Quanzhou, located in the southeast of Fujian Province, is one of the three largest central cities of Fujian. With Fuzhou, the provincial capital to the north, Xiamen Special Economic Zone to the south, Zhangzhou, Longyan and Sanming to the west and facing Taiwan Island to the east across the Taiwan Strait, Quanzhou covers a land area of 11,015 km2 and a resident population of 7.69 million (excluding that of Kinmen County). Minnan dialect and Putonghua are spoken in the city.

　　With its eastern face to the sea and against the mountains, Quanzhou is dotted with undulating hills, valleys, basins and gentle undulations of the landscape. Quanzhou is endowed with more than 10 million Mu of mountains and hills and 2.17 million Mu of cultivated land. The sea area is 7,864 km2 and the total length of coastline is 421km with 14 bays and 208 islands and with a potential of building 123 ten-thousand-ton deep water berths. Quanzhou's Xiaocuo and Douwei are natural and favorable harbors with deep water.

　　Quanzhou is of sub-tropical oceanic monsoon climate with an annual average temperature of 19.5℃~21℃. It is warm, wet and pleasant all the year round. In an ancient poem, Quanzhou was described as "Flowers and rains are seen in the four seasons and rain, no snow but thunder are heard in winter", hence Quanzhou's nickname "Wenling".

　　Quanzhou boasts a forest volume of 18.33 million m3 and a total surface water of 8.76 billion m3, and its hydraulic power resource that can be exploited is 0.43 million kw. There are more than 20 kinds of minerals including Kaolin, granite and diabase. The workable ocean fishery area is more than 5,000 km2, of which 118km2 can be utilized for sea farming. Over 500 types of aquatic organisms, 100 kinds of cash fish and more than 200 kinds of shellfishes and algae such as oyster, clam, snail, kelp and laver are produced in the city.

　　Quanzhou is a major ancestral home for overseas Chinese and Han- nationality compatriots in Taiwan. Over 6.20 million overseas Chinese of Quanzhou origin now reside around the world, more than 0.70 million Hong Kong and Macao and about 9 million or more Han compatriots in Taiwan trace their ancestral root to Quanzhou.

　　Quanzhou enjoys a long history. Economic activities can be traced back to Zhou and Qin Dynasties. In 260 A.D. of the Three Kingdoms, Dong'an County was fjounded in the present Fengzhou Town of Nan'an City, and Nan'an Prefecture was set up between 502-519 of the Southern Dynasties, marking the beginning of the establishment of counties and prefectures. In 700 of the Tang Dynasty, Wurong Prefecture was set up, which is the present urban area of Quanzhou. In 711 of the Tang Dynasty, the name Wurong was amended to the present Quanzhou. From then on, county, prefecture and province were set up one after another. Administrative region, special region and local region were set up after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In January 1986, Jinjiang Prefecture was replaced by Quanzhou City. Quanzhou has been an important trading port opening to the outside world with hundreds of years of foreign transportation history. Since Tang Dynasty Quanzhou (618-) has been one of the four major trading ports in South China . During Song and Yuan Dynasties, Quanzhou port climbed to the top of the four major ports, known in the world as "Zaitan Port" and rivaled Port Alexandria, in Egypt as the largest and busiest port in the world.

　　Quanzhou is one of the first group of 24 historic and cultural cities made known by the State Council. It enjoys such honors as "home of culture", "world museum of religion" and "city of brightness". There are 14 cultural relics under national protection, 40 under provincial protection and more than 600 under county (city) level protection, of which the stone sculpture of Sakyamuni, the Old Stone Saint, Lingshan Holy Tombs, Kaiyuan Temple - a millennium temple, East and West Pagodas, Qifeng cliff inscriptions of Jiuri Hill, Mazu (Chinese Goddess of the sea) Palace, Tomb of Zheng Chenggong, Anping Bridge, Chongwu ancient town are the most well-known. Rare and valuable opera cultural heritages such as Liyuan Opera, Gaojia Opera, Dacheng Opera, "Jiali" Opera have been well reserved. As the starting point of the ancient "maritime silk road", major world religions including Islam, Hinduism, ancient Christianity, Manicheism, Judaism, Buddhism have left behind a great number of relics in the city. Quanzhou is the origin of Southern Shaolin martial arts, enjoying its unique culture of martial arts.

　　In 2007 Quanzhou accomplished a GDP of 228.86 billion Yuan and a total financial revenue of 22.506 billion Yuan. Five counties (cities) including Jinjiang, Hui'an, Shishi, Nan'an and Anxi were listed in the 7th China Top 100 Counties (Cities at county level) in Basic Economic Competitive Strength. All counties (county-level cities) under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou are among the Top 10 Provincial Economic Strength or Development. "Jinjiang Experience" and "Quanzhou Miracle" regarding economic development have been created. Economy with Quanzhou's characteristics has taken shape: Quangang--Petrochemical Base, Fengze-Village of Chinese Resin Technology, Jinjiang-China Shoes Center, Shishi-China's Famous Garments City, Nan'an-Village of Chinese Building Materials, Hui'an-Village of Chinese Stone Sculptures, Dehua-Village of Crafts Pottery and Porcelain, Yongchun-Village of Mandarin Oranges and Anxi-Village of Oolong Tea.

　　The urban area of the central region of Quanzhou is 80 km2. 51% of the city has been urbanized. Quanzhou bay city groups have taken a preliminary shape with a central city as its core, several secondary coastal cities as its backbone with distinct Overseas Minnan characteristics and complete three-dimensional transportation network and infrastructural facilities. Quanzhou is moving towards one of the three major central cities of Fujian Province.

（Editor:ShenJiaju）