Mawei District has many interesting places that are worth visiting.
Mawei is home to Foochow Arsenal, the first modern navy shipyard whose main constructions consist of the docks, the Naval School and other military facilities that were built to protect the arsenal. Nowadays, the relics of Foochow Arsenal are open for visitors. On the site of the arsenal, the new Mawei Shipyard is busy working everyday.
Not far from the site of Foochow Arsenal, at the base of Maxian Mountain, there is a small memorial temple, whose name is Zhaozhongci Zhaozhong Temple, for those who fell in the battle of Fuzhou. in August 23, 1884. This was the opening battle of a Sino-French War, mainly over Chinese objections to France's expansion in what is now Vietnam, then a Chinese tributary state. While neutral American and British vessels watched, the French sank 9 of the 11 ships in the Chinese fleet, while losing only one torpedo boat. They then bombarded the dockyards and sailed away, pausing only to destroy all the Chinese forts downriver. At least 2000 Chinese lives were lost, and 10 French.
On Maxian Mountain, there are a site of an English-styled prison and the Maxian Mountain Mesoslope Battery as the subordinate facilities of the Foochow Arsenal.
About two kilometres southeast to the Mawei Shipyard, there is a very famous pagodaï¼ known as "Pagoda Anchorage"ï¼was once regarded as the symbol of China by the seamen. Its name is Luoxingta Luoxing Pagoda. Today, the government of Mawei District built a beautiful park around it. Visitors can climb a small hill to reach the bottom of Luoxingta. The pagoda is now temporarily closed because of revamping.
If traveling from Mawei Town to Langqi Island, then in Tianluowan, Minan and Tingjiang the visitors will find the relics of old batteries built in Qing Dynasty, which were important part of the Minjiang defense line.
Langqi is a beautiful island located at the mouth of Minjiang River. People can enjoy swimming, sunbathing, surfing and any other possible aquatic sports here. Also, the seafood is so tasteful that people are always reluctant to leave Langqi.
