Quanzhou Successfully Enrolled as World Heritage

2021-07-28 | UPSC

On July 25, 2021, on the 44th Session of the World Heritage Committee held in Fuzhou, China's World Heritage Application Project "Quanzhou: China's world marine trade center in Song and Yuan Dynasties" was successfully enrolled in the World Heritage list and became the 56th World Heritage of China.

Members of Quanzhou World Heritage Application Team celebrate the success of World Heritage application in Fuzhou Strait International Conference & Exhibition Center

Quanzhou was a prosperous trading center in Asia in the 10th-14th century, i.e. during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, when the central government of China set up a customhouse there, known as Bo-si in Chinese, making it the “gate” for foreign economic, trade and cultural activities to enter mainland China. Relying on

cross-ocean trade, Quanzhou became one of the most important ports in the Eastern Asian Ocean, with a laudatory name of "the largest port in the East". Also known to the world as "Zaytun", Quanzhou had made outstanding contributions to the prosperity of marine trade and the social development of East and Southeast Asia during this period.

Heritage of Quanzhou

The World Heritage of Quanzhou consists of 22 historic ruins and their surroundings which are associated with the management, production, transportation, transaction, consumption and service of foreign trade in Quanzhou in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. They cover an big geographical and economic scope from the port to the hinterland, showing the diversified social structure and remarkable cultural characteristics of Quanzhou.