Why this ride
A 168 km round trip from Yongning - roughly 2 h 52 in the saddle. It goes by way of Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple, Site of Shunji Bridge, Sites of Cizao Kilns and Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Wanshou Pagoda and Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 168 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 52
- 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. Wanshou Pagoda
On a hill above the coast south of Quanzhou, in China's Fujian province, a slender stone pagoda has watched the sea for some nine centuries. The Wanshou Pagoda on Baogai mountain, near the town of Shishi, was built in the Southern Song dynasty and served as a landmark for sailors approaching the port of Quanzhou, then one of the busiest harbours in the world. Locals call it the Aunt Pagoda, after a legend that tells of a woman who climbed the hill every day to wait for her husband to return from the sea.
Read the complete Wanshou Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Wanshou Pagoda is where the day begins. Next is Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple.
2. 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
Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Site of Shunji Bridge.
3. 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
about 44 km into the recorded legs you reach Site of Shunji Bridge. Next is Sites of Cizao Kilns.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions.
5. 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
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions sits at 74 km, about halfway. Next is back through Sites of Cizao Kilns.
6. 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 comes up about 111 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Site of Shunji Bridge.
7. 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
about 130 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Site of Shunji Bridge. Next is back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple.
8. back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple, late in the day. Next is Wanshou Pagoda.
9. Wanshou Pagoda
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Wanshou Pagoda write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 168 km.
Leg by leg
Wanshou Pagoda to Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
Wanshou Pagoda → Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple to Site of Shunji Bridge
Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple → Site of Shunji Bridge is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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 back through Site of Shunji Bridge
back through Sites of Cizao Kilns → back through Site of Shunji Bridge is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site of Shunji Bridge to back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple
back through Site of Shunji Bridge → back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple to Wanshou Pagoda
back through Statue of Mani in Cao'an Temple → Wanshou Pagoda is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.