Why this ride
A 164 km round trip from Neikeng - roughly 2 h 47 in the saddle. The stops in between: Sites of Cizao Kilns, Site of Shunji Bridge, Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple and Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Anping Bridge and Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 164 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 47
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Anping Bridge
Five li, that is the old name for it, because the Anping Bridge was reckoned to be five li long, a little over two kilometres, which made it the longest bridge in China for centuries and the longest beam bridge of its kind anywhere in the medieval world. It crosses what used to be a tidal inlet at Anhai, in Jinjiang county south of Quanzhou, and it was begun in the twelfth century under the Southern Song, when this coast was making its money from trade with Arabia, India and Southeast Asia. Local merchants and monks put up much of the cost, and the work went on for the better part of two decades.
Read the complete Anping Bridge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Anping Bridge is where the day begins. Next is Sites of Cizao Kilns.
2. Sites of Cizao Kilns
A thousand years ago, Quanzhou was one of the greatest ports in the world, the place Marco Polo called Zaitun, where ships from Persia, Arabia, India and Southeast Asia came to trade for silk, tea and porcelain. The ceramics that filled those ships were made in kilns in the hills around the city, and the Cizao kilns, near Jinjiang, were among the most important. Long dragon kilns, built up the slopes of the hills, were fired with wood, producing huge quantities of pottery for export. Shards from Cizao have been found across Asia and as far away as East Africa. Since 2021 the kiln sites have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China.
Read the complete Sites of Cizao Kilns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sites of Cizao Kilns comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Site of Shunji Bridge.
3. Site of Shunji Bridge
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.
Read the complete Site of Shunji Bridge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 43 km into the recorded legs you reach Site of Shunji Bridge. Next is Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple.
4. Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Hidden in the hills behind the coast of Fujian is a small stone temple with a figure that should not exist. Cao'an is the last surviving Manichaean temple in the world, and its main statue shows Mani, the third-century Persian prophet who founded a religion that once stretched from Spain to China, in the form of a serene Buddha-like figure with long white hair and eyebrows. It was carved in the fourteenth century, during the Yuan dynasty, from a single piece of local stone, and its identity was recognised only in the twentieth century, when scholars matched it with texts.
Read the complete Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple, about halfway. Next is Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks.
5. Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks
In the Song and Yuan centuries, roughly a thousand years ago, Quanzhou on the coast of Fujian was one of the busiest ports on the planet. Arab, Persian, Indian and Southeast Asian merchants lived here, ships loaded silk, porcelain and tea for the Indian Ocean, and Marco Polo, who knew it as Zayton, described a harbour crowded with vessels. The Zhenwu Temple stands on a small rise by the estuary of the Jin river, where officials once made sacrifices to the god of the sea before the fleets sailed, and the old docks along the shore nearby are part of the World Heritage Site inscribed in 2021 as Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China.
Read the complete Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks sits at 79 km, about halfway. Next is back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple.
6. back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple comes up about 102 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Site of Shunji Bridge.
7. back through Site of Shunji Bridge
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site of Shunji Bridge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 122 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Site of Shunji Bridge. Next is back through Sites of Cizao Kilns.
8. back through Sites of Cizao Kilns
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sites of Cizao Kilns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sites of Cizao Kilns, late in the day. Next is Anping Bridge.
9. Anping Bridge
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Anping Bridge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 164 km.
Leg by leg
Anping Bridge to Sites of Cizao Kilns
Anping Bridge → Sites of Cizao Kilns is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sites of Cizao Kilns to Site of Shunji Bridge
Sites of Cizao Kilns → Site of Shunji Bridge is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site of Shunji Bridge to Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Site of Shunji Bridge → Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple to Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks
Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple → Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks to back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks → back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple to back through Site of Shunji Bridge
back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple → back through Site of Shunji Bridge is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site of Shunji Bridge to back through Sites of Cizao Kilns
back through Site of Shunji Bridge → back through Sites of Cizao Kilns is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sites of Cizao Kilns to Anping Bridge
back through Sites of Cizao Kilns → Anping Bridge is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.