Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China
The Quanzhou site series demonstrates Quanzhou's vitality as a maritime trade center and its interconnectivity with inland China during the Song and Yuan dynasties (10th to 14th centuries AD). Quanzhou flourished during an important period of maritime trade in Asia. The site includes religious buildings, including the 11th century Qingjing Mosque, one of the earliest Islamic buildings in China, as well as Islamic mausoleums and various archaeological remains: administrative buildings, stone wharves of commercial and defensive importance, sites of ceramic and iron production, elements of the city's transportation network, ancient bridges, pagodas and inscriptions. Quanzhou was referred to as Zayton in Arabic and Western texts from the 10th to 14th centuries AD.