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AmoyMagic--Guide to Xiamen & Fujian
Copyright 2001-7 by Sue Brown & Dr. Bill Order Books Xiamenguide Forum Guide to Xiamen hsiamen amoy fuhken fukien

Fuzhou, Ancient Capital of Fukien
    City of Merchants, Adventurers, Scholars
Adapted from "Fujian Adventure", Magic Fujian, and other books.

Fuzhou Links History Haunted Nantai Island (Foreign Devils & Chinese Ghosts)
Pagoda Anchorage Downtown Cuisine Shopping Secret Yongtai Mosque Hotels

“Thence I passed eastward to a certain city called Fuzhou…The city is a mighty fine one, and stands upon the sea…Here be seen the greatest cocks in the world.” (Friar Odoric—Franciscan in China, 1323-1327)

Tall Ships and Tall Tales Three magnificent tea clippers, vast sails billowing, raced out of Fuzhou’s Pagoda Anchorage on May 30th, 1866, in a breakneck race to London. They didn’t see each other again until September 6th —3 months and 15,700 miles later. The Taiping beat the Ariel by 30 minutes, and the Serica sailed in a few hours later!

Majestic tall ships plied the waters between Fuzhou, London, and New York, trading in silk, tea, and opium. They were built for beauty as well as for speed—copper bottoms, black topsides, gold or yellow trim, varnished masts and spars, bleached teak decks, snow-white sails, and enough gleaming brass trim to blind enraptured onlookers as the ships sailed out of the jaws of the mighty Min River, which carries more water than the Yangtze--though not all made it.

Between Pagoda Anchorage and the sea, the Min surged through a narrow gorge that was so tight that old salts claimed monkeys jumping from one side to the other got their tails caught in the rigging. These were tall tales, for tall ships, but many a ship, like the Oriental in 1853 and the Vision in 1857, sank in the mighty Min. No one took the Min for granted—especially the Chinese, who were the greatest ocean-going adventurers of the ancient world. About the end of 1431, prior to his last voyage, the great mariner Zhenghe himself erected a table near the mouth of the Min, in what is now Changle. With all modesty he noted that his unparalleled expeditions had unified seas and continents, and that all nations had become subjects of China, bearing precious gifts to the Ming Emperor.

“The vessels which they navigate to Cathay be very big, and have upon the ship’s hull more than one hundred cabins, and with a fair wind they carry ten sails…”   Friar Jordanus

Neolithic Fuzhou   Fuzhou was first settled by Neolithic tribes about Neolithic remains in Fuzhou (aka Foochow Fuhchau Fuh-chau ) 5,000 years ago. The first city walls were raised in 202 B.C. when it became the capital city of Minyue. Fuzhou was named after Fu Mountain, which Chinese say resembles the character Fu (福, Prosperity). If so, it’s sloppy calligraphy. I think that rumor was started by someone named Fu Ling Yu.

Ancient Economic Powerhouse   Fuzhou folk were trading overseas before most of China knew seas existed, and the city was an international trading port by the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). Although Fuzhou was an economic powerhouse, her entrepreneurial people balanced commerce with culture and education. The great Tang Dynasty writer, Han Yu, said the cultural level of Fuzhou equaled that of China’s capital, Chang’An. The city had several nationally famous academies, and China’s first public library, Chaojing Tower.

Revolutionists Fuzhou folks’ fearlessness in blazing new trails, economically, politically, or culturally, perhaps explains why the city was twice designated the temporary capital of China, and in 1933 was looked upon as the “Revolutionary Capital of China.” Fuzhou was home to some of China’s greatest shipbuilders, merchants, poets, philosophers, and patriots, like Linze Xu. At least 850,000 overseas Chinese claim Fuzhou as their hometown.

Fiery Folk The Mongols had their hands full when Marco Polo wrote:

“Now this city of Fuzhou is the key of the kingdom which is called Chonka…and subject to the Great Khan. And a large garrison is maintained there by that prince to keep the kingdom in peace and subjection. For the city is one which is apt to revolt on very slight provocation….”

Fuzhou folk were still not keen on foreign devils 550 years later, when they forced their way in after the Opium War. Maybe that’s why the Chinese stuck the lot of them out on a haunted island…
I played Admiral Elliott in Lin Zexu TV Mini Series

Nantai Island…Foreign Devils and Ghosts. The first Opium War forced Fuzhou open as a Treaty Port—at least on paper. But battleships and lawyers didn’t win the people’s hearts, and the Laowai still had to fight tooth and nail to get land for commerce and housing. I had a taste of their poor reception when I played Admiral Elliott in a TV series. (Like the modern binoculars? At least I persuaded them to ditch the telephone and typewrite on my London desk!).

After opening the Canton consulate in July 1843, George Tradescant Lay arrived in Fuzhou in July 1844. But Fuzhou folk didn’t welcome him with wide-open arms! He was forced off his ship at Pagoda Island and made to go up river in a small boat. Fuzhou authorities allocated him a house in a poor class neighborhood.. The house was built of boards, over the river, which flooded twice a day. He was later moved to another house which he complained, ‘kept out neither sun nor rain.’

Foreigners had opened Fuzhou’s doors at gunpoint, and now they insisted on living inside the city walls—as if familiarity would breed camaraderie rather than contempt. The Chinese, however, were ingenious in finding reasons to keep the Laowai outside the gates. “Tall buildings destroy the fengshui,” was a favorite ploy.

Eventually the Chinese found a solution: put the foreign devils with the Haunted Nantai Island of Foochow (foreign devils and Chinese ghosts) ghosts! The foreigners were allowed to build their settlement, with its fine colonial mansions, consulates, and churches, upon an old burial ground on Nantai Island, to the south. This made it tough to keep servants, who were afraid of ghosts, but at least it helped keep the rent down. ... Click for Tour of Haunted Nantai Island.

FUZHOU LINKS
Fuzhou History (birthplace of Chinese Maritime Industry)
Pagoda Island (famous "China Pagoda," Sino-French Battle, etc.)
Foochow's Haunted Nantai Island Tour (Includes old Consulates, Rotary Club, haunted churches...)
Heart of Fuzhou: 3 Wards & 7 Streets, Li Family House, Banyan City, Yushan Hill and White Pagoda, Clay People, etc.
Qingjing Mosque
Secret Valley of Yongtai (Fujian's Best Kept Secret)
Fuzhou Cuisine (Buddha Jumps the Wall Soup, Pounded Pork, Fish Balls)
Fuzhou Shopping
Note: Fuzhou was also spelled Foochow, Fuh-chau, Fuhchau, etc.

TRAVEL LINKS Favorite Fujian Sites Fujian Foto Album Xiamen Gulangyu Fujian Guides Quanzhou Z hangzhou Longyan Wuyi Mtn Ningde Putian Sanming Zhouning Taimu Mtn. Roundhouses Bridges Jiangxi Guilin Order Books Readers' Letters Travelogues by Scott Ballantyne