Before Quanzhou, before the marine silk road, let’s talk about temples.

Quanzhou is an important city with a long history, since the Three Kingdoms Period about AD 260. There are lots of historic sites which you can find very easily, especially the great history of religions. You can find the ancient site of 5 religions with more than 1000 years history, one of them is the most famous, the Kaiyuan temple.

Kaiyuan temple is not just a temple with only Chinese Buddhism, it incorporates different cultures from India, which were from the marine silk road. That’s right, Quanzhou played a very important role in ancient foreign trading, especially during the Song and Ming dynasties.

This is a legendary temple, which was built more than 1300 years ago, by the Huda Abbot in AD 686. The original name was Lotus Temple, it’s been changed many times from AD 686 to AD 738 by the emperors. In the 22nd year of the Kaiyuan period of the Tang dynasty, it was named Kaiyuan Temple.

The boom time of the temple was during the five dynasties and Song dynasty. There were about 120 branches around it, with a population of 1000 monks and an area of 20,000 square meters. It enjoyed the highest reputation, the same as the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou and Shaoji Temple In Beijing.

The first part you are going to see is the 800 year-old twin stone towers which were built in the South Song dynasty. There are five floors of tower with an octagonal structure. The Eastern Tower and Western Tower are symmetrical, with a special religious meaning.

From the Buddhists’ point of view, the Eastern tower stands for Saha world, and the Western tower stands for Nirvana. The reliefs, which are 2 meters by 1 meter on the wall, feature 160 Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Monks, and Arhats in both towers, and 384 of the gods of the tower, gnomes, Buddhist stories, birds, flowers, lions, and dragons. The very different one is the Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin) with bread, which come from Indian Buddhism, indicating the Song dynasty people still kept the Indian male Guanyin.

72 reliefs of the Great Sphinx of Giza are showing on the waist of the front platform of the Mahavira Hall, with many different types of gestures and styles, they were moved from the ruins of an Indian temple during the Song and Yuan dynasties.

Underneath the eaves of the veranda of the Mahavira Hall, there are two sixteen-sided stone pillars in the center, 24 stories of Hercules Krishnamurti reliefs are sitting on the lower, middle and upper square platforms, which were also moved from the ruins of an Indian temple.

Now it comes to the end of the most amazing part of the temple, the Kalavinka, where they were said to sing incredible songs. Those human heads and bird-bodied creatures are extremely beautiful ladies, holding fragrant flowers and fruits, writing tools, papers, some of them even hold musical instruments singing and dancing in front of Buddhas.

This is just the beginning, to see more about the Marine Silk Road in Quanzhou, to know more of the amazing ancient mysteries, welcome to Quanzhou!

Niumu Forest  is located in Xiayang Town, Yongchun county, Quanzhou, Fujian.

As a 4A tourism attraction, it's the most natural one in south of Fujian province, the weather is good there, especially in Summer,

the temperature is about 25 to 28 degrees.

It's a beautiful mountain which is surrounded by clouds all around the year, the fog makes a special feeling of mountain. Of course, monkeys and other natural animals are also there, which can bring you a lot of fun.

If you happen to have any chance to go to Quanzhou, you won't be regret if you decide to drop by there.

If you're interested in ancient Chinese history and culture, you can't miss Quanzhou, a city which has different religions home and abroad exist harmoniously and many historic evidences well-reserved. You can either take a one-day tour or spend two or three days to explore this special city.

Quanzhou was China's major port for foreign traders, who knew it as Zaiton or "Zayton" (زيتون), 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.

Medieval Quanzhou was long one of the most cosmopolitan Chinese cities, with folk, Buddhist, and Hindu temples; Islamic mosques; andChristian churches, including a cathedral (financed by a rich Armenian lady) and two Franciscan monasteries. Andrew of Perugia served as the Roman Catholic bishop of the city from 1322. Odoric of Pordenone was responsible for relocating the relics of the four Franciscans martyred at Thana in India in 1321 to the mission in Quanzhou. Protestant The English Presbyterian missionaries raised a chapel around 1862. The Qingjing Mosque dates to 1009 but is now preserved as a museum. The Buddhist Kaiyuan Temple has been repeatedly rebuilt but includes two 5-story 13th-century pagodas. Among the most popular folk or Taoist temples is that to Guandi (关帝庙), the war god who is honored for his control of weather and wealth. Jinjiang also preserves the Cao'an Temple (草庵寺), originally constructed byManicheans under the Yuan but now used by New Age spiritualists, and a Confucian Temple (文庙, Wenmiao).

Notable products[edit]

• Dehua porcelain (德化瓷器)
• Huian stoneware (惠安石刻)
• Anxi Tieguanyin (安溪铁观音)

Quanzhou is generally ignored by Chinese tourists in favor of nearby Xiamen. Nonetheless, Quanzhou was one of the 24 famous historic cultural cities first approved by theChinese government. Notable cultural practices include:

• Liyuan Opera (梨园戏)
• Puppet Show (提线木偶戏)
• Gaojia Opera (高甲戏)
• Dacheng Opera (打城戏)
• Nanyin (南音), a musical style dating to the Han but performed in the local dialect
• Quanzhou Shaolin Five Ancestors Fist (泉州五祖拳)
• Yongchun martial arts

* Reference from WikiPedia.