Putian 莆田Pútián

About Putian

Putian, long known as Xinghua, lies on the coast between Fuzhou and Quanzhou and speaks Puxian, its own branch of Min Chinese. Offshore, Meizhou Island is revered as the birthplace of Mazu, the sea goddess worshipped along China's coast, in Taiwan and across South-East Asia; the Meizhou Mazu Temple there was first built in 987. On the plain, the Mulan Weir has held back the tide and watered the fields since 1083, and Song work survives at Yuanmiao Temple and in Guanghua Temple's stone pagoda.

What to eat in Putian

• Xinghua fried rice noodles (兴化炒米粉)

Listed sites in Putian

18 sites in Putian are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Meizhou Mazu Temple 湄洲妈祖祖庙 5A scenic area · National heritage site
  Meizhou Island, off the coast of Putian, is revered as the birthplace of Mazu, the sea goddess whose worship spread along the Chinese coast, to Taiwan and across South-East Asia.
• Jiuli Lake 九鲤湖 4A scenic area · on the map
  A mountain scenic area in Zhongshan town, Xianyou, named after the legend of nine immortals who rode carp up to heaven.
• Jiulonggu National Forest Park 九龙谷 4A scenic area · on the map
  A national forest park of about 1,090 hectares in Xinan village, Changtai town, with forest cover of over 95 per cent.
• Putian Arts and Crafts City 莆田工艺美术城 4A scenic area · on the map
  A trade and exhibition complex for Putian's craft industries, above all woodcarving and classical hardwood furniture, which with oil painting and gold and silver jewellery are among the city's traditional mainstays.
• Ruiyun Mountain Forest Park 瑞云山 4A scenic area · on the map
  A forest park in Dayang township, in the hills of northern Hanjiang District, whose peaks rise to over 1,000 m and are known for oddly shaped rocks, among them formations named the Heavenly Dog and the Sleeping Lion of the East.
• Shouxi Park 绶溪公园 4A scenic area · on the map
  Shouxi Park follows the Shouxi, as the Yanshou stream, the largest tributary of the Mulan River, is called where it flows through central Putian.
• Xianshuiyang 仙水洋 4A scenic area · on the map
  At about 870 m in Fengshan village, Xiyuan township, a mountain stream spreads ankle-deep for more than 600 m over a single, almost flat bed of brown rock.
• Bao'en Temple Pagoda, Putian 荔城报恩寺塔 National heritage site · on the map
  A three-storey octagonal stone pagoda, 13 m tall, on the central axis of Bao'en Temple on Dongyan Hill in Putian, between the Mahavira Hall and the Guanyin Hall.
• Longhua Twin Pagodas 龙华双塔 National heritage site · on the map
  A pair of old pagodas beside Longhua Temple in Dengta village, Longhua town, a few kilometres south-west of Xianyou county town; the national listing dates them to the Song and Qing dynasties.
• Mulan Weir 木兰陂 National heritage site
  An irrigation weir across the Mulan River below Mulan Hill, completed in 1083 by Li Hong after two earlier attempts, the first led by a woman named Qian Siniang in 1064, were swept away.
• Ninghai Bridge 宁海桥 National heritage site · on the map
  An old bridge across the mouth of the Mulan River at Qiaodou village, Huangshi, dated by the national listing to the Yuan dynasty and more than 700 years old; 'Sunrise at Ninghai' is one of Putian's traditional twenty-four views.
• Pinghai Tianhou Palace 平海天后宫 National heritage site · on the map
  A Qing-dynasty temple to Mazu in Pinghai village, on the coast of Xiuyu District south-east of Putian.
• Shijia Wenfo Pagoda, Guanghua Temple 释迦文佛塔 National heritage site
  A five-storey octagonal stone pagoda about 30.6 m tall on the east side of Guanghua Temple, at the foot of Phoenix Hill in southern Putian; its earliest inscription shows it was standing by 1165.
• Tianzhong Wanshou Pagoda 天中万寿塔 National heritage site
  A solid granite pagoda of the casket-stupa (baoqieyin) type on Tadou Hill in Fengting town, built in 1059 and also known as the Green Conch Pagoda.
• Wuchen Pagoda 无尘塔 National heritage site · on the map
  A five-storey octagonal stone pagoda in Fengding village, Xiyuan township, high in the hills of north-western Xianyou.
• Xianyou Confucian Temple 仙游文庙 National heritage site
  Founded in the Tang and moved to this site in 1002, Xianyou's Confucian temple was rebuilt after storm damage in 1678 and 1780 and restored again in 2006–09.
• Yuanmiao Temple 元妙观 National heritage site
  Yuanmiao Guan in the old centre of Putian is a Taoist temple founded in 628 and rebuilt in 1015, whose Hall of the Three Purities is one of the rare Song-dynasty timber halls in southern China.
• Zhenhai Seawall 镇海堤 National heritage site · on the map
  A stone seawall along the shore of Huangshi town east of Putian, first built in the Tang dynasty's Yuanhe era (806–820) on the initiative of the Fujian regional commissioner Pei Ciyuan.

On the map

Open Putian on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)