Why this ride
493 km from Quanzhou to Quanzhou, about 6 h 23 of riding. It goes by way of Sites of Dehua Kilns, Fujian Tulou and back through Sites of Dehua Kilns. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Statue of Lao Tze and Fujian Tulou
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 493 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 23
- 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. Statue of Lao Tze
North of Quanzhou, where the city fades into granite hills and orchards, the road runs up to the foot of Qingyuan Mountain and a figure that stops most visitors for a moment. The Lao Tze statue is a seated old man with a long beard, carved out of a natural boulder, and it has been there since the Song dynasty, roughly a thousand years. It is among the largest carved Taoist figures in China, and because the stone was never moved, the whole thing feels grown rather than built.
Read the complete Statue of Lao Tze write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Statue of Lao Tze is where the day begins. Next is Sites of Dehua Kilns.
2. Sites of Dehua Kilns
Dehua, a county in the mountains of Fujian province, in south-eastern China, has been making porcelain for over a thousand years. Its white porcelain, known in the West as blanc de Chine, is famous for its pure, creamy white colour and its fine figures, especially statues of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, and other Buddhist and Taoist figures. The ancient kiln sites of Dehua, including long dragon kilns built on hillsides, are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China, inscribed in 2021.
Read the complete Sites of Dehua Kilns write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sites of Dehua Kilns comes up about 100 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fujian Tulou.
3. Fujian Tulou
Picture a giant ring of rammed earth, three or four storeys high, with almost no windows on the outside and a single heavy gate. Inside, galleries of wooden rooms face a courtyard with an ancestral hall at its heart, and up to several hundred members of one extended family once lived within those walls. That is a tulou, and the hills of south-western Fujian are dotted with them, round and square, some centuries old, many still inhabited.
Read the complete Fujian Tulou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 248 km into the recorded legs you reach Fujian Tulou. Next is back through Sites of Dehua Kilns.
4. back through Sites of Dehua Kilns
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sites of Dehua 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 Dehua Kilns, late in the day. Next is Statue of Lao Tze.
5. Statue of Lao Tze
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Statue of Lao Tze write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Statue of Lao Tze. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Statue of Lao Tze to Sites of Dehua Kilns
Statue of Lao Tze → Sites of Dehua Kilns is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sites of Dehua Kilns to Fujian Tulou
Sites of Dehua Kilns → Fujian Tulou is 148 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fujian Tulou to back through Sites of Dehua Kilns
Fujian Tulou → back through Sites of Dehua Kilns is 143 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns to Statue of Lao Tze
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns → Statue of Lao Tze is 102 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.