Maritime Cities Of Fujian (福建) - Fuzhou (福州), Chuanzhou (泉州) And Xiamen (廈門)
Posted On Saturday, November 27, 2010 at at 1:12 AM by Alvin
The coastal province of Fujian (福建) had always been known for its sea-faring peoples who had emigrated to all parts of the world; we spent a week visiting the three best known maritime cities Of Fujian - Fuzhou (福州), Chuanzhou (泉州) And Xiamen (廈門) before we headed inland to the Hakka (客家) villages (more on that later). We arrived late in the evening at the Fuzhou Airport and spent a comfortable night at the spacious airport hotel grounds before setting off to visit Fuzhou's scenic Drum Mountain (鼓山) and the city's old quarters centred around the alleyways of (三坊七巷). We then took the high speed train (CRH) to Chuanzhou (泉州) which was the starting point of the ancient maritime silk route (海上絲綢之路) as Chuanzhou was known around the Fifteenth Century as a major sea port rivalling Alexandria of Egypt. 
As a result, there had then been a huge Muslim community which thrived in this city and the many artifacts could be viewed at the city's very informative Maritime Museum and Islamic Museum (泉州海外交通歷史博物館 , 泉州伊斯蘭教博物館). As a side information, Chuanzhou was known as Xi Tong in the old days (刺桐城) after the city's unique Xi Tong Trees; that's why one would find the name Xi Tong in ancient maritime literature. We also spent a day out on the Qing Yuan Mountain (清源山) about 10km from the city centre, where we visited the well-known sculpture of 宋代老君造像 which was built in the Sung Dynasty (circa 1,500 AD) as well as the Tibetan-inspired Three Buddha Cave (三世佛). Next came the gem of an island of Xiamen (廈門) where the skies were blue and the harbour port was buzzing. We spent a relaxing afternoon climbing Xiamen's famed Buddhist Temple of 廈門南普陀寺 and 五老峰 and the Overseas Chinese Museum (廈門華僑博物館) which had interesting details of the history, hardships and achievements of Chinese which had emigrated abroad since hundreds of years. The next day we visited the Island Of Island (鼓浪嶼) where we took time strolling around the western styled villas (Xiamen was home to numerous foreign embassies during the initial trade opening-up of China) and we had a relaxing lunch at a sea side cafe before we began our hectic journey into the hinterlands of Fujian where we would be visiting the famed Hakka Tulou (客家土樓) in the next few days.
