Discover Quanzhou (Guide to Zaytun) (original) (raw)

Click to Access
OUTSIDE China
Click to Access INSIDE China TRAVEL LINKS
Xiamen Gulangyu
Jimei Tong'an
Jinmen Z hangzhou
Quanzhou Wuyi Mountain Guide Zhuxi tea Wuyi
#1Fujian Sites!
Fujian Foto Album Books on Fujian Letters from AmoyMagic Readers Readers'Letters
Ningde Taimu Mountain Zhouning Ningde Zhouning Carp Village Zhouning
Longyan Yongding Hakka round houses earthen architecture Longyan Sanming
Putian Bridges
Travel Info,
Hakka Roundhouses
Travel Agents MISC. LINKS
Historical and Modern Amoy People -- Colorful Characters! Amoy People! amoy mission missionaries
Darwin Driving Darwin Chinese Driving Survival of fastest
South China Tigers -- our Amoy Kitty Cats Amoy Tigers
Chinese inventions compass gunpowder printing paper zoos newspaper etc. Chinese Inventions
1994 80 day 40,000 km drive to Tibet & back Tibet in 80 Days! forty thousand kilometer drive around China
Dethroned Perils of Chinese Potty Toilet Dethroned! Chinese bathrooms
Misc.Writings
Latest news tips ideas updates Latest News
Lord of Opium
Back to Main Page

Martial arts Chinese Kung Fu Kung Fu

AmoyMagic--Guide to Xiamen & F ujian
Copyright 2001-7 by Sue Brown & Dr. Bill Order Books Xiamenguide Forum
Main Page Business Links Recreation Links Google Search E-mail

"MysticQuanzhou--Cit y of Light "
(My 2nd Favorite Chinese City; Xiamen is 1st!).
Click Here for Info on Quanzhou

"Mystic Quanzhou", by Dr. Bill, has 266 pages, with B&W and color photos, many by famous Fujian photographers like award-winning Zhu Qingfu and historian

Hong Buren.Click Here to Order Online.
Scanned copy of rare book City of Springs by Annie Duncan 1902 Click Here to see Quanzhou 100 years ago! (Scanned copy, "City of Springs," by Annie Duncan, 1902.

Contents of "Mystic Quanzhou--City of Light"
(Click Links for info combined from various books; more to be added)
Xiamen won Livcom (former "Nations in Bloom") gold in Stuttgart in 2002, Quanzhou got gold in 2003, Shanghai Songjiang got gold in 2005 ForwardQuanzhou wins the 2003 Livcom Award in Holland! ��
Introduction and history of Quanzhou Chapter 1---Introduction
China's finest maritime museum is in Quanzhou Chapter 2---Maritime Museum
Downtown Zaytun--which in Sinbad the Sailor's day was the treasure center of the planet Chapter 3---Downtown Zaytun Zayton is the home of Chinese puppets and marionettes Quanzhou Marionettes
Chapter 4---The Outskirts Quanzhou may be birthplace of Southern Shaolin Kung Fu martial arts S. Shaolin Kungfu
Zaitun parks and gardens Chapter 5---Quanzhou Parks (China's largest Taoist statue)
Zaitun covered wooden bridges, stone bridges, Chapter 6---Quanzhou Bridges (ancient biological engineering!)
Hui'an famous for stone masons Hui'an maids stone carving Chapter 7---Hui’an (walled city, Hui'an maidens)
Nan'an Start of Silk Road of the Sea Chapter 8---Nan’an (Koxinga's home; start of Maritime Silk Route)
Jinjiang Shishi Home of Overseas Chinese and last Manichean temple on earth Chapter 9---Jinjiang & Shishi (home of Overseas Chinese like Jose Rizal)
Anxi great center for oolong tea, temples Chapter 10--Anxi (Famous center for Oolong tea, Fujian's Potala Palaced, etc.)
Dehua -- One of China's two ancient porcelain centers (other was Jingdezhen in Jiangxi ) Chapter 12--Dehua (One of China's two great ancient porcelain centers)
South Fujian foods Chapter 13--Quanzhou Cuisine (famous Minnan - South Fujian Cuisine)
Zaitun Handicrafts Bamboo Tea Silk Porcelain Chapter 14--Quanzhou Specialties (what to buy in Quanzhou)
Hotels Hostels Travel Agencies Tour Guides Tickets for Train Plane and Bus Chapter 15--Hotels & Travel Agencies
Chapter 16--Emergency Phone Numbers
Supplement by Scott Ballantyne, formerly of ABB Xiamen and BBC Supplement--ScottBallantyne's Quanzhou Adventure
Bibliography
Back to Top AmoyMagic Guide to Xiamen and Fujian

Brief Intro to Marco Polo's Mythical Zayton (reputed to have been visited even by the Arab's Sinbad theSailor!)

Quanzhou �C Melting Pot of Asia! Quanzhou, not New York City, was our planet��s first great melting pot��and probably stirred by Tong ��An firewalkers. Quanzhou was open to foreigners as never before or since. Laowai became Chinese citizens, intermarried, and held leadership positions even at the provincial level. It was good for both Laowai and Laonei. The Arab with Chinese citizenship who managed China��s trade had such good guanxi (relationships) back in camel country that at one point his operation accounted for ? of China��s entire revenue!

Back to Top AmoyMagic Guide to Xiamen and Fujian
Not surprisingly, the government appreciated its foreign experts, and conferred honors on them similar to those doled out today. Laowai and Laonei mixed freely, trading commodities, culture--even religions!

The Emperor actually financed foreign missionaries, helping them to build Muslim mosques and Franciscan Catholic cathedrals. Andrew of Perugia, the Franciscan Bishop of Quanzhou, wrote that the Emperor��s budget for these ��cultural activities�� exceeded the entire annual budget of some European countries.

Quanzhou Ȫ�� China��s first major international port was Guangzhou, to the south of Amoy, but merchants soon had enough of the corruption and wars, and moved to the more stable Quanzhou (which Marco Polo called Zaitan, and from which we get our word ��satin��). Zaitan boasted one of the world��s best natural harbors. Better yet, it was closer to Hangzhou, the silk capital of China (though as you��ll see in the supplement at the end of this chapter, Fujian��s silk was as good or better!).
Over 1,000 years before Christ, the West valued Chinese silk more highly than gold. The poet Horace wrote of the silks from the legendary land of Seres (the Roman name for China), and the poet Lucan wrote of Cleopatra��s ��white breasts�� revealed by the fabric �� close-woven by the shuttle of the Seres.��
Back to Top AmoyMagic Guide to Xiamen & Fujian
Once Romans and Greeks got a glimpse of Cleopatra��s undies , the demand for silk mushroomed. So did the silk supply, thanks to mythical Quanzhou, the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, since one ship could carry as much silk as 700 cantankerous camels on the not-so-silky Silk Road of the Desert. (Fujian also produced excellent silk! See supplement at the end of this chapter).

By the mid 1300s, Quanzhou had 500,000 people of every race, creed and color imaginable. Historians wrote that ��100 large ships and numerous small ones�� anchored in the harbour. Marco Polo, who sailed for home from Quanzhou, claimed it rivalled Alexandria Egypt as the planet��s largest and busiest port.