Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China

Quanzhou lies near the mouth of the Jin River in southern Fujian. Under the Tang it was established in 718 on a spit of land between two branches of the river, and Muslim traders came early in its existence. From 949 to 978 it was the capital of the Qingyuan Circuit, whose founder Liu Congxiao pushed overseas trade and the growth of the city.

Under the Northern Song, Quanzhou grew into an international port and received an office of the maritime trade bureau in the late 11th century. The 11th-century Qingjing Mosque is one of the earliest Islamic buildings in China, and the site also includes stone docks, sites of ceramic and iron production, old bridges, pagodas and inscriptions. Arabic and Western texts of the 10th to 14th centuries knew the city as Zayton.

Under the Yuan, Marco Polo called its port one of the two greatest havens for commerce in the world, and Ibn Battuta also came here. When the Ming restricted private foreign trade the port declined, and its trade superintendency closed completely in 1522. The serial site, recording how the city linked the sea with the Chinese hinterland in the Song and Yuan periods, was inscribed in 2021.