Although it has been several days since the Spring Festival travel season, there is no sign of the legendary crowded Spring Festival travel season at Guangzhou South Railway Station.

Fujian

Fujian, referred to as "Fujian", is located on the southeast coast of China and faces Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait in the east. It governs 8 prefecture-level cities including Fuzhou, Putian, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Longyan, Sanming, Nanping and Ningde and 1 sub-provincial city in Xiamen and Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone, with an area of approximately 121,400 square kilometers and a population of approximately 38.06 million.

Quanzhou

Quanzhou is referred to as "Li", also known as "Licheng","Citong City" and "Wenling". It is a prefecture-level city in Fujian. It governs four districts: Licheng, Fengze, Luojiang and Quangang, and five counties of Hui 'an, Anxi, Yongchun, Dehua and Jinmen (to be unified), hosting three county-level cities: Jinjiang, Shishi and Nan' an, with an area of about 11015 square kilometers and a population of about 8.29 million.

Day2 (January 28)

A. Breakfast at the restaurant next to the hotel.

B. Visit Luoyang Bridge (The hotel takes about 20 minutes by car to Luoyang Bridge.).

C. Visit Chongwu Ancient City (It takes about 1 hour to drive from Luoyang Bridge to Chongwu Ancient City).

D. Lunch at Chongwu Ancient City Restaurant.

E. Visit Quanzhou Twin Towers.

F. Quanzhou-Xiamen (Take the D6229 bullet train from 17:10 to 17:53, the second-class ticket price is 29.5 yuan.).

G. Arrive in Xiamen and check into a hotel (stay at Xiamen Aegean Inn in Zengcuo 'an, book by Ctrip online, family room 175 yuan/night.)

The main purpose of visiting Quanzhou is to visit Luoyang Bridge. Don't be misled by the name of the bridge. Luoyang Bridge is not located in the ancient capital of Luoyang but on the outskirts of Quanzhou. Luoyang Bridge is also one of the four major ancient bridges in China.

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang Bridge, formerly known as Wan'an Bridge, is the earliest existing cross-sea beam-type stone bridge in my country. It is located at the Luoyang River Mouth in the eastern suburbs of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, 5 kilometers away from Quanzhou. It is the beginning of the world's bridge raft foundation. From the fifth year of Huangyou to the fourth year of Jiayou of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is the earliest existing cross-sea beam type.(1053 - 1059) It was built by Cai Xiang, the governor of Quanzhou. The bridge is 834 meters long and 7 meters wide. There are 2 pavilions, 2 stone generals, and 5 stone towers on the bridge. The stele pavilions have the inscription "Xichuan Ganlu" and the "World's First Bridge" in the Stone Carvings between the Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty. Beside the middle pavilion are cliff carvings "Wan'an Bridge","Wan Gu Anlan" and 12 square steles.

In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, due to social unrest and the outbreak of wars from time to time, a large number of people from the Central Plains moved south. Most of the people who moved to Quanzhou and southern Fujian were people from Henan, Hehe and Luoshui areas. The language family used in Quanzhou and even the entire southern Fujian area is called Heluo, which is now known as Southern Fujian. These people from the Central Plains brought advanced and developed agricultural technology and experience from the Central Plains and guided local people to cultivate and develop. They came to Quanzhou. Seeing that the mountains and rivers here were very similar to the ancient capital Luoyang, he named this place Luoyang, and the bridge was named after it.

The Luoyang Bridge Scenic Area is open for free. Although it is no longer a major traffic road back then, local residents walk or ride through it from time to time. There are not many people in the scenic area, and many photos are taken with their wives and daughters.

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

A statue of Cai Xiang, the governor of Quanzhou, who presided over the construction of the bridge, stands on one side of the bridge.

The statue of Cai Xiang at Luoyang Bridge

During the dry season in winter, when you visit Luoyang Bridge, there is no river water, and there is a scenery of mudflats and wetlands. A mangrove mudflats wetland park has been built here, which is part of the Quanzhou Bay Estuary Wetland Reserve. The wetland park is also open for free.

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

Luoyang bridge

The ancient city of Chongwu is located in Hui 'an County, Quanzhou. In addition to being famous for Hui' an women, Hui 'an County is also a famous hometown of stone carving. There are many stone carving factories along the Huiwu Highway, and the roadside is full of stone carving works.

Huiwu Highway

Huiwu Highway

chongwu ancient city

The ancient city of Chongwu is located at the southern tip of the coast of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, between Quanzhou Bay and Meizhou Bay, and 24 kilometers southeast of Hui 'an County. It is adjacent to the Taiwan Strait and is also known as "Lotus Island". It was built in 1387 (the 20th year of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty). It was built by Zhou Dexing of the Yangtze River to resist the Japanese invaders during the coastal defense strategy. It is one of the more than 60 guard castles built by the Ming government in thousands of miles of sea to fight the Japanese invasion. It is the most complete existing T-shaped stone ancient city in China and the only relatively intact stone city in the Ming Dynasty in China.

The entrance price of Chongwu Ancient City is 40 yuan/person. The Chongwu Ancient City Scenic Area is not the ancient city in the impression, but a reproduction of the anti-Japanese castle on the beach.

chongwu ancient city

chongwu ancient city

The ancient city is located in the hometown of stone carving in China. There are many groups of statues with different themes in the scenic area. This is the Hui 'an Nv themed statue located at the entrance of the scenic area.

chongwu ancient city

chongwu ancient city

Statue of Qi Jiguang in Chongwu Ancient City

chongwu ancient city

The rain is getting heavier and heavier, and the Taiwan Strait is blurred.

chongwu ancient city

chongwu ancient city

Chongwu Coast is known as one of the "Eight Most Beautiful Shorelines in China", and the beach in the rain also has a unique scenery.

chongwu ancient city

chongwu ancient city

The above group of statues comes from the story of the Tang Priest in Journey to the West, which was the 81st difficulty of the Buddhist monk in the Western Heaven. The stone turtle in the sea is called the world's first turtle.

Although it was still raining, it was still early. After returning to Quanzhou, my father decided to visit the Quanzhou Twin Towers, a landmark in Quanzhou located in Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou. Tickets for Kaiyuan Temple were free. Although many times I saw Quanzhou's promotional pictures of the Twin Towers were next to each other, in fact, the Twin Towers are located on the east and west sides of Kaiyuan Temple, a distance apart.

Quanzhou Twin Towers

Kaiyuan Temple was built in the second year of Chuigong in the Tang Dynasty (686 AD). The Twin Towers of Quanzhou, also known as the East-West Pagoda, are located on the east and west sides of Kaiyuan Temple. To the east is the "Zhenguo Pagoda", which is 48.27 meters high. It was built in the sixth year of Xiantong of the Tang Dynasty (865 AD). The existing granite stone tower with an octagonal five-story pavilions style imitation wooden structure was rebuilt from the second year of Jiaxi to the tenth year of Chunyou (1238 - 1250 AD). In the west is the "Renshou Pagoda", 45.06 meters high. It was built in the second year of Liang Zhenming in the Five Dynasties (AD 916). It is an octagonal five-story pavilions-style granite stone tower that was renovated in the first year of Jiaxi (AD 1228 - 1237). Quanzhou Twin Towers are the tallest existing pair of stone towers in my country and the symbol of the ancient city of Quanzhou.

East Tower of Kaiyuan Temple (Zhenguo Tower)

West Pagoda of Kaiyuan Temple (Renshou Pagoda)

Kaiyuan temple

Xiamen

Xiamen City is one of China's four special economic zones and a sub-provincial city. Xiamen is also known as Ludao, or Lu for short, and is located at the southeastern end of Fujian Province. Xiamen consists of Xiamen Island, Gulangyu Island on the outlying island, Haicang Peninsula on the west bank, Jimei Peninsula on the north bank, Xiang 'an Peninsula on the east bank, Daxieng Island, Inland Tong' an, Jiulong River, etc. It governs Siming District, Huli District, Jimei District, Haicang District, Tongan District, and Xiang 'an District, with a land area of approximately 1,699.39 square kilometers., and a sea area of approximately 390 square kilometers. The registered population is approximately 2.0344 million, and the permanent population is approximately 3.81 million.

Xiamen Island is about 13.7 kilometers long from north to south and about 12.5 kilometers wide from east to west. The coastline of the island is about 234 kilometers long and covers an area of about 132.5 square kilometers.

My father arranged accommodation in Xiamen at the inn in Zengcuo 'an. The location was quite ideal. From what he saw, he felt that booking a private room was a good choice. Zengcuo 'an is located on Huandao South Road. It has developed from a small fishing village in the past to an extremely lively commercial center today, a petty bourgeoisie paradise. It is known as the "Little Gulangyu Island". The entire Zengcuo' an is intertwined with streets, shops and restaurants, and B & Bs and small hotels.

Zeng CuO an

Zengcuo 'an is also known as "Zengli", also known as "Zengjiawo" and "Zengjiawan". It is located in the southeast of Xiamen Island. It borders Huangcuo in the east, Huli Mountain Fort in the west, Huandao Road and Dadan Island in the south. It faces the sea across the sea, and reaches Guling in the west of Yuping Mountain in the north. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides, one facing the sea, covering an area of about 6.5 square kilometers. Zengcuo 'an Community currently has 8 natural villages: Zengcuo' an Community, Cangli Community, Qiantian Community, Xibian Community, Qianhoucuo Community, Dongzhai Community, Shangli Community, and Hulishan Community. There are 10 resident groups with approximately 1480 households and a total population of approximately 4300 people.