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| Introduction-The Largest
Port in the Orient |
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Luoyang
Bridge was built during the Northern Song Dynasty to
transport goods arriving in Quanzhou via the Maritime
Silk Road.
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If one could go back in time
to Quanzhou during the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368),
one would see hundreds of huge ships docked in Quanzhou Bay.
Boats loaded with goods would be shuttling back and forth
between the ships and the wharves, the latter already piled
high with goods. After unloading items such as spices, ivory,
pearls, hawksbill turtles and rhinoceros horns, the ships
would then take on silk, porcelain, tea and Chinese arts and
crafts before sailing back home.
Both inside and outside the city,
people of all nationalities mixed together. Most were Arabs
and Persians but there were also people from India and Southeast
Asian countries.
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One
of the five conical stone pagodas on Luoyang Bridge.
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They were merchants, sailors, emissaries,
missionaries and officials, and many of them settled down here
for long periods of time, particularly in the area from Fashi
to Houzhu Port. In one place called "Fanfang" (Foreigners' Living
Quarters), many houses, churches, temples and mosques were
constructed in varying architectural styles. It was indeed an
international city, and remained that way for more than three
centuries, something quite unprecedented in the history of China.
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| The more famous Silk
Road on land was established as early as the Han Dynasty (206
B.C.-A.D. 220) and continued until the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Its use gradually declined after the Tang due to social unrest
in northern China and was totally disrupted during the Song
Dynasty (960-1279) because of a war between Song and Jin troops.
The end of the Silk Road meant that there was no longer a link
between China and the outside world. Merchants in the West still
wanted to do trade, therefore it was imperative to open a maritime
route that would take the place of the old Silk Road. |
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