Before the sailing season, officials and merchants climbed a hill above Quanzhou to ask the gods for wind. The Jiuri mountain inscriptions, carved on cliff faces and boulders between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, record these prayers, and they are among the most unusual documents of China's maritime past. They were written by local officials of the Song dynasty, and they appeal to the sea gods and to the spirits of the mountain to send a favourable monsoon, so that the trade ships bound for Southeast Asia, India and Arabia could set out in safety and return. Standing before a rock face carved with neat columns of characters, you are reading a note that someone left when the world's biggest port was run by hand and weather.
The monsoon pattern was the engine of the whole trade. Winter winds from the north-east carried ships south, and summer winds from the south-west brought them home, and the timing of the voyage determined fortunes. The prayers were an official ritual, and the inscriptions give names, dates and the ceremony, a rare record of how religion and commerce worked together. The group is part of the Quanzhou UNESCO listing of 2021.
Jiuri Mountain lies in the Nan'an district, north-west of the old city, on a low green ridge with views over the Jin river. The nearby village of Fengzhou is small and quiet, and Quanzhou, with around a hundred and eighty thousand people in its core, is a sizeable city with fuel and hotels.
As with other places in China, foreign visitors cannot easily bring their own motorcycles, and local rules about riding are strict, so most people reach the site by taxi or local bus, and then walk the short path to the rock. The path can be steep and slippery after rain, so wear shoes with grip. The best months are autumn and early spring, when the air is dry and the heat of summer has passed. Bring water, and read the carved characters with a local guide if you can, since the rock gives up its meaning slowly.