China has revealed rising numbers of visitors to a key site along the maritime silk routes in the first quarter of 2025, with the city of Quanzhou in the southeastern province of Fujian having recorded a notable increase during this year’s spring festival holiday.
According to the state-owned Xinhua news agency’s Silk Road Information Service, Quanzhou recorded a record number of visitors in spring: approximately 10.12 million people visited Quanzhou during the spring festival, with tourism revenue rising to 10.1 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion). It remains to be seen if Quanzhou’s tourism numbers for this year can surpass 2023’s total of 86.53 million tourist visits and revenue of 100.24 billion yuan (US$13.79 billion), or 2024’s increase to 100 million tourists, with corresponding revenue of 121.14 billion yuan (US$16.7 billion).
Quanzhou has been receiving a steady series of good news about its status as a maritime silk road hub for the 21st century. Quanzhou was historically one of the most important ports in China along a diverse network of littoral routes that connected Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and further west to Africa and the Middle East. The network is often compared and contrasted with the overland silk routes that stretched across Eurasia and ended at Chang’an (modern-day Xi’an). The nodes that connected the maritime routes often consisted of Buddhist and other religious sites at riverine ports or coastal areas.
The city has considerable cultural pull because of its array of spiritual and historical sites. According to Liming Vocational University associate professor Qiang Wang, the largest and most famous Buddhist temple, Kaiyuan Temple, was founded in 686 during the Tang dynasty (618–907) and was part of one of the earliest urban layouts of the city. (Qiang 2024, 36) Kaiyuan Temple is unique for its Hindu presence, with several Vaishnava monuments left behind by traders from southern India. It ranks alongside Chongfu Temple and Chengtian Temple as the Three Great Buddhist Temples of Quanzhou. There are also many mosques in the city, a legacy of Islamic traders who came to dominate the maritime silk road at the height of Quanzhou’s late medieval to early modern transition. The Statue of Mani at Cao’an Temple is also the only surviving statue in the world of the Manichaean tradition’s founder.
Since 2017, the government of Quanzhou has expended considerable resources in developing the city’s tourism facilities. The city was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as China’s 56th World Heritage Site in 2021, with 22 locations in Quanzhou recognized by UNESCO. Quanzhou was designated as “Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China,” which indicated an acknowledgment of the period’s cosmopolitan culture that had succeeded the multiculturalism and openness of the Tang dynasty. On 14 November last year, Beijing held the 6th China-France Cultural Forum, which was a significant part of the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism. Quanzhou mayor Cai Zhansheng attended the forum and used the global platform to highlight the city’s growing prominence in tourism.
He Zhenliang, a cultural expert who helped build Licheng District in Quanzhou as an ideal zone for the inclusion of the city on the World Heritage List, told state-owned newspaper Global Times: “What we protect is not only the ancient city’s buildings themselves but also the living atmosphere that coexists with the city, as well as the cultural heritage nurtured over thousands of years.” (Global Times) According to Xinhua, traditional performing arts, craftsmanship, and other more local attractions have helped to earn Quanzhou a top spot on Chinese travel platform Mafengwo’s “2025 Top 10 Hottest Festive Towns” list.
In recent years, Chinese cities have been promoting the Song cultural legacy as a cultural highlight, with domestic tourists being encouraged to wear Song-era clothes as part of the Hanfu cultural movement. The Song dynasty (960–1279) was remarkable not for its military accomplishments or size, but for three other significant things: its complete restructuring of Chinese society toward a meritocratic system of imperial examinations, its advancements in technology, and its wealth. A prosperous economy, the reimagining of state and society, and technological leadership were traits that defined the Song legacy for several centuries. It was complemented by a Buddhist renaissance that brought Chan and Pure Land to the forefront of Chinese Buddhism, as well as the ascent of Neo-Confucianism.
References
Qiang Wang. 2024. “Quanzhou: The World Emporium at the East End of the Maritime Silk Routes,” in Architecture, Monuments and Urbanism along the Silk Roads. Paris: UNESCO, 31–53.
See more
Chinese tourists rediscover ancient cultural marvels during Spring Festival (People’s Daily Online)
E. China’s Quanzhou City rides cultural revival wave to tourism boom (Xinhua)
Culture-tourism integration injects vitality into China’s Quanzhou city, vital hub of Maritime Silk Road (People’s Daily Online)
Quanzhou, Fujian Province: Home to Maritime Silk Road and Vibrant Cultural Sites, Emerging as a Must-Visit Destination for History Enthusiasts and Tourists (Travel and Tour World)
Quanzhou and Chaozhou’s innovative practices offer valuable insights for national heritage preservation and revitalization (Global Times)
Things to Do in Quanzhou, UNESCO World Cultural Heritage City (People’s Daily Online)
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