22 Facts About Quanzhou

Quanzhou, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China.

Quanzhou was China's major port for foreign traders, who knew it as Zaiton, during the 11th through 14th centuries.

Quanzhou became an opium-smuggling center in the 19th century but the siltation of its harbor hindered trade by larger ships.

Quanzhou is the atonal pinyin romanization of the city's Chinese name, using its pronunciation in the Mandarin dialect.

Quanzhou proper was established under the Tang in 718 on a spit of land between two branches of the Jin River.

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Already connected to inland Fujian by roads and canals, Quanzhou grew to international importance in the first century of the Song.

Frankincense was such a coveted import that promotions for the trade superintendents at Guangzhou and Quanzhou were tied to the amount they were able to bring in during their terms in office.

The increasing importance of Japan to China's foreign trade benefited Ningbonese merchants at Quanzhou's expense, given their extensive contacts with Japan's major ports on Hakata Bay on Kyushu.

Quanzhou was broadly successful, restoring much of the port's former greatness, and his office became hereditary in his descendants.

Into the 1280s, Quanzhou sometimes served as the provincial capital for Fujian.

Medieval Quanzhou was long one of the most cosmopolitan Chinese cities, with Chinese folk religious temples, Buddhist temples, Taoist temples and Hindu temples; Islamic mosques; and Christian churches, including Nestorian and a cathedral and two Franciscan friaries.

Quanzhou has been a source for Chinese emigration to Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

Quanzhou is a major exporter of agricultural products such as tea, banana, lychee and rice.

Quanzhou is the biggest automotive market in Fujian; it has the highest rate of private automobile possession.

Quanzhou is an important transport hub within southeastern Fujian province.

Quanzhou Port was one of the most prosperous port in Tang Dynasty while now still an important one for exporting.

Quanzhou is connected by major roads from Fuzhou to the north and Xiamen to the south.

Since 2010, Quanzhou is served by the high-speed Fuzhou–Xiamen railway, part of the Hangzhou–Fuzhou–Shenzhen high-speed railway, which runs along China's southeastern sea coast.

Quanzhou is listed as one of the 24 famous historic cultural cities first approved by the Chinese government.

Relics from Quanzhou's past are preserved at the Maritime or Overseas-Relations History Museum.

Quanzhou bore his grandfather's title of Sayid Edjell and was Minister of Finance under Kublai's successor.

Quanzhou was a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.