China Information
About China
People
Places
Travel
Business
Other Information
|
China Information » Places in China » Fujian Province
Places in China: Fujian Province
This province which is located on the southeast coast of China is the nearest province to the island of Taiwan. The capital of the province is Fuzhou, but there are several other towns in the province with attractions worth seeing. Around thirty-five million Chinese call Fujian Province their home. The population density of 289 persons per square kilometre is comfortable.
Although the province is coastal, the landscape is largely mountainous with some of the most impressive cliffs that one could imagine. White-water rapids abound in many of the gorges below those cliffs. Needless to say, this type of exciting landscape attracts lots of tourists. Some of the area has been modified to make it safer for visitors to enjoy.
The Fujian Province is made up of about eighty percent mountains, ten percent water and ten percent farmland. The Min Jiang River is the main river in the province. It widens as it nears Fuzhou and then empties into the Taiwan Straight. This provides many ports for the capital city of the province. The highest point in the region is at the top of Mount Huanggang. The province occupies over 121,000 square kilometres. The climate is subtropical; monsoons frequent the province during the monsoon season.
There is more wealth in Fujian Province than in many other Chinese provinces. Over one hundred twenty countries have economic and trade relations with Fujian. Among the most significant is Taiwan. Since farmland is at a premium in the province, the highlight for income is sea-based trading. Fuzhou is not only the capital city but is the major coastal city between Shanghai and Hong Kong. Shipbuilding has been a component of the income of the city.
The people of Fujian are around ninety-eight percent Han Chinese with She and Hui taking up most of the other two percent of the population.
Although Fujian was mostly isolated from the rest of China until the middle of the 1950s, at which time a railway connected Xaimen to the rest of China's mainland. The high mountains have contributed to the long isolation of the province.
Over two thousand years ago, the province was known to the Han people as Minyue. Wuzhu, a Minyue king, saw the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. This same king then chose to build his fortified city at Fuzhou. Excavations have recently begun uncovering other cities that Minyue began in the province. Supposedly, Marco Polo passed through Fuzhou in the 13th century.
It was during the Southern Song Dynasty that Fujian shined as an educational centre in China, a tradition which is still going strongly. The Southern Song Dynasty flourished from 960 to 1279 AD, which was a time of strong interest in literature and philosophy.
|
|
