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China Travel Guide » Places in China » Fujian Province
Places in China: Fujian Province
Fujian's coastal province beckons tourists, travellers and sightseers to China's subtropical 121,000 square kilometre mountain climbers' section of the country. Mountain vistas, deep gorges and white-water excitement are all in one small section of China.
The province is eighty percent mountainous and ten percent waterways. The remaining ten percent is the only portion used for farming. Clearly, farming gives way to tourism in this province.
There are several towns in the province, with the largest being Fuzhou, the provincial capital. The major river in Fujian runs past Fuzhou and empties into the Taiwan Straight. This is the River Min Jiang. Being on the coast, Fujian has a past history of sea-based activity including shipbuilding. The famous Chinese explorer, Huang He, used Fuzhou as his home port back in the 15th century.
Another famous world traveller during the 13th century, Marco Polo, spread tales of the wonders of this province also. Fuzhou was one of only five ports open to foreign trade at the end of the Opium Wars of 1842.
Tourism has recently got some boost when the government made modifications to the rough mountain terrain. Now it is easier, though not exactly easy, to explore the high cliffs that are so common in the province. Fujian was largely isolated until the mid-1950s. That is when the railways connected Xiamen with the rest of mainland China. Now, it is much more common to see tourists on those steep mountain paths.
Ties with Taiwan are strong in Fujian as the island of Taiwan is just off the eastern shore of Fujian Province. Much trading has been done for some time with a number of nations, Taiwan being one of the leaders.
This province is rich in history, some of which goes back more than two thousand years. The province was known as Minyue by the Han people. A king named Wuzhu witnessed the fall of the Qin Dynasty. He then set up Fuzhou as the new fortified capital.
Most of the local people are Han Chinese. Only about two percent are of other ethnic backgrounds. More than 35 million people call Fujian their home province.
The climate of the province is subtropical, and monsoon rains are not uncommon there. The economy of Fujian is strong so the province is one of the wealthier ones in China. More than 120 countries have economic and trade relations with Fujian.
Because of the Southern Song Dynasty from 920 to 1279, the study of literature and philosophy in Fujian began gaining in importance to the people. They still put much value on the studies of those subjects.
Major cities in Fujian:
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