Fuzhou, China

Fuzhou (Chinese: 福州; pinyin: Fúzhōu; Wade-Giles: Fu-chou; also seen as Foochow or Fuchow) is a city on the coast of China, the largest city in and capital of Fujian province.

Its GDP was ¥31582 (ca. US$3800) per capita in 2003, ranked no. 21 among 659 Chinese cities.

History

The exact foundation date of this city is not known.

When Yue to the north of Fujian was annexed by Chu in 306 BC, a branch of the royal family of the defeated Yue fled Fujian and became the Minyue (闽越) 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 (无诸), the king of Minyue, to set up his capital in Fuzhou. The city was named Ye (冶), meaning "The Beautiful". The name has changed many times, but the city has been continuously occuppied since 202 BC and has never suffered major destruction by wars or natural disasters.

The Minyue was annexed by Han in 110 BC and became a part of China, and 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 AD (308).

During Tang Dynasty (725 AD), it started to be called Fuzhou.

More immigrants arrived from the north in 892 AD when the Tang Dynasty collapsed. The Wang family managed to established a kingdom called Min (909 – 947 AD) with its capital in Fuzhou. Min is still used as another name for the province of Fujian, in names of dialects 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.

The emperor of the Song Dynasty ordered 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 (辛弃疾), the greatest composer of ci (a specialized form of poem). After them came Marco Polo, who transcribed the placename in Italian as Fugiu according to the local dialect.

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.

Between 1405 and 1433 AD, the Chinese (Ming) navy fleet, led by Zheng He, sailed from Fuzhou to the Indian Ocean seven times; on three occasions the fleet landed in the East coast of Africa. Before the last sailing, Zheng erected a stele dedicated to Goddess Tian-Fei near the seaport.

Recent research 1421 suggests that Zheng He's fleets explored much more widely than has traditionally been believed, reaching both coasts of North and South America and also Australia and New Zealand.

In the 19th century, Lin Zexu, a native of Fuzhou, led an unsuccessful attempt to resist the British fleet at Canton Bay, and Lin was exiled to the Russian border. At the end of the First Opium War, Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing (signed in 1842).

On November 8, 1911, revolutionaries staged an uprising in Fuzhou. After an overnight street battle, the Qing (Manchu) army surrendered.

On November 22, 1933, the leaders of the 19th army set up a short-lived Republic of China (中華共和國) in Fuzhou (compare the name to Chiang’s “Republic of China” (中華民國), which literally means “People’s State of China”); it collapsed in two months.

See also: Battle of Foochow

Tourism

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.

• West Lake (an artificial lake built in 282 AD)
• Hualin Temple (founding date uncertain)
• Dizang Temple (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)

Colleges and Universities

• Fujian Normal University (福建师范大学) (founded in 1907)
• Fuzhou University (福州大学)
• Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (福建农林大学)
• Fujian Medical University (福建医科大学)
• Fujian College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (福建中医学院)
• Minjiang University (闽江学院)
• Fujian University of Technology (福建工程学院)

Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.