The bridges of Quanzhou were as astonishing as its port. In the Song dynasty, when the city grew rich on trade with Arabia, India and South-East Asia, its builders spanned the estuaries with long stone bridges set on huge foundations of boulders and oyster shells, and some of them are still standing. The Shunji Bridge, whose site is on our list, belongs to this tradition, and what remains is a place beside the river where engineers once solved a problem that seemed impossible: how to build a stone bridge across a tidal estuary with strong currents.
The best-known example is the Luoyang Bridge, built in the eleventh century, with piers shaped like boats to cut the current and oysters planted on the foundations to bind the stone together, which is a clever use of biology. The city's wealth also paid for the Kaiyuan Temple with its twin stone pagodas, the Qingjing Mosque from the early eleventh century, and the Temple of the Heavenly Empress, dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of sailors. A medieval Chinese ship, found buried in the mud in the 1970s, is displayed in the maritime museum. The city's heritage was listed by UNESCO in 2021.
The area is not obviously scenic today, because the coast has silted up and Quanzhou is now a busy modern city of nearly two million people, with factories, expressways and a dense network of roads. Riding is therefore a matter of patience, and the quiet moments come in the old streets around Kaiyuan Temple, where lanes lined with camphor trees and shops selling sweets and tea give a taste of the older city. In summer it is hot and humid, with typhoon risk, and the best months are October to December.
Fuel and food are no problem in a city of this size, and Quanzhou is known for its street snacks, including oyster omelettes, peanut soup and noodles with seafood. The tea from nearby Anxi, the home of Tieguanyin oolong, is a good thing to buy. Allow time for the maritime museum, and look carefully at the stone, because the little marks of the workers' hands are still visible.