Quanzhou

Zhenguo and Renshou, reputed to be China's tallest granite pagodas imitating timber construction, rise at Kaiyuan Temple as landmarks of Quanzhou, a leading port of the Song and Yuan eras.

Ranked among China's oldest surviving mosques, Qingjing Mosque is a living testament to the mingling of faiths along the Song and Yuan maritime Silk Road.

Built under Cai Xiang in the Northern Song, Luoyang Bridge pioneered a raft-like foundation and used cultivated oysters to bind its stones, a marvel of bridge engineering.

A Song dynasty ocean-going ship recovered at Houzhu Port and hundreds of foreign religious stone carvings fill this treasury of seafaring trade history.

Part of Quanzhou's history: Quanzhou Zayton as Global Hub; Part of Quanzhou's history: Marco Polo's Journey. Venetian merchant's son who travelled with his father and uncle to Khubilai's court, stayed some seventeen years in Yuan lands, and dictated the account of his journeys in a Genoese prison

Part of Quanzhou's history: Quanzhou Zayton as Global Hub. 14th-century Moroccan explorer whose global travels documented Yuan Dynasty China and praised Quanzhou as the greatest port in the world.

Part of Quanzhou's history: Song Commercial & Urban Revolution. Northern Song painter known only from a Jin-dynasty colophon, the creator of the Qingming Festival on the River handscroll of Kaifeng's suburbs and streets

Part of Quanzhou's history: Song Commercial & Urban Revolution. Southern Song writer known only by his pen name, whose Dreams of Splendour of the Eastern Capital records the streets, trades, festivals and court rites of Northern Song Kaifeng

Part of Quanzhou's history: Song Commercial & Urban Revolution. Northern Song emperor Huizong, creator of the slender-gold script and patron of the court painting academy, who was carried off by the Jin and died in captivity

Part of Quanzhou's history: Marco Polo's Journey. Grandson of Chinggis Khan who became Great Khan in 1260, named his dynasty Yuan in 1271 and completed the conquest of the Southern Song in 1279

Song Commercial & Urban Revolution

Dismantling urban ward walls and opening night markets, pioneering the vibrant commercial citizen society.

In 1087, the Northern Song established Fujian's Maritime Trade Office at Quanzhou to administer overseas trade, shipping, and related revenue.

Around the twelfth century, Quanzhou developed into a major Song ocean-trade port through its maritime administration, monsoon sailing, and port network.

Marco Polo's Journey

Marco Polo traveled overland to Yuan China, and the account produced after his return described Kublai's Asian realm to European readers.

Quanzhou Zayton as Global Hub

Known internationally as Zayton, Quanzhou was a major maritime trade center linking Song-Yuan China to overseas networks from the tenth through fourteenth centuries.

Around 1292, Marco Polo's party sailed from Zayton on the return journey to Europe, and his account described it as one of the world's largest ports.

Later World Heritage Listings

In 1994 the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains was inscribed on the World Heritage List; the Classical Gardens of Suzhou, the Yungang Grottoes, Quanzhou and others followed, and in 2023 the Jingmai Mountain old tea forest landscape was inscribed.

In 2021, Quanzhou was inscribed as a serial property representing an emporium of world maritime trade in Song–Yuan China.

Yongchun mature vinegar is made from glutinous rice and red yeast rice and aged for more than three years.