Tour in Fujian

Fujian is in East China across the Taiwan Straits from Taiwan. Fujian and Taiwan residents speak the same dialect. Most of Fujian is mountainous. Wuyi Mountain, in northeastern Fujian, has beautiful sceneries. The weather is subtropical. Fujian's big cities are all located along the coast. From the coast, a navigator sailed to as far as the Red Sea during Ming dynasty. Many Arab merchants came at that time and left some relics.
Capital city, Fuzhou, is over 2000 years old. It was opened to foreign trade in 1842. An old British Community Church is now a warehouse. Visitors can go to the Drum Hill, over 1000 meters high, topped by a huge drum-shaped boulder. The Surging Spring Temple was founded in A.D. 783 and has a white jade Buddha. In Spirit Source Cave are several hundred inscriptions on the cliff. The most famous temples are White Pagoda and Black Pagoda. The Memorial Hall of Lin Zexu, a Qing offical who burned 20,000 chests of opium near Guangzhou in 1839, has a statue of the national hero. Fuzhou is also noted for its hot springs.
Xiamen is a beautiful city on SE coast of Fujian. It is two and a half km from Jinmen, an island held by the Nationalist. Xiamen was the homebase of Zheng Chenggong, a national hero who rid Taiwan of the Dutch in 1662. Xiamen's botanical gardens have many tropical and subtropical plants. The 1000-year-old South Putuo Temple has a stunning, 3-faced, multiarmed statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. Behind the temple is Five Old Men Peaks, from where one can get a good view of the Taiwan Straits. At the foot of the peaks is the Overseas Chinese Museum, outlining the contributions of natives who emigrated overseas. Gulangyu (Drum Wave) Island is 1.7 square km. with a nice beach, frangipani, flame trees, magnolias and other heavily scented trees. It is a car- and bicycle-free resort area. The guesthouses are converted from old mansions built for foreigners. The Zheng Chenggong Memorial Hall is also here with souvenirs of his life. Jimei, 2.83 square km. Eighty percent of the people here have relatives abroad.
Quanzhou is 300 km north of Xiamen. It was a large port city and exported silks and porcelain as far away as Africa in Yuan dynasty. At one time, 10,000 foreigners from Persia, Syria, and Southeast Asia lived in the city. Most of them were Moslem. Its downtown area today has charming touches of Moslem architecture. It also has the largest collection of Nestorian Christian and Manichaean relics. The Kaiyuan Temple dates from the Tang. It is decorated by unusual clay flying figures, Indian figures, Chinese dragons and tigers. There is also a 1000-armed, 1000-eyed Guanyin. On the temple grounds are 2 large pagodas, over 40 meters high. Near the temple is the Overseas Communication Museum, which outlines Chinese maritime and local Arab history. Old God Rock is stone statue of Laotze, founder of Taoism. The Grand Mosque was built by local Moslems in 1009. It was copied from a mosque in Damascus. There is alos the Islamic Tombs. Tomb of Zheng Chenggong is about 25 km NW of the city.
Zhangzhou is known for its lovely and colorful narcissus.