Quanzhou: Emporium of the World

The pagodas of Kaiyuan Temple, Quanzhou (Xinhua)

In the nearly 300 years between 1100 and the late 1300s, Quanzhou (or Zayton, as it was formerly known) captured the imaginations of countless merchants and missionaries.

The Song dynasty was no longer able to access the overland silk road as the Western Xia controlled the Gansu corridor, so they looked to expand trade via sea routes.

In 1079, the Song government established an office of the maritime trade bureau in Quanzhou, marking the start of its ascendance to prominence in international trade and commerce.

At its zenith, Southeast Asian, Persian, Tamil and European travellers frequented Quanzhou as merchants, explorers and missionaries. Thriving communities of foreigners existed in the city for centuries, leaving their mark behind in religious structures (Islamic mosques, Catholic churches, Buddhist temples, Manichean temples), which existed in harmony with the shrines of local folk beliefs like Mazu (the sea goddess) and Lord Guan (Guan Yu, a general celebrated for his loyalty and bravery).

Today, one can still see the remains of the Qingjing mosque, the Kaiyuan temple with its two pagodas, Mazu shrines, Catholic churches, all speaking of a culturally diverse past where Quanzhou was once a melting pot of religions. One of ancient China’s longest bridge, the Luoyang bridge spanning the Luoyang river, the remnants of old docks and the maritime bureau’s office under the city walls hint at the significance of Quanzhou as a centre of trade back in the heyday of the maritime silk road.

A distant time which lives on in the fleeting glances we have of Quanzhou’s past.

"And I assure you that for one shipload of pepper that goes to Alexandria or elsewhere, destined for Christendom, there comes a hundred such, aye and more too, to this haven of Zayton; for it is one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce"

-       Marco Polo

It was a humid summer’s morning in 1292. Like any other day, the busy harbour of Quanzhou sprang to life as the chime of the bronze bells awakened the city from its slumber. Port workers scrambled meticulously to load crates of the finest satin and jade-coloured porcelain onto overflowing junks buoyed by the docks, whilst Persian merchants descended upon the bustling streets with the aroma of Frankincense and sparkle of silver and gold.

As morning dawned, the chanting of pious prayer echoed in the halls of the Qingjing mosque, on the floor of the Franciscan church, and in the Buddhist Kaiyuan temple. Sailors flocked to the shrine of Mazu to seek protection from this benevolent goddess of the sea before they ventured into the merciless waves.

In the hubbub of the daily proceedings of this metropolis, a mighty procession of boats gently sailed out of the mouth of the Jinjiang river into the bay of Quanzhou. In a few months’ time, they would be in the Ilkhanate of Persia, where the 17-year-old Mongolian princess it carried, Kokochin, would meet her fiancé.

In the same procession, was a Venetian explorer, ready to return home.

Marco Polo gazed back at the pagodas, steeples and minarets of Quanzhou, at the wide plazas and crowds shuffling through the ebullient streets, at the harbour adorned with thousands of white sails which caught the wind with alacrity, impatient to set out with a plethora of prized commodities.

Before his eyes, lay the emporium of the world.

Bibliography

Centre, UNESCO World Heritage. “Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1561/.

“Quanzhou Added to UNESCO World Heritage List.” Xinhua, http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-07/26/c_1310085185.htm.