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prefecture-level city in Fujian, China
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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.
Quanzhou (also known as Zayton or Zaiton in British and American historical sources, derived from the Arabic name) is the atonal pinyin romanization of the city's Chinese name 泉州, using its pronunciation in the Mandarin dialect. The name derives from the city's former status as the seat of the imperial Chinese Quan ("Spring") Prefecture. Ch'üan-chou was the Wade-Giles romanization of the same name; other forms include Chwanchow-foo, Chwan-chau fu, Chwanchew, Ts'üan-chou, Tswanchow-foo, Tswanchau, T'swan-chau fu, Ts'wan-chiu, Ts'wan-chow-fu, Thsiouan-tchéou-fou, and Thsíouan-chéou-fou. The romanizations Chuan-chiu, Choan-Chiu, and Shanju reflect the local Hokkien pronunciation.
The Postal Map name of the city was "Chinchew", an English variant of Chincheo, which is also the historical Spanish, Portuguese (and later also Dutch and French) name for the city. The exact etymon of the term is uncertain with multiple explanations on the matter. Historically, "Chincheo" or also "Chengchio" or "Chenchiu" was likely a name that originally referred to neighboring Zhangzhou, due to the name generally being used by European sailors to denote the Bay of Amoy and its hinterland, or even the whole Fujian province. The confusion is also discussed by Charles R. Boxer (1953) and the 1902 Encyclopedia in that it is apparently the transcription of the local Quanzhou Hokkien pronunciation of the name of Zhangzhou, Quanzhou Hokkien Chinese: 漳州; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Cheng-chiu; lit. 'Zhangzhou' (IPA: /t͡ɕiɪŋ³³ t͡ɕiu³³/), the major Fujianese port in the 16th and 17th centuries, specifically the old port of Yuegang in Haicheng, Zhangzhou, trading with Spanish Manila and Portuguese Macao. It is uncertain when exactly and why Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and later also British and French sailors first applied the name to Quanzhou, but perhaps there were initially some confusion due to miscommunication on first language contact by European sailors with Hokkien speakers around the Bay of Amoy, which the term later stuck and continued due to the language barrier among Hokkien speakers and those who do not speak the language. Another by Duncan (1902) claims that it comes from a supposed previous "Tsuien-chow" Mandarin romanization (Mandarin Chinese: 泉州; pinyin: Quánzhōu; IPA: /t͡ɕʰy̯ɛn³⁵ ʈ͡ʂoʊ̯⁵⁵/). In the Chineesch-Hollandsch Woordenboek van het Emoi dialekt (1882), a Hokkien-Dutch Dictionary from Dutch Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) of the Dutch East Indies, the name of the Quanzhou dialect of Hokkien is transcribed as the "Tsin-tsiu dialekt". It is uncertain which term they transcribed "Tsin-tsiu" from, specifically the first syllable, unless it was simply their attempt at giving a Hokkien term to explain the origins of "Chincheo". On that regard though, as part of Quanzhou prefecture and directly adjacent from the historic city of Quanzhou over the Jin River lies Jinjiang, called in Hokkien Chinese: 晉江; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chìn-kang; Tâi-lô: Tsìn-kang, which is now also a county-level city. The now county-level city of Jinjiang (Hokkien: 晉江; Chìn-kang) has the exact same name in Hokkien as the Jin River (Hokkien: 晉江; Chìn-kang; IPA: /t͡sin⁵⁵⁴ kaŋ³³/), directly in between the historic city of Quanzhou to its west and to the north of Jinjiang, which both the river and the county-level city got their name from the Jin dynasty (晉朝) from when the earliest Min-speaking Chinese settlers coming from the Min River area settled the banks of the Jin River around 284 AD. Zhou (州) or at least Hokkien Chinese: 州 / 洲; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chiu originally referred to alluvial islands in the middle of rivers or at the mouth of rivers, which can somewhat geographically describe the historic city of Quanzhou's geographic position in between the Jin River and the Luoyang River. Similarly, Zhangzhou (漳州; Chiang-chiu) is also named with Hokkien Chinese: 州; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chiu with Hokkien Chinese: 漳; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chiang referring to Hokkien Chinese: 漳江; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chiang-kang, which is the old name of the Jiulong River (Hokkien: 九龍江; Kiú-liông-kang) that surrounds the historic city of Zhangzhou.
Its Arabic name Zaiton or "Zayton" (Arabic: زيتون, lit. 'olive (fruit or tree)'), once popular in English, means "[City] of Olives" and is traditionally associated with Quanzhou's former Chinese epithet, Chinese: 刺桐城; pinyin: Cìtóng Chéng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chhì-tông Siâⁿ; lit. 'coral-tree city', referring to the Indian coral trees (Erythrina variegata) said to have been planted around the city by its 10th-century ruler Liu Congxiao. Variant transcriptions from the Arabic name include Caiton, Çaiton, Çayton, Zaytún, Zaitûn, Zaitún, and Zaitūn. The etymology of satin derives from "Zaitun".
Quanzhou proper lies on a split of land between the estuaries of the Jin River and Luoyang River as they flow into Quanzhou Bay on the Taiwan Strait. Its surrounding prefecture extends west halfway across the province and is hilly and mountainous. Along with Xiamen and Zhangzhou to its south and Putian to its north, it makes up Fujian Province's Southern Coast region. In its mountainous interior, it borders Longyan to the southwest and Sanming to the northwest.
The city features a humid subtropical climate. Quanzhou has four distinct seasons. Its moderate temperature ranges from 0 to 38 degrees Celsius. In summer, there are typhoons that bring rain and some damage to the city.
Major earthquakes have been experienced in 1394 and on 29 December 1604.
Wang Guoqing (王國慶) used the area as a base of operations for the Chen State before he was subdued by the Sui general Yang Su in the AD 590s. Quanzhou proper was established under the Tang in 718 on a spit of land between two branches of the Jin River. Muslim traders reached the city early on in its existence, along with their existing trade at Guangzhou and Yangzhou.
In the early period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Quanzhou was a part of Min state. After Min was destroyed by the Southern Tang, the Qingyuan Circuit rose up in the original southern territory of Min. The Qingyuan Circuit was a de facto independent entity that lasted 29 years (949–978) with 4 rulers with its territory including present-day southern Fujian and Putian, with Quanzhou as its capital. Its founder, Liu Congxiao, the Prince of Jinjiang and Jiedushi (military governor) of Qingyuan Circuit, vigorously expanded overseas trade and city development. Erythrina trees were planted throughout Quanzhou city, so Quanzhou was called Erythrina City. In 964, the circuit was renamed the Pinghai Circuit. In 978, Chen Hongjin, the Jiedushi of Pinghai Circuit, was forced to surrender to the Northern Song to avoid war and ravage.
Already connected to inland Fujian by roads and canals, Quanzhou grew to international importance in the first century of the Northern Song. It received an office of the maritime trade bureau (shibosi, 市舶司) in 1079 or 1087 and functioned as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road into the Yuan, eclipsing both the overland trade routes and Guangzhou. A 1095 inscription records two convoys, each of twenty ships, arriving from the Southern Seas each year. Quanzhou's maritime trade developed the area's ceramics, sugar, alcohol, and salt industries. Ninety per cent of Fujian's ceramic production at the time was jade-colored celadon, produced for export. 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. During this period it was one of the world's largest and most cosmopolitan seaports. By 1120, its prefecture claimed a population of around 500,000. Its Luoyang Bridge was formerly the most celebrated bridge in China and the 12th century Anping Bridge is also well known.
Quanzhou initially continued to thrive under the Southern Song. A 1206 report listed merchants from Arabia, Iran, the Indian subcontinent, Sumatra, Cambodia, Brunei, Java, Champa, Burma, Anatolia, Korea, Japan and the kingdoms of the Philippines. One of its customs inspectors, Zhao Rugua, completed his compendious Description of Barbarian Nations c. 1225, recording the people, places, and items involved in China's foreign trade in his age. Other imperial records from the time use it as the zero mile for distances between China and foreign countries. Tamil merchants carved idols of Vishnu and Shiva and constructed Hindu temples in Quanzhou. Nevertheless, by 1225, Quanzhou endured intermittent raids by Visayans who came from the Visayas and raided Quanzhou from their base in Eastern Taiwan.
Over the course of the 13th century, however, Quanzhou's prosperity declined due to instability among its trading partners and increasing restrictions introduced by the Southern Song in an attempt to restrict the outflow of copper and bronze currency from areas forced to use hyperinflating paper money. The increasing importance of Japan to China's foreign trade also benefited Ningbonese merchants at Quanzhou's expense, given their extensive contacts with Japan's major ports on Hakata Bay on Kyushu.
In 1277 under the Mongolian Yuan dynasty a superintendent of foreign trade was established in the city. The superintendent Pu Shougeng was Muslim and used his contacts to restore the city's trade under its new rulers. He was broadly successful, restoring much of the port's former greatness. His office became hereditary to his descendants.
Into the 1280s Quanzhou sometimes served as the provincial capital for Fujian. Its population was around 455,000 in 1283, the major items of trade being pepper and other spices, gemstones, pearls, and porcelain.
Marco Polo recorded that the Yuan emperors derived "a vast revenue" from their 10 percent duty on the port's commerce; he called Quanzhou's port "one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce" and "the Alexandria of the East". Ibn Battuta simply called it the greatest port in the world. Polo noted its tattoo artists were famed throughout Southeast Asia. It was the point of departure for Marco Polo's 1292 return expedition, escorting the 17-year-old Mongolian princess Kököchin to her fiancé in the Persian Ilkhanate; a few decades later, it was the point of arrival and departure for Ibn Battuta. Kublai Khan's invasions of Japan and Java sailed primarily from its port. The Islamic geographer Abulfeda noted, in c. 1321, that its city walls remained ruined from its conquest by the Mongols. In the mid-1320s Friar Odoric noted the town's two Franciscan friaries, but admitted the Buddhist monasteries were much larger, with over 3000 monks in one.
Between 1357 and 1367 the Yisibaxi Muslim Persian garrison started the Ispah rebellion against the Yuan dynasty in Quanzhou and southern Fujian due to increasingly anti-Muslim laws. Persian militia leaders Sayf ad-Din (賽甫丁) and Amir ad-Din (阿迷里丁) led the revolt. Arabic official Yawuna (那兀纳) assassinated Amir ad-Din in 1362 and took control of the Muslim rebel forces. The Muslim rebels tried to strike north and took over some parts of Xinghua but were defeated at Fuzhou. Yuan provincial loyalist forces from Fuzhou defeated the Muslim rebels in 1367. Sayf ad-Din and Amir ad-Din fought for Fuzhou and Xinghua for five years. They both were murdered by another Muslim called Nawuna in 1362 so he then took control of Quanzhou and the Ispah garrison for five more years until his defeat by the Yuan authorities.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Quanzhou”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.