Historic city · Port · Cultural centre · Industrial centre · Fujian
Quanzhou
泉州
Zaitun, the medieval emporium of the maritime Silk Roads
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Fujian at the mouth of the Jin River. Known to Arab and European travellers as Zaitun, it was one of the greatest seaports in the world in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and its temples, mosque, bridges and kilns were inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2021. It is also the home of Nanyin music, marionette theatre and a large private manufacturing economy.
Key facts
Overview
Quanzhou's golden age came when the Song established a Maritime Trade Office here in 1087. Ships sailed to South-east Asia, India, the Persian Gulf and East Africa, and a cosmopolitan community of Arab, Persian, Tamil and other merchants lived in the city. Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described Zaitun as one of the largest ports of their time.
The port declined under the Ming sea bans, but Quanzhou people emigrated widely, and the city's county-level satellites, especially Jinjiang and Shishi, grew after 1978 into centres of sportswear, footwear and textiles. The old city keeps its low-rise streets, temples and arcaded shophouses.
Names and nicknames
刺桐城
“City of Coral Trees”
From the coral trees planted around the walls in the tenth century; the origin of the foreign name Zaitun.
鲤城
“Carp City”
For the carp-like shape of the old walled city; the central district is Licheng.
世界宗教博物馆
“museum of world religions”
Because Buddhist, Daoist, Muslim, Hindu, Manichaean and Christian remains are found in the city.
History
Quanzhou was an important port by the Tang. The Song Maritime Trade Office (1087) and Yuan patronage made it the leading port of China. Its foreign communities left mosques, tombstones in Arabic and Tamil, a Hindu temple and the world's only surviving Manichaean statue at Cao'an. The Ming restrictions of the late fourteenth century ended its maritime primacy.
1009
Qingjing Mosque
Built by Muslim merchants, it is among the oldest mosques in China; its stone gate survives.
1053–1059
Luoyang Bridge built
A stone bridge across the Luoyang estuary whose foundations were consolidated by cultivating oysters.
1087
Maritime Trade Office established
Made Quanzhou an official centre of overseas trade.
c. 1292
Marco Polo departs from Zaitun
According to his account, he left China from Quanzhou escorting a Mongol princess to Persia.
2021
World Heritage inscription
Twenty-two sites were inscribed as Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China.
Landmarks
Temple or shrine
Kaiyuan Temple
开元寺
Tang-founded temple with two thirteenth-century stone pagodas and Hindu-carved columns in its main hall.
Temple or shrine
Qingjing Mosque
清净寺
Song-dynasty mosque with a granite gateway in the West Asian style.
Historic site
Laojun Rock
老君岩
Song statue of Laozi carved from a single boulder on Qingyuan Mountain.
Museum
Quanzhou Maritime Museum
泉州海外交通史博物馆
Displays a Song ship excavated in 1974 and a collection of foreign religious stones.
Historic site
Luoyang Bridge
洛阳桥
Eleventh-century stone beam bridge across the estuary.
Temple or shrine
Cao'an Manichaean Shrine
草庵
Shrine in Jinjiang with a Yuan carving of Mani as the Buddha of Light.
Neighbourhoods
West Street
西街
One of the oldest streets of the city, leading to Kaiyuan Temple.
Xunpu
蟳埔村
Fishing village with oyster-shell houses and women's flower headdresses.
Food
Mianxian hu
面线糊
Fine wheat vermicelli in a thick broth with fried dough and offal, a breakfast dish.
Sea-worm jelly
土笋冻
Cold jelly set from peanut worms, a speciality of Anhai.
Runbing
润饼
Thin wheat wrappers rolled around stir-fried vegetables, peanuts and seaweed, eaten at Qingming.
Culture
Quanzhou is the historic centre of Southern Min culture. Nanyin music, Liyuan opera and marionette theatre are performed in the city, temple festivals are elaborate, and the diaspora in the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan keeps close ties with ancestral villages. The city was named East Asia Culture City in 2014.
Getting around
- Quanzhou and Quanzhou South stations are on the coastal high-speed line between Fuzhou and Xiamen.
- Quanzhou Jinjiang International Airport lies south of the city.
Day trips
Anping Bridge
安平桥
Stone bridge of the twelfth century more than two kilometres long, in Jinjiang.
Dehua
德化
Porcelain county in the hills, famous for white blanc de Chine ware.
Anxi
安溪
Tea county, home of Tieguanyin oolong.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Quanzhou Municipal People's Government — Quanzhou Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Quanzhou — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More cities in Fujian
- Fuzhou福州Capital · Historic city · PortBanyan City on the Min River, capital of Fujian for two thousand years
- Xiamen厦门Port · Historic city · Scenic areaIsland port of Kulangsu, Koxinga and the Southern Min diaspora
- Longyan龙岩Historic city · Cultural centre · Scenic areaHakka heartland of the Yongding tulou and the Gutian meeting
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