nasulading). The Dings have branches in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia among the
there, no longer practicing Islam but still maintaining a
identity. The deputy secretary-general of the
on , Ishag Ma (馬孝棋) has claimed "Sayyid is an honorable title given to descendants of the Prophet Mohammed, hence Sayyid Shamsuddin must be connected to Prophet Mohammed". The Ding family in
of Taiwan, traces descent from him through the Ding of Quanzhou in . Nasruddin was appointed governor in Karadjang and retained his position in Yunnan till his death, which Rashid, writing about 1300, says occurred five or six years before. (According to the , "Nasulading" died in 1292.) Nasruddin's son , who had the surname Bayan Fenchan (evidently the Boyen ch'a-r of the ), was governor in Zaitun at the time Rashid wrote. He bore also his grandfather's title of Sayid Edjell and was Minister of Finance under Kublai's successor. Nasruddin is mentioned by , who styles him "Nescradin".
Quanzhou is also the birthplace of the actress .
Mount Qingyuan Buddha
Quanzhou Tianhou temple
Quanzhou Buddhist Temple
Zaiton's identification with Quanzhou was controversial in the 19th century, with some scholars preferring to associate Polo and Ibn Battuta's great port with the much more attractive harbor at
on a variety of pretexts. The Chinese records are, however, clear as to Quanzhou's former status and the earlier excellence of its harbor, which slowly silted up over the centuries.
itself is named for its former status as the seat of the imperial Chinese .
"Satin" actually derives via
("silken") derived from
Among other testaments to this age are tombstones which have been found written in Chinese, , , and .
It was considered so important by the
that they sometimes called all of Fujian Chinheo. In 1515,
mistakenly recorded that "Zeiton" was the seat of the "" who ruled China but Quanzhou never served as an imperial capital.
Notwithstanding the derivation of Zayton from Quanzhou's old nickname "City of the ", some details of 's description suggest he was referring to .
Quanzhou was also the probable point of departure for the
around the same time but this is uncertain given the partial nature of the record of his time in China.
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