Capital of Fujian Province,
FUZHOU is a venerable city with more than a thousand years of history behind it. As the major coastal city between Hong Kong and Shanghai, it is also outwardly modern and by no means a bad place for a stopover, with a few historical relics to seek out and a large number of giant, ancient
banyan trees , with thick, twisted trunks and aerial roots.
Fuzhou was in its day an important trading centre, visited by Marco Polo during the Yuan dynasty. In the fifteenth century, Fuzhou shipbuilders earned themselves the distinction of having built the world's largest ocean-going ship, the Baochuan, sailed by the famous Chinese navigator Zheng He, who used it to travel all around Asia and Africa. One thing Polo noted when he was here was the high-profile presence of Mongol armies to suppress any potential uprisings, and, by coincidence, the city is no less well defended today, forming the heart of Fujian's military opposition to Taiwan. Much like Xiamen farther south, it was the postwar tension between the Nationalists and the Red Army that contributed to Fuzhou's decline after the arrival of the Communists. Today, the proximity of Taiwan is contributing to the enormity of the city's economic boom.
The City
Sights for tourists in Fuzhou are thin on the ground. Apart from a few minor towers and temples, the only two areas of town with any special character are a couple of streets of old wooden houses in the west around the
Lin Zexu Memorial Hall , and the former
foreign concession area south of the Min River. The
Min River boat tour is also well worth joining, if you can catch a day when it runs. Other than that, you could take a few hours to visit
Gu Shan , a hill 9km outside the city, dotted with temples and relics, but crowded to bursting with day-trippers.
A stroll down the wide, rather anonymous main boulevard, Wusi Lu , has a few points of interest. Moving from north to south, the first place you come to, off Wusi Lu on the east side, and a little north of Hudong Lu, is Wenquan Park , a shady area of bamboo huts with rattan tables and chairs where you can take snacks and tea. South of the park on the main road, just past the Huaqiao Hotel, there's a string of small antique shops .
A long, two-kilometre haul farther south (take bus #51), to the junction with Gutian Lu, brings you to the huge expanse of Wuyi Square , dominated by a colossal statue of Mao Zedong looking out over the square from the north. This statue was erected here to commemorate the Ninth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1969, which was significant in that it ratified Maoism as the "state religion" of China, and named the mysterious Lin Biao (subsequently disgraced) as official heir to Mao's throne. Just behind Mao's statue, the large modern building is Yushan Hall, sometimes used for exhibitions, while behind here, accessible by climbing up to the west of the hall, is Yu Shan (Jade Hill; daily 8am-6pm; ¥4), supposedly the cultural heart of the city, but its sights don't amount to much. As you walk up beyond the entrance, the first lane on your left leads to the thousand-year-old Bai Ta (White Tower), beside a temple and a small exhibition of the contents of a Song-dynasty tomb excavated in Fuzhou, which includes the preserved bodies of a man and a woman and some silk garments. Back on the main path leading up the hill again, you'll reach the summit in about ten minutes, scattered with big old trees, and giving views over the city.
West from Yu Shan, across Bayiqi Lu, is another small hill, Wu Shan. From Wushan Lu, take the first road on the right, then another lane to the left and you'll find the Wu Ta (Black Tower), constructed of black granite, dating back to the same era as the White Tower and containing some attractive statuary. Freshly restored, you can climb up the seven floors to the top for great views over the surrounding area, and the tiny temple immediately next door.
North from Wu Shan, you'll soon reach the east-west Daoshan Lu. The most interesting and characterful old street in Fuzhou, lined with trees and wooden houses, and fringed by tiny alleys, runs north from here, initially called Aomen Lu, and shortly becoming Nanhou Lu. On Aomen Lu, west side, you'll find the Lin Zexu Memorial Hall (daily 8am-5pm; ¥2), a quiet, attractive couple of halls and courtyards with funereal statues of animals and big trees. Lin Zexu (1785-1850) is fondly remembered as the patriotic and upright Qing-dynasty official who did more than any other individual to fight against the importation of opium by foreigners from Hong Kong in the early part of the nineteenth century, having thousands of chests of the drug destroyed and even writing persuasive letters to Queen Victoria on the subject.
The northwest of the city is dominated by Xi Hu Park (daily 7am-9pm; ¥4) and the adjoining Zuohai Park - basically a funfair - farther north. Xi Hu itself is an artificial lake, formed by excavations some seventeen hundred years ago. Today you can go boating or stroll with the masses here. Once within the grounds, Fuzhou Provincial Museum had been completely demolished at the time of writing, though it's hoped only to replace the building - the interesting historical collection included a 3500-year-old coffin-boat removed from a Wuyi Shan cave. You can reach the south entrance to Xi Hu on buses #1 and #2 from the southern end of Bayiqi Lu, or #810 from the train station.
Finally, if you're walking back from Xi Hu Park to the northern part of Wusi Lu, along Hualin Lu, you'll pass the obscure Hualin Si , a Tang-dynasty temple located in a grassy garden, which has recently undergone extensive restoration (bus #20 from Bayiqi Lu runs past).
