Why this ride
182 km from Fengzhou to Fengzhou, about 3 h 11 of riding. It goes by way of Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple, Shihu Dock, Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu and back through Shihu Dock. Expect gradients and long views.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions and Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 182 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 11
- 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. Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
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.
Read the complete Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions is where the day begins. Next is Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple.
2. 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 comes up about 27 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shihu Dock.
3. Shihu Dock
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Quanzhou was one of the busiest ports in the world. Arab, Persian, Indian and Italian merchants lived in the city, which Marco Polo knew as Zayton, and ships loaded with silk, porcelain and tea left for the Indian Ocean. The port stood on the Fujian coast of southern China, at the mouth of the Jin river, and the whole system of temples, mosques, bridges, docks and kiln sites was listed by UNESCO in 2021 as Quanzhou, Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China.
Read the complete Shihu Dock write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Shihu Dock. Next is Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu.
4. Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu
Medieval travellers called it Zaitun, and to Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta it was one of the greatest ports in the world. Quanzhou, on the coast of Fujian facing Taiwan, flourished under the Song and Yuan dynasties as a hub of maritime trade, where Arab, Persian, Indian and Southeast Asian merchants lived alongside Chinese traders, and ships left laden with silk and porcelain. In 2021 UNESCO inscribed a group of sites as Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China, including temples, mosques, tombs, kilns, bridges and docks that together tell the story of this cosmopolitan city.
Read the complete Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu, about halfway. Next is back through Shihu Dock.
5. back through Shihu Dock
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shihu Dock write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Shihu Dock sits at 123 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 154 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions.
7. Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions closes the day.
Leg by leg
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions to Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions → Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple to Shihu Dock
Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple → Shihu Dock is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shihu Dock to Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu
Shihu Dock → Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu to back through Shihu Dock
Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu → back through Shihu Dock is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shihu Dock to back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
back through Shihu Dock → back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple to Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple → Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.