Quanzhou Guide

Quanzhou is a coastal city just North of Xiamen in Fujian Province China. Quanzhou has an airport with flights to various mainland cities. Nearby Xiamen has a more important airport with good domestic connections, including flights to Hong Kong and Macau and quite a few international flights. There are frequent buses from Xiamen (1.5 hours) or Fuzhou ( 2.5 hours). There are also direct overnight buses to or from more distant places such as Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, in the RMB300 range. There are two main bus stations, a fairly large one in a new building toward the East of town and one that is much more central and looks more run down. The latter is the "new bus station". A small bus station next to the Overseas Chinese hotel has busses to Fuzhou.

Because of its special location, Quanzhou has been China's marine door to exotic cultures since ancient times. During the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, Quanzhou port became one of the largest ports in the world. As the starting point of the Sea Silk Road, it accepted diverse religions including Christianity, Islam and Manichaeism. Today it is called 'World Religions Museum'. Here exotic cultures have been mixed with traditional ones for thousands of years, leaving many historic sites, such as Qingjing Mosque, the Islamic Saint Mausoleums, Kaiyuan Temple, Tianhou Palace and other architectural classics such as Luoyang Bridge. Anping Bridge and Chongwu Ancient Town. Zheng Chenggong (1624-1662), the national hero who helped the government regain Taiwan from Holland in the 17th century, was also born here. His mausoleum in Nan'an city has become a precious historical site in Quanzhou.

• Quanzhou
• the South Putuo Temple
• Gulangyu
• Wuyi Palace
• Wuyi Mountain
• Hukka Tulou
• Xiamen Piano Museum