Quanzhou
Country: People's Republic of China · 8,782,285 inhabitants · Founded: 260
Attractions
Wikivoyage
Quanzhou (泉州; Choân-chiu in Minnan, Quánzhōu in Mandarin) is a coastal city in Fujian Province north of Xiamen and south of Fuzhou. Older romanisations, no longer in use, include Ch'üan-chou, Chuanchow and Chinchew.
Marco Polo sailed home from here around 1292; he called the city by its Arabic and Persian name, Zaiton, and described it as the world's busiest port and stunningly rich. A few decades later, Ibn Battuta both arrived in and departed from China via Quanzhou. Since then the city has come down in the world somewhat, but is still a major port and still quite prosperous.
For travellers, much of the history is still quite visible; the town is positively overrun with interesting old buildings.
Many readers from Western countries may never have heard of the city, but they have been somewhat affected by it nonetheless. The English word "satin" comes from "Zaiton", the port from which that fabric first reached the Middle East and thence Europe. The tea that American colonists threw overboard to protest British taxes at the Boston Tea Party was shipped from Quanzhou and grown in nearby Anxi.
Wikipedia
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, People's Republic of China. It is Fujian's most populous metropolitan region, with an area of 11,245 square kilometers (4,342 sq mi) and a population of 8,782,285 as of the 2020 census. Its built-up area is home to 6,669,711 inhabitants, encompassing the Licheng, Fengze, and Luojiang urban districts; Jinjiang, Nan'an, and Shishi cities; Hui'an County; 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 visited by both Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta; both travelers praised it as one of the most prosperous and glorious cities in the world. It was the naval base from which the Mongol attacks on Japan and Java were primarily launched and a cosmopolitan center with Buddhist and Hindu temples, Islamic mosques, and Christian churches, including a Catholic cathedral and Franciscan friaries. A failed revolt prompted a massacre of the city's foreign communities in 1357. Economic dislocations—including piracy and an imperial overreaction to it during the Ming and Qing—reduced its prosperity, with Japanese trade shifting to Ningbo and Zhapu and other foreign trade restricted to Guangzhou. Quanzhou became an opium-smuggling center in the 19th century but the siltation of its harbor hindered trade by larger ships.
Because of its importance for medieval maritime commerce, unique mix of religious buildings, and extensive archeological remains, "Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China" was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021.