Surroundings, Quanzhou

The Ninth Day Mountain is situated 5km/3mi to the west of the city on the bank of the Jinjiang River. Even in the Song period it was a popular goal of pilgrims. According to tradition many people moved to Fujian from the north in the 3rd and 4th C. Every year on the ninth day of the ninth month of the moon, the people came to Jiurishan to look in the direction of their home and this has given the mountain its name.The slopes of the twin-peaked mountain are decorated with more than 70 inscriptions, some of which are the work of poets who came to this place. Thirteen of these inscriptions are in memory of the sacrificial ceremonies which the Governor of Quanzhou held here between 1104 and 1266 to beg the gods to protect the Chinese traders at sea.The western peak is crowned with a 4.5m/15ft high Buddha sculpture on a lotus-flower throne, dating from the 10th C.

On the Mountain of Souls (Lingshan) on the eastern edge of Quanzhou, are buried two students of the prophet Mohammed. They came here in the early 7th C to spread the word of Islam. Behind the graves is a marble plate dating from 1323 inscribed in Arabic.

The 490m/1608ft high Mountain of Clear Springs is also known as the Beishan (north mountain), its name being taken from Quanzhou ''city of springs''. It is said that there were once many Daoist temples here.The 5m/16ft high Rock of Laotse (Laojun Yan), a figure of the philosopher, dates from the Song period (960-1279).In a building on the Amitabha rock (Mituo Yan), can be seen a tall statue of the Amitabha Buddha.

The bridge, erected in the years 1053 to 1059, which spans the Luoyang river 10km/6mi to the northeast of the city is 843m/2765ft long and 7m/23ft wide. The pavilion on the middle of the bridge is covered with many stone tablets, with inscriptions up to 1000 years old. The 46 pylons were part of the original structure which was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1607.

In the little village of Shijing stands the House of General Zheng Chenggong (42km/26mi) to the south of Quanzhou). He was born here in 1624. Zheng freed Taiwan from the Dutch rulers on February 4th 1662 and died only three months later. His body was buried in the family graveyard of Shuitou, some 10km/6mi to the north of this house. In 1962 the house was converted into a museum in order to keep the memory of the national hero alive.