Fujian

itineraries

One could plan a tour of Fujian devoted to exploring its amazing variety of religious structures. Quanzhou has Qingyuan Mountain, a major Taoist site that attracts visitors from all over China, one of China's oldest mosques, and the world's last Manichean temple. Putian has the Mazu temple. Xiamen, Fuzhou and Quanzhou all have major Buddhist temples, and dozens of smaller temples are scattered around the countryside. Fujian was also a major area of missionary activity in the 19th century and Christian churches abound, mainland China's oldest church is in Xiamen. The original Shaolin Temple, one of China's greatest centers of kung fu, is in Henan, but during one of China's many wars a lot of the monks fled South and founded Southern Shaolin with temples in Quanzhou and Putian.

museums

The provincial museum is in Fuzhou, in the park beside West Lake 西湖 Xīhú.

Mawei 马尾 mǎwěi, just outside Fuzhou, has a museum commemorating a battle there between the Chinese navy and the French in the 1880s.

Xiamen has an Overseas Chinese Museum, located downtown roughly halfway between the ferry terminal and Xiamen University 厦门大学 Xiàmén dàxué.

Quanzhou, formerly one of the world's great ports, has a Maritime Museum.