Editor's Note: From July 25 to 27, 2022, the UNESCO World Heritage Training and Research Center for Asia and the Pacific (Beijing) held an academic seminar in Quanzhou titled "Quanzhou Youth Heritage Salon: Dialogue between the Local and the Global – Starting from the Mountains and Seas of Quanzhou" (click here to review). Participants from Peking University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Xiamen University, the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology, and other institutions experienced first‑hand the charm and diversity of Quanzhou's World Heritage and discussed the unique feelings, opportunities, and challenges of living in a World Heritage city.
The attending scholars agreed that Quanzhou preserves a distinctive local cultural character and the vitality of everyday life. Its historical remains bear witness to dialogues with different civilizations of the world. Starting from the mountains and seas of Quanzhou, a "model" can be developed that is of reference value for the protection and development of other World Heritage cities.
The following are interviews conducted by the Quanzhou Cultural Heritage Research Institute of Quanzhou Normal University with the young scholars.
Dialogue between the Local and the Global: Starting from the Mountains and Seas of Quanzhou
– Interviews with Young Scholars
Li Guanghan
Assistant Director, UNESCO World Heritage Training and Research Center for Asia and the Pacific (Beijing)
Q: Why did you choose Quanzhou for this academic salon, and what is its significance?
A: Quanzhou was chosen because it has long been an important research site for anthropologists and has become a hot spot in the heritage field after becoming a World Heritage site. The two disciplines focus on different aspects and use different research methods, but their objects of study overlap considerably. We also specially invited scholars familiar with Quanzhou and those visiting for the first time to experience together what has changed and what has remained unchanged in the city after its inscription, thereby launching an interdisciplinary dialogue. Using Quanzhou as the theme has both practical and theoretical significance.
Q: How do you understand Quanzhou as an important node on the Maritime Silk Road?
A: As a key node on the Maritime Silk Road, Quanzhou experienced free and open multi‑civilizational exchanges during the medieval period. As a peripheral coastal area outside the political center, its internationalization differed from that of cities in the Central Plains. Later, as the central government progressively tightened its open‑door policy, the material traces of Quanzhou's multi‑civilizational interactions seemed to exist only as historical imprints. Yet at the spiritual level and in people's daily lives, this vibrant, free‑spirited vitality continued in the form of Minnan (southern Fujian) culture. These characteristics are closely tied to its historical role as an important node on the Maritime Silk Road.
Zhang Fan
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Peking University
Q: In your view, how have the geographical characteristics of Quanzhou's mountains and seas influenced its cultural formation?
A: From a geographical perspective, mountains and seas are two very different environments, giving rise to very different human spaces. When people go out to sea, the world beyond the boat is silent and dangerous. The relationship between humans and the sea creates a tense confrontation between civilization and savagery. Hence, seafaring peoples tend to produce legends similar to the sirens of ancient Greek mythology – both seductive and dangerous. When people move through mountain forests, although forests also imply danger (for example, in pre‑industrial German imaginations of the forest, there is the wolf that eats Little Red Riding Hood), the multiple sounds and rich resources of the forest always suggest a certain vitality. Therefore, the human‑forest relationship is more entangled. Forest‑dwelling hunter‑gatherers imagine forest worlds populated by elves and monsters closely intertwined with human life, forming reciprocal relationships that bring fertility and vitality. From this perspective, seafarers have richer beliefs in ghosts and gods and practices of witchcraft and magic than forest dwellers, because they face greater uncertainty. The dense beliefs in Wang Ye (plague‑dispelling deities), Mazu (goddess of the sea), and various wandering ghosts and forgotten deities in coastal Quanzhou seem to echo this difference. However, ethnography contains numerous accounts of both seafarers, such as the Trobriand Islanders, and forest peoples, such as the Kachin of the Myanmar highlands, showing similarities in their connections – both form various open linkages horizontally and vertically. Thus, both along the coast and in the mountains of Quanzhou, networks formed through the distribution of incense and the division of spiritual power create spatial‑temporal connections.
Chinese culture has its own particularities. The Chinese imagined mountains and seas very early on. Mountains and seas are structurally symmetrical: both the high mountains and the deep seas are home to immortals. Moreover, the main source of secular power also came from establishing hierarchical associations with mountains and seas. Hence ancient emperors not only performed sacrifices to mountains but also conferred titles on sea goddesses like Mazu. Whether we look at Guan Yu (Lord Guan) and Wang Ye worshipped inside Quanzhou city, or Zhengshun Wang (King Zhengshun) and Gaohai Gong (Lord Gaohai) worshipped in Anxi, all seem to manifest this particularity.
To a certain extent, Quanzhou's geographical structure – backed by mountains and facing the sea – determines the complexity of its cultural structure.
Q: How can the relationship between heritage conservation and development be effectively balanced? What are your views on the sustainable development of World Heritage ecology and culture?
A: I have not specialized in heritage research, nor have I ever worked professionally in heritage conservation. However, I think anthropologists are, in a sense, potential protectors of cultural heritage. First, for anthropologists, any heritage is living culture. We participate in its growth and document its changes. Ethnography constitutes a kind of archive and history – the foundation of cultural heritage conservation. Second, through long‑term engagement with a local culture, entering its internal structure, we can better understand its direction of growth. Although anthropologists may not produce official documents for World Heritage nomination, they can offer insights on cultural protection or development from different perspectives of various people. Third, and perhaps more importantly, heritage conservation has an established framework and value system. Through long‑term fieldwork, anthropologists can extract new frameworks and value systems that are locally relevant yet also have universal significance. This allows them to reflect on established orders and offers constructive input to heritage conservation departments and policies.
Zhang Lisheng
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Sociology, Peking University
Q: How do you understand Quanzhou's World Heritage inscription? What is the value and connotation of "Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song‑Yuan China"?
A: The successful inscription of Quanzhou is a significant event in China's heritage sector. Its importance and implications for national cultural strategy, academic research, and future heritage conservation practices are beyond doubt. For me, another important meaning of Quanzhou's inscription is that it re‑discovered the cultural landscape of Song‑Yuan Quanzhou and showed the world how this precious heritage has been transmitted through local everyday life. This transmission is possible because the inscription has, to a considerable extent, safeguarded the very unique and rich local cultural practices of Quanzhou – such as the community elders, master artisans, Nanyin musicians, and cultural space operators I had the privilege of meeting during this short visit. These practices actively sustain the multiple cultural and social relationships unique to Quanzhou, while also connecting the past, present, and future of Quanzhou's heritage.
Q: In your view, how have the mountainous and maritime geographical characteristics of Quanzhou influenced its cultural formation?
A: Quanzhou's "mountains and seas" form the unique landscape that has nurtured its culture. As we observed during our visit, this unique landscape endows Quanzhou's culture with both the abundance of the mountains and the inclusiveness of the sea – making Quanzhou a "local" place with "global" qualities. This is fully reflected in the 22 component sites that constitute Quanzhou's World Heritage property. The series includes different types of heritage – architecture, monuments, sites, memorials – fully embodying Quanzhou's richly hybrid "globality" and its distinctive "locality."
Li Jin
Assistant Professor, School of Sociology and Anthropology, Xiamen University
Q: In your view, how have the mountainous and maritime geographical characteristics of Quanzhou influenced its cultural formation?
A: This first question is quite broad and not something my professional background can fully answer. The only thing I can say is that the coexistence of mountains and seas has clearly provided Fujianese with convenient symbolic resources to express certain cultural elements. For example, when we visited a small Mazu temple, we could see the statue of Mazu, the temple gate, and the sea filled with fishing boats aligned in a straight line. People burning incense and drawing lots turned their backs to Mazu and faced the sea, able to perceive a certain sacredness at a glance. When we visited Qingshui Yan (Clearwater Rock), we could see how the vertically rising mountain terrain provided a convenient setting for Buddhist representations of the thirty‑three heavens. I know that in some parts of Xiamen, the combined mountain‑sea landscape is used to represent the Grotto‑Heavens (Dongtian Fudi) or Jambudvipa (Nanzhan Buzhou). To put it in a way that may not withstand rigorous scrutiny, perhaps the mountains and seas – those elements most capable of expressing transcendence – have also inspired Fujianese in their cultural creations, resulting in the very large number of World Heritage sites in Fujian.
Another thing is that this mountain‑sea opposition certainly creates tension. At the simplest level, when you go to southern Fujian you eat seafood, which is relatively light; when you go to northern Fujian you eat mountain produce, including very spicy dishes. These oppositions, combined with other oppositions such as dialects and economic differences, create internal cultural boundaries and identities within Fujian, thereby increasing the cultural complexity of this society. Our discipline is not very good at tracing cultural roots or offering grand narratives, but we do pay attention to how existing cultural forms continue to shape contemporary people's lives. I suspect that the mountain‑sea opposition, along with other oppositions bound up with it, probably shapes the interactions and communications among different groups within Fujian in many observable ways. This is a rather interesting anthropological topic.
Q: How can the relationship between heritage conservation and development be effectively balanced? What are your views on the sustainable development of World Heritage ecology and culture?
A: The relationship between heritage conservation and development is a very important issue, as it determines whether heritage conservation can achieve sustainable development. I think, first, community members in heritage sites need to benefit from the conservation process and become the main agents of conservation. Second, they should have a sense of gain – which could be economic or in other areas such as culture. With specific reference to the two places we visited, I feel that the community elders (xiangxian) in southern Fujian may play a very important role in balancing conservation and development. Outside heritage conservation experts should listen more to the advice of these elders, as they are the axis that balances multiple relationships.
As for the relationship between ecology and culture, I think we need to recognize that these are two inseparable parts. There is no ecology without culture, and no culture detached from ecology. Human beings are the intermediaries linking ecology and culture, and also the main subjects who transmit heritage through time and space. Therefore, heritage conservation may need to focus not only on the designated heritage itself or solely on the heritage planning area, but also on protecting the surrounding overall environment to maintain the cultural habitat – this is also an important pathway to ensure sustainable development.
Luo Pan
Associate Research Fellow, Chinese National Museum of Ethnology
Q: How do you understand Quanzhou as an important node on the Maritime Silk Road?
A: Whether maritime or overland, the spirit of the Silk Road lies in exchange and communication, in mutual learning among diverse cultures and civilizations. On this road, Quanzhou never stops just because the history of the Maritime Silk Road has passed. The successful World Heritage inscription may serve as a new milestone, opening up a broader process of civilizational mutual learning.
Q: For counties and townships typically characterized by mountains and seas – such as Anxi County and Xiaozuo Town in Hui'an County – do you think it is suitable to build museums and art galleries there? What do you see as the future development trends for such industries?
A: China will continue to maintain a boom in museum development. Museums and art galleries can more effectively display rich local cultures to tourists and local residents, and can also better preserve local culture. Of course, an important function of museums and art galleries is to cultivate and enhance local cultural ambiance and cultural industries through their public nature.
For Anxi and Hui'an, there are natural advantages for building museums and art galleries – the richness of their natural landscapes, history, humanities, and culture all deserve to be collected and exhibited in museums, and can provide materials and inspiration for artistic creation. What needs to be considered is that museums and art galleries require sustainable planning, including the collection of objects, site construction, event promotion and design of cultural products, improvement of curatorial concepts, exchange activities, and the planning and cultivation of supporting cultural activities for visitors. This requires multi‑party collaboration and support. As a museum professional who once studied Hui'an, I particularly hope to have the opportunity to participate in the construction of local museums and the planning of cultural activities.
Zhao Xiaomei
Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, Fudan University
Q: What is the importance of archaeology in Quanzhou's cultural heritage?
A: During this visit, I saw the World Heritage exhibition at the Maritime Museum and listened to a presentation by Director Fu Jing. Indeed, archaeology is certainly very important in highlighting Quanzhou's status as a world trade center during the Song‑Yuan period. Many excavated artifacts confirm the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of Quanzhou as a Song‑Yuan emporium.
Since I work in a department of cultural heritage and museology, I see archaeology as the front end and cultural heritage as the bridge that follows. I believe that in Quanzhou, the archaeological interpretation – the scientific excavation and the extraction of value – has already been done well, which is why it was inscribed as a World Heritage site. However, how to translate this professional knowledge into something the public can understand is something that can be further pursued.
Q: For a World Heritage city like Quanzhou, what suggestions or views do you have on its sustainable conservation?
A: My personal understanding is that heritage does not point only to the past; it must relate to our contemporary lives. The audience for an archaeological site must include at least both outside tourists and local people. The sustainable development of a heritage site should be linked to the broader well‑being of residents' lives. I think several different types of museums in Quanzhou are doing relatively well, pursuing interactivity to stimulate the subjectivity and deep engagement of their audiences. Quanzhou's archaeological achievements and heritage sustainability are pursuing the direction of reaching out to the public and integrating into residents' daily lives.
Wang Siyu
Assistant Professor, School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University
Q: What do you think is the importance of archaeology in Quanzhou's cultural heritage?
A: One of the great strengths of archaeology is that it can study history through primary evidence, "restore" history, and reveal the cumulative, layered history of a city. As a model World Heritage city, we need to understand the meaning of "model" more comprehensively. This includes not only the "model" aspects of the historical, scientific, and artistic value of the remains themselves, but also the "model" aspects of the city's ability to achieve sustainable development and mobilize social forces. This latter aspect should be a further direction for future archaeological work – that is, focusing on the city's more holistic (both spatial and temporal) history and vitality.
Q: For counties and townships typically characterized by mountains and seas – such as Anxi County and Xiaozuo Town in Hui'an County – do you think it is suitable to build museums and art galleries there? What do you see as the future development trends for such industries?
A: For museums and art galleries in small places, the most important questions to consider are: what is their positioning (targeting tourists or the local community)? What is the most appropriate scale (avoiding blindly imitating "large museums")? Do they have the capacity for sustainable development (avoiding prioritizing construction over operation)? I believe areas like Anxi and Hui'an have natural and cultural resource potential. The next question is whether they can answer these three questions rationally, without seeking too much or too quickly, and find the path that suits them best.
Fu Shulan
Associate Professor, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University
Q: For counties and townships typically characterized by mountains and seas – such as Anxi County and Xiaozuo Town in Hui'an County – do you think it is suitable to build museums and art galleries there? What do you see as the future development trends for such industries?
A: In Japan, there are many small towns with similar geographical conditions that have been revitalized by art. The best‑known example is the Setouchi Triennale directed by Kitagawa Fram. Many places want to replicate this model, but few achieve the same level of impact. There are probably two main reasons: the invited artists are not influential enough, and the works lack site‑specificity ("rootedness"). Site‑specificity means the work captures or responds to the geographical and cultural landscape characteristics of the place. Of course, we also see other trigger factors, such as Tomonoura on the Seto Inland Sea coast. This place was once a prosperous port celebrated in the Manyoshu anthology of poetry and was later designated as a National Park scenic area. But its recent influence comes from Hayao Miyazaki's animation. Miyazaki completed the illustrated story concept for "Ponyo" in this small town – in other words, the town is filled with the prototype scenes of the animation. From the perspective of urban industrial development, it is unwise to rely too heavily on a single industry. For example, many places that depend on tourism have recently suffered great shocks due to reduced travel convenience. Also, towns with similar conditions need to pay attention to cultivating regional competitiveness. To stand out, they must pursue targeted, differentiated development. Therefore, when considering the development of such towns, it is advisable to look at a variety of development models.
Q: Regarding the important issue of old city renewal in contemporary urban construction, how do you think the relationship between old architectural remains and modern buildings should be balanced?
A: This question is relatively complex. In short, renewal should be organic, not large‑scale demolition and new construction or simple restoration to a certain historical stage. The diversity of architecture is a source of the organic renewal and development of a city's appearance.
Zhou Mengyuan
Lecturer, School of Art, Soochow University
Q: Regarding the important issue of old city renewal in contemporary urban construction, how do you think the relationship between old architectural remains and modern buildings should be balanced?
A: This is my first time in Quanzhou. My stay has been short and hurried, but I already strongly feel the charm that makes me want to return and explore further. I think this charm comes from the fact that it is a living city. Some cities have completely abandoned their traditional appearance in the process of modernization. Others have preserved the architectural shell but lost the spirit of place that can only be built by the lives of residents. Quanzhou's ancient city has its very distinctive pujing (neighborhood temples), official grand houses, and Nanyang (Southeast Asian) arcade buildings. Together, they show the organic growth process of a coastal city. And most importantly, the local people who actively live there still listen to music, drink tea, pray and offer incense, and sell goods along the streets. The pujing system and old alley sites are interwoven with hidden Western restaurants, bookstores, and cafes. The core part of this city is still organically growing.
Walking through the streets and alleys of Quanzhou reminds me of Suzhou – both are historic cities with strong local culture, living continuity, and never having served as a national capital. In dealing with the relationship between old and new in the process of urban modernization, Suzhou's approach – implementing building height limits, controlling urban fabric, maintaining waterways and alleys in the ancient city area, and uniformly planning modern skyscrapers in peripheral new districts – is a model worth referencing and comparing.
Beyond macro‑urban planning, I have also been thinking recently whether there is truly a deep‑seated contradiction between old buildings and modern architecture. Can this "contradiction" be reconciled through the creative act of architectural design? In historic ancient cities with deep traditions, young and middle‑aged architects often have a desire to make bold, sweeping changes. Yet the professional life of an architect itself brings changes in style and philosophy along with life experience. The Suzhou Museum was designed by I.M. Pei at the age of 85. Pei grew up in Suzhou's gardens and later became a master architect. The museum he designed blends perfectly into the city's urban fabric, yet uses an absolutely modern language to create an independent work that dialogues with tradition. For the modern architectural renewal of a historic city, we should not blindly chase the aura of internationally star designers. Creators should immerse themselves deeply in local life, develop a deep understanding of both local customs and modern concepts – only then can they produce works that withstand the test of time and scrutiny, rather than collages of borrowed avant‑garde elements. Such works, I believe, are themselves a form of reflection and response to the relationship between old buildings and modern architecture.
Q: For a World Heritage city like Quanzhou, what suggestions or views do you have on its sustainable conservation?
A: If we understand the cultural identity of Quanzhou's own people as a dialect, then the World Heritage system is an international lingua franca. The sustainable conservation of a World Heritage city means preserving one's local accent while learning a foreign language.
Quanzhou's successful World Heritage inscription provides an external gaze – an external consensus and perspective on local internal culture. It acts like a mirror, helping Quanzhou locals see themselves and thereby clarifying which part of their culture carries universally shared values. I think "Quanzhou in the Song‑Yuan era," in this process of connecting the local and the universal, recorded with an inclusive attitude all the charm of a golden‑age port city and preserved the historical evidence of multicultural exchanges. It has thus become an international language that awakens many groups.
But Quanzhou has another internal culture that continues to grow and transmit. At Qingshui Yan in Anxi, I saw many renovation inscriptions led by overseas Chinese in modern times, and pillars in the temple that are being continuously repaired and replaced one by one. In the process of repair, the names of the renovators and their family members are carved on them, eventually becoming part of the architecture itself. I think for such vibrant sacred sites in southern Fujian, temples are no longer built of wood and stone alone, but of the hearts of wandering sons returning home and the prestige of lineages. With the continuous replacement, maintenance, and renewal of local materials, the material heritage recedes in importance, and the intertwined relationship between people and architecture becomes a new faith. "Sustainable conservation" is happening right within the enduring stream of living tradition.
Therefore, my view is: For the government, World Heritage should be just one more business card among many for the city, not the only one. While learning the international language and welcoming broader groups, the most important thing to protect is the vitality of the local dialect. For scholars, learning both languages – especially excavating the core value of local knowledge, then re‑transmitting, rewriting, and supplementing the international language system – is a direction worth deep study. For the citizens of Quanzhou, maintaining the motivation and passion for life, and preserving the memories that are most precious to each individual, is itself a substantial contribution.
(Interview text compiled by Zheng Xiaotian, master's student at Quanzhou Normal University)
This article is selected from Quannan Culture, Issue 2, 2023 (No. 28), published by the Quanzhou Historical and Cultural Center.
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