Xunpu Village
An ancient fishing village on the shore of Quanzhou Bay: Xunpu women wear the "zanhua wei" (flower garland)—fresh flowers strung into a wreath and fixed with bone hairpins—which, together with the oyster-shell houses (homes with walls built of oyster shells), forms the village's two famed wonders
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- Open all day
- Ticket
- Free (flower-crown experience approx. CNY 30-50)
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
An ancient fishing village on the shore of Quanzhou Bay: Xunpu women wear the "zanhua wei" (flower garland)—fresh flowers strung into a wreath and fixed with bone hairpins—which, together with the oyster-shell houses (homes with walls built of oyster shells), forms the village's two famed wonders. Every year on the 29th day of the first lunar month, the "Tianxiang Xunjing" (Heavenly Incense Procession) Mazu incense-patrol ceremony draws crowds so great the streets empty out. In recent years flower-crown photo shoots have gone viral across the internet, making Xunpu the origin point of China's travel-portrait boom; amid commercialization the village still keeps its early-morning fish market and everyday Mazu devotion.
Getting there: Urban Donghai area (approx. 10 km)
Photos
More in Quanzhou
- Kaiyuan Temple
Quanzhou's largest Buddhist temple, first built in the second year of the Tang Chuigong reign (686); legend holds that the temple was founded when its owner gave up his garden after a mulberry tree bloomed with white lotus flowers — hence the "Purple Clouds Covering the Ground" legend
- West Street
Quanzhou's earliest developed district, born with the founding of the city in the Tang Kaiyuan era; for 1,300 years it has remained the lively central axis of the old town
- Qingjing Mosque
One of China's oldest surviving mosques, founded in 1009 (the second year of the Dazhong Xiangfu reign, Northern Song) by Muslim merchant guilds from Arabia; its Arabic name was "Ashab Mosque". The granite-built gateway and the surviving pillars of the Fengtian altar still echo the style of the Great Mosque of Damascus in Syria.
- Tianhou Palace
One of the starting points from which the Mazu faith spread to the world: built in 1196 (the second year of the Qingyuan reign, Southern Song), it is one of the oldest Mazu temples still standing.
- Confucian Temple (Fuwenmiao)
Quanzhou's prefectural Confucian temple, first built in the Tang dynasty and rebuilt in the Southern Song; its Dacheng Hall is one of the largest surviving Confucian temple halls in Jiangnan (south of the Yangtze), with a double-eaved hip roof and Song-style dougong brackets well preserved.
- Tonghuai Guanyue Temple (Temple of Guan Yu and Yue Fei)
The busiest Guandi (Lord Guan) temple in southern Fujian by incense traffic; its Ming-dynasty complex consists of a front hall, the Sanyi Hall and a rear hall, with worshippers pouring in all day.