Quanzhou

Once the world's busiest port under its Arabic name Zaiton, Quanzhou was praised by both Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta as among the greatest trading cities on earth during the Song and Yuan dynasties. That medieval cosmopolitan history — Buddhist and Hindu temples, mosques, and Christian churches built by foreign merchant communities — earned the city UNESCO World Heritage inscription in 2021. Today it remains a large coastal city in southern Fujian with a walkable centre, a lively café and restaurant scene, and historic religious buildings still standing across the urban core.

• Population1,469,157
• Nearest water from center0.6 km
• Nearest mountain from center5.2 km
• UNESCO within 50 km13