Why this ride
An 86 km round trip from Quanzhou - roughly 1 h 18 in the saddle. It goes by way of Sites of Cizao Kilns, Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions and back through Sites of Cizao Kilns.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Site of Shunji Bridge and Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 86 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 18
- 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. 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 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 15 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 44 km into the recorded legs you reach Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions. Next is back through Sites of Cizao Kilns.
4. 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 Site of Shunji Bridge.
5. 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 at Site of Shunji Bridge. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Site of Shunji Bridge to Sites of Cizao Kilns
Site of Shunji Bridge → Sites of Cizao Kilns is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sites of Cizao Kilns to Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
Sites of Cizao Kilns → Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions to back through Sites of Cizao Kilns
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions → back through Sites of Cizao Kilns is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sites of Cizao Kilns to Site of Shunji Bridge
back through Sites of Cizao Kilns → Site of Shunji Bridge is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.