The Quanzhou Maritime Museum () in the

Fengze District () is a district of the city of Quanzhou, Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to ...

Quanzhou Quanzhou, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metropolitan region, with an area of and a popul ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

, is the only museum in China specialising in overseas relations. Established in 1959, through its comprehensive and valuable display of historical relics relating to overseas transportation, the museum reflects the development history of the major Eastern port of the Middle Ages—Citong or Zaytun (). It also showcases the important role that Quanzhou played in economic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries.

Introduction

The museum consists of an old and a new section. The old section, housed in a purpose-built exhibition hall on the grounds of the Kaiyuan Temple, is used for exhibiting ancient boats. The new section, completed in 1991 and located near the scenic East Lake Park (), resembles a large sailing ship afloat on the sea. It covers an area of with a built-up area of up to . There are four exhibition halls in the new section named “Quanzhou Maritime Exhibition Hall” (), “Quanzhou Religious Stone Carving Hall” (), “Quanzhou Ethnic Culture Exhibition Hall” () and “Ancient Chinese Model Hall” ().

Rare collections

Song Dynasty Ancient Ship of Quanzhou Bay 20061229

Among the exhibits of particular interest are:Quanzhou Maritime Museum -an interactive encyclopedia (泉州海外交通史博物馆_互动百科)
/ref> * The

Quanzhou ship The Quanzhou Ship (), or Quanzhou wreck, was a 13th-century Chinese seagoing sailing junk – rounds the length and beam width to 34 and 9.8 m, respectively (also abstract on pp. 62–63, 240-242) that sank near the city of Quanzhou in Fujian P ...

: A Song Dynasty (9601279) ship unearthed in 1974. * Stone stelae and tombstones with religious inscriptions. Besides Buddhist ones, there are

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ma ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

, and

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

specimens. * Export ceramics: the

Dehua () is a county located in central Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Quanzhou City and covers an area of with a total population of 300,000. History Dehua is rich in kaolin and famous for ceramic pr ...

porcelain is of particular value. * Ancient navigation equipment: such as a four-claw anchor () dating to the Ming Dynasty (13681644)

Introduction

Rare collections

References

See also