Why this ride
It goes by way of Sites of Dehua Kilns, Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions and back through Sites of Dehua Kilns. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang and Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 341 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 49
- 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. Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang
In the green hills of Anxi county, inland from the port city of Quanzhou in Fujian, the Xiacaopu site preserves the remains of an iron industry that flourished during the Song and Yuan dynasties, roughly from the tenth to the fourteenth centuries. Archaeologists found furnaces, slag heaps, ore-roasting pits and workshops on a hillside, evidence of large-scale production. The iron produced here was shipped down the rivers to Quanzhou and exported to Southeast Asia and beyond, and that is why the site is part of the World Heritage listing of Quanzhou, Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China, inscribed in 2021. At that time, Quanzhou was one of the largest ports in the world, visited by Arab, Persian and Indian merchants, and described by Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta.
Read the complete Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang 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 74 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 170 km into the recorded legs you reach Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions. 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 Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang.
5. Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang to Sites of Dehua Kilns
Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang → Sites of Dehua Kilns is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sites of Dehua Kilns to Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions
Sites of Dehua Kilns → Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions to back through Sites of Dehua Kilns
Jiuri Mountain Wind-Praying Inscriptions → back through Sites of Dehua Kilns is 94 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns to Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang
back through Sites of Dehua Kilns → Xiacaopu Iron Production Site of Qingyang is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.