The beauty of Quanzhou lies in its mountains and rivers. Qingyuan Mountain boasts "The No. 1 Penglai Mountain" (a fabled abode of immortals) on the seas of Fujian, the Mt. Daiyun, as the "Ridge in the middle of Fujian" nourishes the people of Quanzhou with extraordinary intelligence and conceives them with heroic and broad - minded spirit. The mother river Jinjiang takes in water from hundreds of brooks and thousands of springs, passes through mountains and rushes into the East China Sea, which resembles the dauntless and valiant character and broad bosom of Quanzhou people.

Quanzhou was established in 718 during the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907). In those days, Guangzhou was China's greatest seaport, but this status would be surpassed later by Quanzhou. During the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Quanzhou was one of the world's largest seaports, hosting a large community of foreign - born inhabitants from across the Eurasian world. Due to its reputation, Quanzhou has been called the starting point of the Silk Road via the sea. In The Travels of Marco Polo, Quanzhou (called Zayton, T'swan - Chau or Chin-Cheu) was listed as the departure point for Marco Polo's expedition to escort the 17 - year - old Mongol princess bride Kokachin to her new husband in the Persian Ilkhanate.

Quanzhou is also a migration source of many Overseas Chinese living in South East Asia and to Taiwan during the last couple of centuries.

The gravity of Quanzhou lies in its culture. Quanzhou is filled to the brim with splendid culture. It is one of the 24 renowned historic cities of cultural significance in China made public in the first batch by the State Council. Quanzhou was the departure port of the ancient "Maritime Silk Route", reputed as a remarkable place on the coast as the State of Zou or the State of Lu (where the sages of antiquity and great thinkers Confucius and Mencius were brought forth), described as a "City of Brightness" and styled a "Religious Museum of the World". Quanzhou was the first one designated by the UNESCO as "The Exhibition Center for Multi - culture of the World". The culture of Quanzhou is derived from the Central Plains of China, the ancient Yue clan of Fujian and the marine cultures of the world. Quanzhou has given birth to a multitude of outstanding and talented people. Culture is the marrow of this city. Nowadays, it has been a model city of Chinese culture, a protection zone of ecological culture in the South Fujian and a pilot city in protection of national and folk cultures. Here traditional Chinese culture has been well preserved such as Quanzhou Nanyin which is regarded as the living fossil of the Chinese music, the age-old beautiful local drama arts (Liyuan opera, Gaojia opera, marionette and dacheng drama), the exquisite traditional folk crafts and the unique folk customs and fascinations (Hui' an women and Xunpu women). They have constructed a colorful art gallery of national and folk cultures.

QuanZhou is an important city of west strait and in one of the national pilot schemes of comprehensive and synchronized reforms. In the year of 2008, its GDP was RMB 270.53 billion. The total economic volume has been in the first place among the cities of FuJian in the past ten years. The GDP of per capita area was USD 5, 016. The fiscal revenue is RMB 26.36 billion. The three industries scale is 4.4: 59.4: 36.2. By the end of 2008, QuanZhou was home to 12, 203 foreign funded enterprises, out of which 8, 457 are in operation. The amount of foreign investment actually utilized was USD 16.133 billon. QuanZhou has established economic and trading relations with over 180 countries and regions in the world. In the year of 2008, according to the Customs statistics, QuanZhou's total import and export value was USD 8.52 billion, of which total export value was USD 5.8 billon.