One month after school resumed at Xiamen University, the Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics and the School of Economics (WISE-SOE) of Xiamen University organized a two day trip to visit a city with one of the richest religious and ethnic blends in the country, Quanzhou, Fujian. In the ancient times, Quanzhou was one of the world’s largest seaports, hosting a large community of foreign-born inhabitants from across the Eurasian world. It was also the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. As a result, Quanzhou is home to many important historical sites such as the Qingjing Mosque and the Kaiyuan Temple.
Our first destination was the Gulong Soy Sauce Culture Park, which is one of the most important tourist sites located in Tong’an District, Xiamen. In the park you can find many dragon elements that give the Park it's name - "Gulong" means dragon in Chinese. Our tour of the park included a demonstration of the different production stages of soy sauce. We saw soy sauce paste and soy sauce in big jars. In addition, the Gulong Soy Sauce Factory also exhibited different kinds of French imported wine, stone foods and canned fish and the machines used to produce these products.
After visiting the factory we had good lunch and from there we headed to the Nan’an Jiuri Mountain for hiking. The 98 meters high (Jiuri) mountain (stone carving) which is located in Fengzhou town of Nan’an county, Quanzhou City is famous for its beautiful scenery and abundant relics such as the He Bajie Stone, Laofo Rock, Jiangxiang summit and Jiangxiang tomb.
After a long day, we checked into a beautiful hotel to freshen up before dining on the sumptuous local Chinese cuisine. Our first day trip ended with a culture exchange meeting where students shared their experiences and feelings about China. As the group consisted of students from various countries, we also had a chance to learn about cultures in other countries. Some of the students also showed us their skills related to Chinese culture, including Chinese calligraphy.
Two museums were the highlight of the second day of the tour. The first stop of the morning was the Taiwan Kinship Museum. This is a national museum that explains the relationship between mainland China, Fujian Province and Taiwan. Our last destination was the Quanzhou Maritime Museum. It is the only museum in China specializing in overseas relations and has a collection of old ships with some dating back from the Song Dynasty and some tombstones.
Unanimously, students who took part in the excursion agreed this was a wonderful experience. It enabled us to know people with different cultures and backgrounds, to share and enrich our understanding of China and Chinese culture.
By T. Ngomi Corine Sorelle
Student Assistant
Class of 2016 student of WISE-SOE International Master’s Programs
