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 Kököchin 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.
Quanzhou is a coastal prefecture bordered by Xiamen sub-provincial city to the south west. It also forms another border with Zhangzhou and Longyan prefecture level city towards the west. Putian and Fuzhou forms Quanzhou’s north east border and Sanming from the north.
Quanzhou is mountainous and has many rivers and tributaries originating from the interior.