Fujian
From ChinaTravelGuide
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[edit] Overview
Historically, Fujian has been one of the more prosperous and outward-looking provinces of China. In the 1900s, two of China's five treaty ports - Xiamen and Fuzhou - were in Fujian. After the Second World war, however, Fujian's traditional trade with Japan was reduced and her other main customer, Taiwan, was the enemy. Recently, however, Fujian is recovering. Like other coastal provinces, it is now one of the more modern and prosperous areas of China.
Fujian has a higher proportion of Muslims than most areas of Southern China due to the history of trade via the Maritime Silk Road, and quite a few Christians since it was a focus of 19th century missionary activity.
The handicraft of Fuzhou have are: Shoushan stone carving (the stone is translucent and prized as material for seals) is in various postures. Bodiless lacquer wares, Long'an wood carving, ivory carving, jade carving, cord painting, paper umbrellas and combs made of ox horn are all renowned at home and abroad.
--from wikitravel.org
[edit] History
Recent archaeological discoveries demonstrate that Fujian (especially the northern coastal region around Fuzhou) had entered the Neolithic Age by the middle of the 6th millennium BC. From the Keqiutou site (7450-5590 BP), an early Neolithic site in Pingtan Island located about 70 km southeast of Fuzhou, numerous tools made of stones, shells, bones, jades, and ceramics (including wheel-made-ceramics) have been unearthed, together with spinning wheels, a definitive evidence of weaving.
The Tanshishan (昙石山) site (5500-4000 BP) in suburban Fuzhou spans the Neolithic and Chalcolithic Age where semi-underground circular buildings were found in the lower level. The Huangtulun (黄土崙) site (ca.1325 BC), also in suburban Fuzhou, was of the Bronze Age in character.
This area was also the place for the kingdom of Minyue. The word "Mǐnyuè" was derived by combining "Mǐn" (閩/闽; POJ: bân), perhaps an ethnic name and associated with the Chinese word for barbarians (蠻/蛮; pinyin: mán; POJ: bân), and "Yue", after the State of Yue, a Spring and Autumn Period kingdom in Zhejiang Province to the north. This is because the royal family of Yuè fled to Fujian after their kingdom was annexed by the State of Chu in 306 BC. Mǐn is also the name of the main river in this area, but the ethnonym is probably earlier.
Minyue was a de facto kingdom until the emperor of Qin Dynasty, the first unified imperial Chinese state, abolished the status. In the aftermath of the fall of the Qin Dynasty, however, civil war broke out between two warlords, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang; the Minyue king Wuzhu sent his troops to fight side-by-side with Liu Bang, and his gamble paid off. Liu Bang was victorious, and founded the Han Dynasty; in 202 BC he restored Minyue's status as a tributary independent kingdom. Thus Wuzhu was allowed to construct his fortified city in Fuzhou as well as a few locations in the Wuyi Mountains, which have been excavated in recent years. His kingdom extended beyond the borders of contemporary Fujian into eastern Guangdong, eastern Jiangxi, and southern Zhejiang.
After the death of Wuzhu, Minyue maintained its militant tradition and launched several expeditions against their neighboring kingdoms in Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang, mostly in the 2nd century BC, only to be stopped by the Han Dynasty. The Han emperor eventually decided to get rid of the potential threat by sending in large forces simultaneously from four directions via land and sea in 111 BC. The rulers in Fuzhou surrendered to avoid a futile fight and destruction; thus the first kingdom in Fujian history came to an abrupt end. Nonetheless, the people of northern Fujian still erect temples in memory of their first kings.
The Han Dynasty collapsed at the end of the 2nd century AD, paving the way for the Three Kingdoms era. Sun Quan, the founder of the Kingdom of Wu, spent nearly twenty years subduing the Shan Yue people, the branch of the Yue people living in mountains.
The first wave of immigration of the noble class arrived in the province in the early 4th century AD when the Western Jin Dynasty collapsed and the north was torn apart by invasions by nomadic peoples from the north, as well as civil war. These immigrants were primarily from eight families in central China: Lin (林), Huang (黄), Chen (陈), Zheng (郑), Zhan (詹), Qiu (邱), Ho (何), and Hu (胡)[citation needed]. The first four remain as the major surnames of modern Fujian.
Nevertheless, isolation from nearby areas owing to rugged terrain contributed to Fujian's relatively backward economy and level of development, despite major population boost from northern China during the "barbarian" invasions. Population density in Fujian remained low compared to the rest of China. Only two commanderies and sixteen counties were established by the Western Jin Dynasty. Like other southern provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan, Fujian often served as a destination for exiled prisoners and dissidents at that time.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties era, the Southern Dynasties reigned south of the Yangtze River, including Fujian.
The Tang Dynasty (618-907) oversaw the next golden age of China. As the Tang Dynasty ended, China was torn apart in the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. During this time, a second major wave of immigration arrived in the safe haven of Fujian, led by general Wang, who set up an independent Kingdom of Min with its capital in Fuzhou. After the death of the founding king, however, the kingdom suffered from internal strife, and was soon swallowed up by Southern Tang, another southern kingdom.[2]
Quanzhou was blooming into a seaport under the reign of the Min Kingdom, and may have been the largest seaport in the Eastern hemisphere. In the early Ming dynasty, Quanzhou was the staging area and supply depot of Zheng He's naval expeditions. Further development was severely hampered by the sea trade ban of the Ming Dynasty, and the area was superseded by nearby ports of Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai despite the lifting of the ban in 1550. Large scale piracy by Wokou (Japanese pirates) was eventually wiped out by Chinese military and Japanese authority of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Late Ming and early Qing Dynasty symbolized an era of large influx of refugees and another 20 years of sea trade ban under the Kangxi Emperor, a measure intended to counter the refuge Ming government of Koxinga in Taiwan. Incoming refugees, however, did not translate into a major labor force owing to their re-migration into prosperous regions of Guangdong province. In 1689, the Qing dynasty officially incorporated Taiwan into Fujian province. Settlement of Taiwan by Han Chinese followed, and the majority of people in Taiwan are descendants of emigrants from Southern Fujian. After Taiwan was separated into its own province in 1885 and ceded to Japan in 1895, Fujian arrived at its present extent. It was substantially influenced by the Japanese after the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 until the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) of WWII.
Owing to the mountainous landscape, Fujian was the most secluded province of the PRC in eastern China due to the lack of rail and underdeveloped networks of paved roads before the 1950s. The first railway to the province was completed in mid-1950s connecting Xiamen to the rest of the mainland. Despite its secluded location, Fujian has had a strong academic tradition since the Southern Song Dynasty. At the time, north China was occupied by the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, which caused a shift of the cultural center of China to the south, benefiting Fuzhou and other southern cities. In the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Academy of Engineering, there are more members from Fuzhou than from any other city[citation needed]. In addition, it should also be pointed out that the slow development of Fujian in its early days has proven a blessing for the province's ecology; today, the province has the highest forest coverage rate and the most diverse biosphere in China whereas central China suffers from severe overpopulation and displays severe signs of soil erosion accompanied by frequent droughts and floods due to lack of forest coverage.
Since the late 1970s, the economy of Fujian along the coast has greatly benefited from its geographic and cultural proximity to Taiwan. In 2003, Xiamen ranked number eight GDP per capita among 659 Chinese cities, ahead of Shanghai and Beijing, while Fuzhou ranked no. 21 (number 4 among 30 provincial capitals)[citation needed]. The development has been accompanied by a large influx of population from the over-populated areas in the north and west, and much of the farmland and forest as well as cultural heritage sites such as the temples of king Wuzhu have given way to ubiquitous high-rise buildings, and the government faces a challenge at all levels to sustain development while, at the same time, preserving the unique and vital natural and cultural heritage of Fujian.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Geography
The province is mostly mountainous, and is traditionally described to be "Eight parts mountain, one part water, and one part farmland" (八山一水一分田). The northwest is higher in altitude, with the Wuyi Mountains forming the border between Fujian and Jiangxi. The highest point of Fujian is Huanggang Peak in the Wuyi Mountains, with an altitude of 2157 m.
The Fujian province faces East China Sea to the east, South China Sea to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the southeast. The coastline is rugged and has many bays and islands. Major islands include Quemoy (controlled by the Republic of China), Haitan Island, and Nanri Island.
The River Min Jiang and its tributaries cut through much of northern and central Fujian. Other rivers include the Jinjiang River and the Jiulong River. Due to its uneven topography, Fujian has many cliffs and rapids.
Fujian is separated from Taiwan by the 180-km-wide Taiwan Strait. Some of the small islands in the Taiwan Strait are also part of the province. Small parts of the province, namely the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, are under the administration of the Republic of China.
Fujian has a subtropical climate, with warm winters. In January the coastal regions average around 7-10 °C while the hills average 6-8 °C. In the summer, temperatures are high, and the province is threatened by typhoons coming in from the Pacific. Average annual precipitation is 1400-2000 mm.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Cities
| • Fuzhou (福州) | • Jinjiang (晋江) | • Longyan (龙岩) | • Nanping (南平) |
| • Ningde (宁德) | • Putian (莆田) | • Quanzhou (泉州) | • Sanming (三明) |
| • Shishi (石狮) | • Wuyishan (武夷山) | • Xiamen (厦门) | • Zhangzhou (漳州) |
[edit] Other Places
[edit] Video
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[edit] Attractions
[edit] Culture
[edit] Language
Today, all educated people in Fujian speak Mandarin. It has been the language of education throughout China since the 1950s and is now the lingua franca in Fujian as everywhere else.
However, Fujian also has dozens of its own dialects. The terrain is mountainous; at one time nearly every valley had its own language. These dialects are usually described with the prefix "Min", where Min is another name for Fujian. They include Minnan (Southern Min), Mindong (Eastern Min), Minbei (Northern Min), Minzhong (Central Min) and Puxian (named for Putian city and Xian county). These dialects are not mutually intelligible, though they do share certain common features. Generally speaking, the "Min" group of Chinese dialects is the most different from standard Mandarin of all the dialects in China. Minnan has fewer similarities with Mandarin than English has with Dutch.
Among the most important is Minnan, (Southern Min), spoken in Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and surrounding areas. Many people in Taiwan speak the same dialect, though they may call it Taiwanese. In Malaysia and Singapore, the same language is called Hokkien (the Minnan word for Fujian).
The Mindong (Eastern Min) or Fuzhou Hua (Fuzhou speech) dialect is spoken in Fuzhou and also has a large number of speakers in the northern coastal areas. In Malaysia and Singapore, it is known as Hokchiu (the Mindong word for Fuzhou).
The Hakka (客家 Kèjiā) people in the West of Fujian, and in several other areas of Southern China, came as refugees from one of Northern China's wars some centuries back. Hakka means "guest people". They have their own Hakka language (客家话; Kèjiāhuà), related to Northern dialects rather than to any other Fujian language.
--from wikitravel.org
[edit] Cuisine
Fujian cuisine, with an emphasis on seafood, is one of the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine. It is composed of traditions from various regions, including Fuzhou cuisine and Min Nan cuisine. The most prestigious dish is Fotiaoqiang (literally "Buddha jumps over the wall"), a complex dish making use of many ingredients, including shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone, and Shaoxing wine (a form of "Chinese alcoholic beverage").
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Music
Fujian is a Chinese province. Traditional music include a variety of folk and classical styles. Nanyin is a style of music that dates back to the period between the Sui and Tang eras, in the 7th century. The city of Quanzhou was a major city at the time, and was situation upon an important maritime trade route, bringing elements of distant cultures to the city. The result was what is now known as nanyin/nanguan music, regarding as a "living fossil" of ancient Chinese music. The cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou have applied to UNESCO for recognition as masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
Hakka music is literary and laid-back in tone, and consists entirely of five notes; many folk songs only use three notes.
Shifan is a kind of music that dates to the Qing Dynasty, when it was a kind of percussive music that accompanied the Dragon Lantern Dance. Over time, string and wind instruments were added.
Chanhe arose at the Chanhe School of Buddhism, from the chanting accompanied by percussion instruments like chimes and drums. In the early 1920s, wind and string instruments were added.
Modern musical institutions in Fujian include the Quanzhou Nanyin Music Ensemble, founded in the early 1960s, and the Fuzhou Folk Music Ensemble founded in 1990. There is also a Music and Dance Festival of Fujian Province and a Baihua Arts and Cultural Festival of Fuzhou Municipality.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Notables
The province also has a tradition of educational achievement, and has produced many important scholars and statesmen since the time of the Song dynasty, such as:
- Huang Qiaoshan (871-953), Vice-Minister of Works, Tang dynasty.
- Zheng Qiao (1108-1166), historian.
- Zhu Xi (1130-1200), Confucian philosopher.
- Hong Chengchou (1593-1665), Ming dynasty official.
- Zheng Chenggong (1624-1662), a general who defeated the Dutch to reconquer Taiwan.
- Lin Zexu (1785-1850), scholar and official.
- Lin Shu (1852-1924), translator.
- Yan Fu (1854-1921), scholar and translator.
- Zheng Zhenduo (1898-1958), literary historian.
- Go Seigen (born 1914), pseudonym of Go champion Wú Qīngyuán.
- Zhang Jingchu (born 1980), actress
- Ruwei Li (born 1990), martial arts expert
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Ethnic Groups
[edit] Colleges and Universities
- Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (福建农林大学) (Fuzhou)
- Fujian College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (福建中医学院) (Fuzhou)
- Fujian Medical University (福建医科大学) (Fuzhou)
- Fujian Normal University (福建师范大学) (founded 1907) (Fuzhou)
- Fujian University of Technology (福建工程学院) (Fuzhou)
- Fuzhou University (福州大学) (Fuzhou)
- Jimei University (集美大学) (Xiamen)
- Huaqiao University (华侨大学) (Quanzhou)
- Longyan University (龙岩学院) (Longyan)
- Zhangzhou Normal College (漳州师范学院) (Zhangzhou)
- Minjiang University (闽江学院) (Fuzhou)
- Putian University (莆田学院) (Putian)
- Quanzhou Normal College (泉州师范学院) (Quanzhou)
- Wuyi University (武夷学院) (Wuyishan)
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Area and Postal Codes
| City | Area Code | Postal Code | City | Area Code | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuzhou (福州) | 591 | 350000 | Jinjiang (晋江) | 595 | 362200 | |
| Longyan (龙岩) | 597 | 364000 | Nanping (南平) | 599 | 353000 | |
| Ningde (宁德) | 593 | 352000 | Putian (莆田) | 594 | 351100 | |
| Quanzhou (泉州) | 595 | 362000 | Sanming (三明) | 598 | 365000 | |
| Shishi (石狮) | 595 | 362700 | Wuyishan (武夷山) | 599 | 354300 | |
| Xiamen (厦门) | 592 | 361000 | Zhangzhou (漳州) | 596 | 363000 |
