Why this ride
77 km from Baiqi to Baiqi, about 1 h 17 of riding. It goes by way of Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks, Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions and back through Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks. It climbs into the mountains.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Liusheng Pagoda and Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 77 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 17
- 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. Liusheng Pagoda
Liusheng Pagoda stands on a hill at the edge of Quanzhou's coastal region in Fujian, and it has watched a lot of ships leave. It is a seven-storey octagonal tower of granite, usually dated to the Song dynasty, and sailors once used it as a landmark and, tradition says, as a bit of spiritual insurance for the sea. Quanzhou was one of the great ports of the medieval world, which Marco Polo and Arab travellers described as a bustling trading city, so a pagoda guarding its approaches fits easily into the picture.
Read the complete Liusheng Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Liusheng Pagoda is where the day begins. Next is Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks.
2. 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 comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions.
3. 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
about 40 km into the recorded legs you reach Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions. Next is back through Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks.
4. back through Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks, late in the day. Next is Liusheng Pagoda.
5. Liusheng Pagoda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Liusheng Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Liusheng Pagoda. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Liusheng Pagoda to Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks
Liusheng Pagoda → Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks to Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks → Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions to back through Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions → back through Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks to Liusheng Pagoda
back through Zhenwu Temple and Estuary Docks → Liusheng Pagoda is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.