Why this ride
An 85 km round trip from Quanzhou - roughly 1 h 16 in the saddle. The stops in between: Sites of Cizao Kilns, Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu and back through Sites of Cizao Kilns. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Site of Shunji Bridge and Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 85 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 16
- 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 Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu.
3. 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
about 42 km into the recorded legs you reach Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu. 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 Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu
Sites of Cizao Kilns → Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu is 27 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 Sites of Cizao Kilns
Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yu → back through Sites of Cizao Kilns is 24 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.