Share my trip to Quanzhou, Fujian. I have stopped in Xiamen many times during long-distance travel, but I have visited Xiamen many times. I heard by chance that Quanzhou is very interesting, so I decided to go and have a look. By the way, Xiamen Airport has a shuttle bus operated by the airport directly to Quanzhou, which is more convenient. Moreover, in this season, Quanzhou has a pleasant climate and feels comfortable. Today we are going to Chongwu Ancient City. Take a minibus from Quanzhou Bus Terminal to Chongwu County, the fare is 15 yuan. The minibus stopped on a street in the county town. The conductor pointed to the front and said, keep walking and you will see the entrance of the ancient city. Traveling alone in the off-season can be a bit lonely. Often you may be the only one in a huge scenic spot. Walking alone, this is Chongwu Cultural Square. The square is right on the seaside. I looked at the map and saw that this is Xisha Bay. There are numerous fishing boats parked in the bay. Is it the fishing moratorium? After walking about 1 kilometer, we arrived at the west entrance of Chongwu Ancient City Scenic Area. Chongwu Ancient City was built in the 20th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1387 AD). It was a maritime fortress built for military defense to defend against pirates and Japanese pirates. There are gate towers on all sides of the ancient city, and a lighthouse near the sea. The entire ancient city is made of white granite stones, 7 meters high and 2456 meters long. It has 4 gates and is equipped with beacon towers, arrow windows, towers, observation towers and other facilities. It is a relatively complete military defense project. It is the only relatively complete granite stone city remaining in my country. This is the main entrance to the scenic spot. Tickets to the ancient city are 45 yuan for adults, 23 yuan for children, and 23 yuan for students with their student ID. There are no tickets for morning exercise time (before 7:00) and night tour time (after 19:00), and you can enter the scenic spot for free. Some netizens said that there is another Watergate Pass where people can come and go freely. Is it true? There are four gates in the city, the north and south gates are about 500 meters apart, and the east and west gates are about 300 meters apart. The three city gates in the east, west and north are similar. Each has two gates, plus a moon city, a city tower built on it, and a beacon tower on each city gate. After entering the scenic spot, I was a little confused. There were stone carvings everywhere. I was afraid that I had entered a stone carving factory, right? After seeing the introduction on the entrance wall, it turned out that I was entering the Chongwu Stone Sculpture Craft Expo Park. Hui'an stone carvings are representatives of the southern style of stone carvings and were included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage protection lists. The Expo Park is located in the coastal area on the south side of Chongwu Ancient City. It is a unique landscape with the stone city wall as the background, rock carvings and stone slopes as the backing, and the stone city, stone rocks and stone handicrafts reflecting each other. The whole garden is about 1,200 meters long, 60-200 meters wide, and covers an area of ??about 9 hectares. The terrain is undulating and orderly, with criss-crossing stone paths and patches of greenery. There are 25 scenic spots. The garden gathers four classical masterpieces created by many famous masters and craftsmen in Chongwu Town, the famous hometown of stone carvings in China, as well as "Fable Garden", "Chinese Spirit", "Hui Nu Paradise", "Twelve Zodiac Signs" ", "Black Cat, White Cat" and more than 500 exquisite stone sculptures in more than 20 themes. These works may be huge and spectacular, small and exquisite, simple and innocent, or abstract and exaggerated. They are all lifelike and vivid. Twenty-four Filial Piety Tourist Park. Many works are profound and thought-provoking, displaying the new achievements of stone carving techniques in the "Hometown of Chinese Stone Sculpture". The city walls are all made of white granite. The city perimeter is 2,467 meters long, the city base is 5 meters high, the wall is 7 meters high, and there are two or three floors of horse racing tracks inside, which are 4 meters wide. There are 1,304 wall plates, 1,300 arrow windows, 26 nests, 5 enemy towers on all sides, and city gates on all sides. There is also an observation tower at the commanding heights of Lianhua Mountain in the city. There are houses, moon cities, piers and outer culverts on all sides of the city, forming a complete military defense engineering system. "Chongbo Temple" and "Yuanji Palace" were all built to commemorate the heroes who sacrificed their lives in the anti-Japanese war. South gate of the ancient city. Admission here is also required. Outside the south gate is the labyrinth-like Haimen Village. I still have some interesting entanglements with the south gate. We will talk about it below. The statue of Qi Jiguang at the south gate. Qi Jiguang (November 12, 1528 - January 5, 1588), whose courtesy name was Yuanjing, also known as Nantang, later named Mengzhu, and his posthumous title was Wuyi. Han nationality, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty, an outstanding strategist, calligrapher, poet, and national hero. There is a wall outside the south city gate, and there is a statue of Guan Gong in front of the wall.
Legend has it that when Japanese pirates bombarded the city, Guan Yunchang of the Guandi Temple in the city swung his Qinglong Yanyue Sword, causing the shells to fall beside the city wall. He waved again, and the shells were shot back to the pirate ship, causing the ship to sink and kill the pirates. The two gates at the south gate are still intact today. Stone sculptures of four masters and apprentices from Journey to the West on the coast of Chongwu. Chongwu Coast is known as one of the "Eight Most Beautiful Coastlines in China", connecting "Beidaihe in the South" - Banyue Bay, "Xisha Silver Snake" - Xisha Bay, "The First Golden Beach in Fujian" - Qingshan Bay and other top resort. There are 28.8 kilometers of winding coastline, 12 sandy bays, and 4 large rock groups in the area. A Hui'an woman digging oysters on the rocks on the coast. The landmark "China Chongwu East China Sea and South China Sea Meteorological Boundary Line" stands in the southeast corner of the ancient city. In the southeast corner of Chongwu Ancient City, there is a lookout tower on the city wall. I hurriedly swam through the Chongwu Stone Sculpture Expo Park and prepared to go out from the south gate and go to Haimen Village opposite. Unexpectedly, I walked into a big maze and experienced a series of embarrassing things that made people dumbfounded.
To be continued, will be back soon.