7 Days in Fuzhou

The lanes and alleys of the old city, a national key heritage site since 2006, keep Ming-Qing courtyards and the former homes of Lin Juemin and Bing Xin; South Back Street handles snacks. Cross the river to Shangxiahang, the merchant quarter of guild halls and old warehouses.

1. fuzhou sanfang qixiang
2. fuzhou shangxiakang

Yongquan Temple was founded on Drum Mountain in 908, and more than 500 rock inscriptions line the climb from the lower gate. Back down for the evening cruise on the Min River.

1. fuzhou gushan yongquan
2. fuzhou minjiang cruise

The hill in Cangshan holds the villas, consulates and a 19th-century stone church that followed Fuzhou's 1844 treaty-port opening. Finish with a slow loop of West Lake park, dug in 282 and ringed by lotus beds.

1. fuzhou yantaishan
2. fuzhou west lake park

Pingtan is a county of Fuzhou, reached in about 35 minutes on the Fuping railway, open since December 2020, after the 2010 road bridge first linked the island. It is Fujian's largest island, run since 2009 as an experimental zone; the blue-tears glow of the plankton shows from April to August, most often April to June.

1. fuzhou pingtan island

The hillside at roughly 800 m above the city grew into a summer resort from the 1880s, with stone villas, an old church and shaded paths; locals still escape up here in July and August. A short bus or taxi ride, cooler air all day.

1. fuzhou guling

An honest neighbour day — about an hour south by HSR. Quanzhou's entry on the UNESCO list in 2021 as a Song-Yuan era world trading port anchors a day around the twin 13th-century stone pagodas of Kaiyuan Temple and the old port lanes; back to Fuzhou by evening.

1. quanzhou

The Zhenhai tower on Ping Shan, first raised in 1371 and rebuilt in 2009, gives the city-roofline view — banyan trees to the river. A market breakfast of fish balls and rouyan dumplings, then onward from Fuzhou station.

1. fuzhou zhenhai tower
2. fuzhou city markets