Why this ride
From Jinjiang it runs 72 km to Jinjiang; allow about 1 h 13 of riding. It goes by way of Site of Shunji Bridge, Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple and back through Site of Shunji Bridge.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sites of Cizao Kilns and Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 72 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 13
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Site of Shunji Bridge.
2. 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 comes up about 19 km into the recorded legs. Next is Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple.
3. 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
about 37 km into the recorded legs you reach Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple. Next is back through Site of Shunji Bridge.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Sites of Cizao Kilns.
5. 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 at Sites of Cizao Kilns. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
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 Sites of Cizao Kilns
back through Site of Shunji Bridge → Sites of Cizao Kilns is 15 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.