Located on the Jin Jiang, Quanzhou was China’s principal port during the Song and Yuan dynasties. The city’s trade with India and elsewhere resulted in a permanent community of foreign residents. It was known to Arab geographers as Zaitun, from which the word “satin” is derived. Although Quanzhou’s importance declined during the Ming dynasty, the city still offers insights into its maritime past.

Qingjing Mosque

Currently roofless, the Qingjing Mosque was first built in 1009, with extensive repairs in 1309, 1350, and 1609. Unlike other mosques in southern China which follow the traditional Chinese architectural style, this one is an elegant stone structure with an obvious Arabian influence. The surviving gate is supposedly modeled on a mosque in medieval Damascus. Its museum details the port’s significance as a trade center.

Kaiyuan Si

In the north of the city, the Kaiyuan Si was built in AD 686 and called Lianhua Si (Lotus Temple), after a lotus miraculously grew on a mulberry bush that still exists to the west of the Great Hall. In the Song Dynasty, 1,000 monks worshiped here. Among the temple’s three halls, the Sweet Dew Vinaya Hall has a splendid ceiling and a throne on which sits Bodhisattva Kisitigarbha, Guardian of the Domain of Death. On each side of the halls are two ancient pagodas with carvings. The eastern part of the temple houses the Museum of Overseas Trade. One of its highlights is a Song Dynasty trading vessel dating to 1274. Found in 1973, it was made of cedar wood and would have had sails of bamboo and hemp. At that time, such ships traveled to Arabia, Africa, and Asia, exporting porcelain and silks and importing spices, ivory, and glass. The museum also has stone carvings relating to Nestorian Christianity and to the Arab presence in the city.North of Kaiyung Si is the Qingyuan Shan scenic area with the enormous Laojun Yan, a Song Dynasty sculpture of the Daoist Laozi.