2022-05 Quanzhou

On the Labour Day holiday, Diao and I went to Quanzhou, to visit my parents, to have a walk around West Street, and to drive back with White (the cat) on the way. We’ve planned the trip after Chinese New Year, but it was postponed due to a COVID outbreak in Shenzhen. I was worried about the May trip too, while it turned out all well.

Luoyang Bridge

It was still not dark yet after dinner, so we went to Luoyang Bridge to have a look. Since the apartment is just nearby, I go visiting Luoyang Bridge every time I come to Quanzhou.

Quaonan (south of the bridge) community used to be a simple and quite village, with a road running through to the bridge. There are a lot of shrines and temples in the village, and the Temple of Cai Xiang is just along the road. In the summer, firecracker vines will cover the wall and turn it all red; there are stone statues and tablets washed barely recognizable by time scattered around its yard; the longan fruit on the tree are so sweet that it can make people sick. However, the village, at least area along the street, has been renovated a few years ago. Delicate stores started to show up, making the place look like internet-popular ones.

As we arrived the bridge, the street food sellers were packing to leave. It was a windy and chilly evening. Some people were still working in the muddy river bank, looking after oyster farms, checking crabbing cages, or working on their boats. We walked across the bridge, walked into a little bit of the village on the opposite side, and then headed back. The bridge looked exactly the same as the first time I’ve been here. And oddly it seems to be low tide every time.

Quanzhou Old Town

It started to rain in the morning on the second day. We sticked to our plan of Quanzhou old town. Even though I’ve been to Quanzhou many times, I only visited West Street and Kaiyuan Temple, and I was still curious about other parts of the old town. Today, Diao and I had a walk of deep alleys and temples.

The Earthly Half

It was still rainy and early in the afternoon when we headed into the Kaiyuan Temple, and the West Street was empty. We left the temple later in the afternoon, and the rain almost stopped. People started to fill up the street.

I saw a nice photo spot online for the two stone pagodas, and I have been looking for it since we left the Kaiyuan Temple. The tourist center locates on the correct direction, but the rootop was closed. Luckily we found a place called “Youli Coffee”. (“Youli” means “with carps”, and Quanzhou is also known as the carp city.) The rain cleansed the world. The vivid red of rooftops matched well with the naive dusty grey of the pagodas. In no time there were just us on the roof, looking at the stone pagodas standing here since the Song dynasty, and overseeing the West Street which has been walked by the world for hundreds of years.

I have never noticed this place called “Xiao Xi Cheng”, which is a typically attraction of taking photos. If you miss the place, you’ll have nothing to lose.

Diao has took some great effort studying the Quanzhou local food, as she always does before a trip. We didn’t get much change to eat outside, but we still scored a bunch along the way. This time we just wandered around and let fate surprise us, rather than presetting any places to taste. We had mianxianhu (thin noodle soup) and pork blood soup outside Peiyuan Middle School, some fried chicken on the West Street, tusundong (sea worm jelly) near the Qingjing Mosque, and beef soup not far from home.

We found it interesting that fried food is quite popular in Quanzhou. The pickled peach plums (a kind of plum) we bought from a fruit stand neraby was quite good, and we haven’t seen it in Guangzhou or Shenzhen.

The Holy Half

As a fairly faithful science man, I have quite some interest in all kinds of temples. Historically Quanzhou has gathered all kinds of religions of the world, and it’s known as “the museum of religions of the world”. Diao and I walked throught the old town to have a look at those temples, even though to some just a glance outside.

The first one was the Kaiyuan Temple. It was probably the third time I’ve been here. The temple seemed more tranquil in the rain. The pigeons outside the Grand Hall were multiplied, they must have been busy lately.

The Chengtian Temple, used to be the Yuetai Temple, sat on a more hidden street, less crowded than the West Street. Even thought the memorial museum of Monk Hongyi is in the Kaiyuan Temple, in fact he was registered and cremated here. It was already about the closing time, so we quickly finished up the fried vinegar pork and walked into the gate. Behind the temple gate is a long passway. There are seven stupas from Song dynasty on the right, and on the white wall is the hand writtings by Hongyi. People were chanting in the Dabei (Great Compassion) Hall. Worried about the main gate being closed, we had a quick look and left.

The Qingjing Mosque is said to be the oldest existing Islam Mosque in China (built in Northern Song dynasty, 1009 AD). The plaza outside its gate has been used as a PCR testing spot.

The Tonghuai Guan Yue Temple is right next to the Qingjing Mosque. It used to be a temple of Guanyuan, then (1914 AD) Yuefei moved in, and hence the name. I wonder what those two would talk about when they met. This was the most popular among all the temples we’ve been today, judging from the incense burning.

In fact there were many other large or small temples and churches along our way, hidden in the alleys of the old town.

Mount Qingyuan

Fortunately the sun came out. The whole family went to climb the Mount Qingyuan, as the last popular tourists spot of Quanzhou.

The stone statue of Laozi seemed smaller than I had in mind. Don’t fully trust your memory: memories are often biased with the filters added by your wishes, which makes them hard to be realized.

The weather was so nice that we can see the old town and stone pagodas of the Kaiyuan Temple from an open platform near the Mituo Rock.