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Fuzhou
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' (; Foochow Romanized: Hók-ciu; EFEO: Fou-Tcheou; also seen as Foochow, Fuchow, Fuh-chau, Hock Chew or Hokchew in earlier Western documents) is the capital and the largest prefecture-level city of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is also referred to as Rongcheng which means "city of banyan trees" and Mindong (??} (lit. East of Fujian) along with Ningde.
It is the capital of the province, and is situated on the north bank of the estuary of Fujian's largest river, the Min River, which gives access to the interior and to the neighboring provinces of Jiangxi and Zhejiang.
exact foundation date of this city is not known however when the Yue Kingdom to the north of Fujian was annexed by the Chu Kingdom in 306 BC, a branch of the royal family of the defeated Yue fled to Fujian and became the Minyue tribe.
The first city wall of Fuzhou was built in 202 BC when Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, gave permission to Wuzhu, the king of Minyue, to set up his capital in Fuzhou.
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Encyclopedia
' (; Foochow Romanized: Hók-ciu; EFEO: Fou-Tcheou; also seen as Foochow, Fuchow, Fuh-chau, Hock Chew or Hokchew in earlier Western documents) is the capital and the largest prefecture-level city of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is also referred to as Rongcheng which means "city of banyan trees" and Mindong (??} (lit. East of Fujian) along with Ningde.
It is the capital of the province, and is situated on the north bank of the estuary of Fujian's largest river, the Min River, which gives access to the interior and to the neighboring provinces of Jiangxi and Zhejiang.
Quick Facts
- Fuzhou was also called Foochow, Fuchow or Fuh-chau in earlier Western documents.
- Fuzhou is also known as the city of banyan trees because of the special sub-tropical trees planted during the Song Dynasty.
History
Pre-Han
The exact foundation date of this city is not known however when the Yue Kingdom to the north of Fujian was annexed by the Chu Kingdom in 306 BC, a branch of the royal family of the defeated Yue fled to Fujian and became the Minyue tribe.
The first city wall of Fuzhou was built in 202 BC when Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, gave permission to Wuzhu, the king of Minyue, to set up his capital in Fuzhou. The city was named Ye, meaning "The Beautiful". The name has changed many times, but the city has been continuously occupied since 202 BC and has never suffered major destruction by wars or natural disasters.
The Minyue was annexed by Han in 110 BC.
Han to Song
Under the Han, Fuzhou became Ye County.
During the Jin Dynasty, West Lake, East Lake (now silted up) and numerous canals in the city were constructed (282 AD). When the Jin Dynasty collapsed, the first wave of immigrants of the gentile class arrived in Fujian (308 AD).
Hualin Temple in the original Ye city, which has been declared a national heritage site, was built in 964 AD according to documentation, but was carbon-dated to the 4th or 5th century AD. It is probably the oldest existing wooden structure in China.
During the Tang Dynasty (725 AD), the city started to be called Fuzhou.
More immigrants arrived from the north starting from 892 as the Tang Dynasty was collapsing. After the Tang Dynasty fell in 907, the Wang family managed to establish a kingdom called Min (909 – 945) with its capital in Fuzhou, then known as Changle. Min is still used as another name for the province of Fujian, in names of region such as minnan, and the river that runs through Fuzhou is called Min Jiang.
New city walls were built in 282 AD, 901 AD, 905 AD, and 974 AD, so the city had many layers of walls — more than the Chinese capital.
Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty ordered the destruction of all the walls in Fuzhou in 978 AD but new walls were rebuilt later. The latest was built in 1371 AD.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, Fuzhou became more prosperous; many scholars came here to live and work. Among them were Zhu Xi, the most celebrated Chinese philosopher after Confucius, and Xin Qiji, the greatest composer of ci (a specialized form of poem).
Mongolian Yuan Dynasty
Marco Polo, an Italian guest of the Emperor Kubilai, transcribed, after the conventions of Italian orthography, the place name as Fugiu. This was not the local Min pronunciation but that of the Mandarin administrative class.
Ming
Between 1405 and 1433 AD, a fleet of the Ming Imperial navy under Admiral Zheng He sailed from Fuzhou to the Indian Ocean seven times; on three occasions the fleet landed on the east coast of Africa. Before the last sailing, Zheng erected a stele dedicated to the goddess Tian-Fei (Matsu) near the seaport.
Galeote Pereira, a Portuguese soldier and trader, was taken prisoner during the pirate extermination campaign of 1549 and imprisoned here. Later transferred to a sort of internal exile elsewhere in the province, Pereira escaped to Macau in 1553. The record of his experiences in the Ming Empire, logged by the Jesuits at Goa in 1561, was the first non-clerical account of China to reach the West since Polo's.
Qing
In the 19th century, Lin Zexu, a native of Fuzhou, led an attempt to resist the British capitalism at Guangzhou (??, "Canton"). Unsuccessful and hated by the capitalists, he was internally exiled to the Russian border. By the 1842 peace treaty which concluded Opium War I, Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese treaty ports. Lin Zexu died on November 22, 1850 at age of 66.
On November 8, 1911, revolutionaries staged an uprising in Fuzhou. After an overnight street battle, the Qing (Manchu) army surrendered.
On November 22, 1933, Eugene Chen and the leaders of the National Revolutionary Army's 19th Army set up the short-lived People's Revolutionary Government of Republican China (???????????). Blockaded by Generalissimo Jiang and left to twist in the wind by the nearby Soviet Republic of China, the PRGRC collapsed within two months.
Around 1940, the Japanese army decided to invade Fuzhou. Surrounded by hills on 3 sides, the Japanese army quickly bombed and invaded the city. Japanese planes quickly bombed the only escape route for Chinese civilians - the bridges across the neighbouring river, leaving many civilians dangerously crossing the river on foot. The Japanese soon took the city and held it until Japan's surrender in 1945.
See also: Battle of Foochow
People's Republic of China
On December 13, 1993, a raging fire swept through a textile factory in Fuzhou and claimed the lives of 60 workers.
On October 2, 2005, floodwaters from Typhoon Longwang swept away a military school, killing at least 80 paramilitary officers.
Administrative Divisions
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The administrative divisions of Fuzhou have changed frequently in history. But from 1983, when Fuzhou administered 5 districts and 8 counties, the administrative divisional lines have not changed. In 1990 and 1994, Fuqing (Hók-chiang) and Changle (Diòng-lo?h) counties were promoted to county-level cities. Despite this change, the old statement of "5 districts and 8 counties" is still popular among the local people.
Districts
County-level cities
- Fuqing (??,Hók-chiang)
- Changle (??,Diòng-lo?h)
Counties (post-1994)
- Minhou (??,Mìng-âu)
- Minqing (??,Mìng-chiang)
- Yongtai (??,Ing-tái)
- Lianjiang (??,Lièng-gong)
- Luoyuan (??,Lò?-nguòng)
- Pingtan (??,Bìng-tàng)
Transportation
Airport
Now Fuzhou owns two ariports: Fuzhou Changle International Airport and Fuzhou Yi Xu airport (Old airfield). The former is its main international airport and a air-hub in the southeast China, the latter one was turned into a PLA airbase after 1997.
Railway
The Fuzhou rail station located in the north of Fuzhou, which is near the North Second-round road. The Strait rail station in Changshan District has been constructing from 2007, which will be completed in 2010,is a key landmark of New city development scheme.
Railway system
Currently, the main railway is the "Wai Fu railway", running eastwards through the North districts to Jiangxi province, owning a subline "Fuma railway", which runs from the city hub to Mawei district. Two more railways have also been under construction, they are "Wen Fu railway", running northwards with Wenzhou south of Zhejiang province; another is "Fuxia railway", running southwards to Xiamen, which is designed as a high-speed railway with speeds up to 200 Km. It will be completed by early July, 2009.
Seaport
In 1867 the Fuzhou seaport was the site of one of China's first major experiments with Western technology, when the Fuzhou Navy Yard was established; a shipyard and an arsenal were built under French guidance and a naval school was opened. A naval academy was also established at the shipyard, and it became a center for the study of European languages and technical sciences. The academy, which offered courses in English, French, engineering, and navigation, produced a generation of Western-trained officers, including the famous scholar-reformer Yan Fu (1854–1921).
The yard was established as part of a program to strengthen China in the wake of the country's disastrous defeat in the trading conflict known as the second Opium War (1856–60). But most talented students continued to pursue a traditional Confucian education, and by the mid-1870s the government began to lose interest in the shipyard; it had trouble securing funds and declined in importance. Fuzhou remained essentially a commercial center and a port until World War II; it had relatively little industry. The port was occupied by the Japanese during 1940–45.
Since 1949, Fuzhou has grown considerably; its communications have been improved by the dredging of the Min River for navigation by medium-sized craft upstream to Nanping. In 1956 the railway linking Fuzhou with the interior of the province and with the main Chinese railway system was opened. The port has also been improved; Fuzhou itself is no longer accessible to seagoing ships, but Luoxingta anchorage and another outer harbor at Guantou on the coast of the East China Sea have been modernized and improved. The chief exports are timber, fruits, paper, and foodstuffs.
Economy
Industry is supplied with power by a grid running from the Gutian hydroelectric scheme in the mountains to the northwest. The city is a center for industrial chemicals and has food-processing, timber-working, engineering, papermaking, printing, and textile industries. A small iron and steel plant was built in 1958. In 1984 Fuzhou was designated one of China's "open" cities in the new open-door policy inviting foreign investments. Handicrafts remain important in the rural areas, and the city is famous for its lacquer and wood products.
Its GDP was ¥29,318 (ca. US$3,850) per capita in 2007, ranked no. 21 among 659 Chinese cities.
Fuzhou is undoubtedly the province’s political, economic and cultural center as well as an industrial center and seaport on the Min river. In 2007, Fuzhou’s GDP amounted to RMB197.46 billion, an increase of 17.10 percent.
Manufactured products include chemicals, silk and cotton textiles, iron and steel and processed food. Among its exports are fine lacquer ware and handcrafted fans and umbrellas. The city's trade is mainly with Chinese coastal ports. Its exports of timber, food products, and paper move through the harbor at Guantou located about 50 kilometers downstream.
In 2007, exports reached US$12.32 billion, a growth of 13.10 percent while imports amounted to US$6.33 billion. Total retail sales for the same period came at RMB94.1 billion and per capita GDP grew to RMB29.318 trillion.
During the same period, Fuzhou approved 234 foreign-invested projects. Contracted foreign investment amounted to US$13.24 billion, while utilized foreign investment increased by 5 percent to US$17.82 billion.
Culture
Fuzhou, also known as the City of Banyan after the many Banyan trees that dot the city landscape, may not be as rich in history as some other ancient Chinese cities but still boasts a fair number of historical sights.
People in Fuzhou mostly speak Min Dong (; Foochow Romanized: ) and Fuzhou dialect is consider the standard form of Min Dong language.
Min opera, known as Fuzhou drama, is one of major operas in Fujian Province. It enjoys a good popularity in Fuzhou, Middle Fujian, East Fujian and North Fujian where Fuzhou dialect is spoken, as well as in Taiwan and Malay Archipelago. It became a fixed opera in the early 20th Century. There are more than 1000 plays of Min Opera, most of which originates from folk tales, historical novels or ancient legends, including such traditional plays as "Making Seal", "The Purple Jade Hairpin" and "Switching Fairy Peach with Litchi".
Cuisine
Fuzhou cuisine is associated with one of the four traditional cooking styles of Fujian privince. Fujian cuisine is known to be light but flavourful, soft, and tender, with particular emphasis on umami taste, known in Chinese cooking as "xianwèi" (traditional Chinese: ??; simplified Chinese: ??), as well as retaining the original flavour of the main ingredients instead of masking them. In Fuzhou cuisine, the taste is light compared to other styles, often with a mixed sweet and sour taste. Fuzhou is famous for its soups.
Sightseeing
- Sanfang Qixiang (a cluster of ancient residential buildings dated from late Jin Dynasty)
- West Lake (an artificial landscape style lake built in 282 AD)
- Hualin Temple (Built in 964 AD,Song dynasty)
- Dizang Temple (The temple of sacrificing guardian of the earth, founded in 527 AD)
- Xichan Temple (founded in 867 AD)
- Wu Ta (Black Pagoda) (originally built in 799 AD, rebuilt in 936 AD)
- Bai Ta (White Pagoda) (originally built in 905 AD, 67 m in height, collapsed in 1534 AD, rebuilt in 1548 AD, 41 m in height)
- Yongquan Temple (founded in 915 AD)
- Gu Shan (Drum Mountain)
- Fuzhou National Forest Park (????????)
Local Parks and Xihu Museum
- Xihu Museum
- Wulongjiang Shidi Park (???????)(A wet Land Park, however the park is in distress due to ineffective environmental protection and land construction.)
- Senlin Park
- Zuohai park
City gallery
Image:Fuzhou Daxue 01 (Rolf Baur).jpg |Residential Buildings
Image:Fuzhou building2.jpg|Residential Buildings
Image:Fuzhou 02 (Rolf Baur).jpg|City road
Image:Fuzhou Road Henan Road.JPG|Henan Road
Image:Fuzhou Mawei Tower.jpg|Mawei Tower
Image:Fuzhou shopping center.jpg|shopping center
Image:Fuzhou building.jpg | Residential Buildings
Image: Mjdq.JPG | Min River Bridge scenery in Fuzhou
Colleges and universities
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.
Sister cities
- Nagasaki, Japan
- Naha, Japan
- Gunsan, South Korea
- George, South Africa
- Koszalin, Poland
- Campinas, Brazil
- Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
- Ayer Tawar, Sitiawan, Perak, Malaysia
- Syracuse, New York, USA
- Tacoma, Washington, USA
See also
External links
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