Why this ride
From Xiamen it runs 245 km to Xiamen; allow about 3 h 35 of riding. On the way it passes Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu, Sites of Cizao Kilns, Site of Shunji Bridge and Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Kulangsu and Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 245 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 35
- 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. Kulangsu
Kulangsu, or Gulangyu, is a small island across a narrow strait from the city of Xiamen, and the first thing to know is that you will have to leave your motorcycle behind: no motor vehicles are allowed on the island apart from a few electric service carts. You get there by ferry, and that is part of the charm. Once on the island, the noise of the city disappears, replaced by the sound of footsteps on narrow lanes, birdsong and, quite often, piano music drifting from an open window. Kulangsu is known as the island of pianos, with a long tradition of music and a piano museum.
Read the complete Kulangsu write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kulangsu is where the day begins. Next is Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu.
2. 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 comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sites of Cizao Kilns.
3. 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
about 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Sites of Cizao Kilns. Next is Site of Shunji Bridge.
4. 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
Site of Shunji Bridge, about halfway. Next is Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple.
5. 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 sits at 124 km, about halfway. Next is back through Site of Shunji Bridge.
6. 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
back through Site of Shunji Bridge comes up about 145 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Sites of Cizao Kilns.
7. 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
about 160 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Sites of Cizao Kilns. Next is back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu.
8. back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu, late in the day. Next is Kulangsu.
9. Kulangsu
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Kulangsu 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 245 km.
Leg by leg
Kulangsu to Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu
Kulangsu → Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu is 64 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu to Sites of Cizao Kilns
Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu → 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 back through Site of Shunji Bridge
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 back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu
back through Sites of Cizao Kilns → back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu to Kulangsu
back through Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu → Kulangsu is 58 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
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- Kulangsu and The Old City · 324 km