Quan Zhou

Quanzhou's UNESCO inscription, granted in July 2021 under the name "Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China," covers 22 separate sites and monuments across the city rather than a single landmark — recognition of the port's role as one of the busiest harbours on earth during the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, when it was known to foreign traders as Zayton. Arab, Persian, Jewish, and South Asian merchant communities lived here alongside Chinese traders for centuries, leaving behind mosques, Hindu temple fragments, and Taoist shrines within easy walking distance of one another — a density of religious diversity that has no real equivalent elsewhere in China.

Kaiyuan Temple anchors the old city both physically and historically: founded in 686 during the Tang dynasty, its twin stone pagodas are five-storey, octagonal structures that remain the tallest surviving pair from the Song dynasty anywhere in China. A short walk away, Qingjing Mosque, founded in 1009, is the oldest mosque still standing in the country — a direct physical trace of the Arab and Persian trading communities that made Quanzhou their home during the city's medieval peak.

On the harbour's edge, Luoyang Bridge — built in 1053 and later described by Marco Polo in his own travel accounts — remains one of China's most celebrated ancient bridges, engineered with a then-novel foundation technique using cultivated oyster beds to bind the stone piers together. Quanzhou's old quarter rewards unhurried walking more than any checklist of sights; October through April brings the mildest weather for exploring it on foot.