Site of the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office

Site of the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office

The site of the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office is a cultural heritage site protected by the Quanzhou Municipal Government.

The site of the Quanzhou Maritime Trade Office is located in Licheng District. According to the Daoguang-era "Jinjiang County Annals," the Maritime Trade Office was situated inside Shuixian Gate to the south of the prefectural yamen. Relevant local records state that Nanxun Gate was adjacent to the Maritime Trade Office. It is now located northwest of the ruins of the Nanxun Gate (Water Gate) on Zhujie in Shuimen Alley, within Quanzhou City, extending west to Shuixian Palace, east to Sanyi Temple, and north to Hongcuo Mountain in Maban Alley. Quanzhou Port flourished during the Tang Dynasty, reached its peak in the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and declined in the mid-Ming Dynasty. In the second year of Yuanyou during the Northern Song Dynasty (1087), the imperial court established the Fujian Maritime Trade Office in Quanzhou. It continued to operate until the eighth year of Chenghua during the Ming Dynasty (1472), when the office was relocated to Fuzhou. During the four hundred years that the Fujian Maritime Trade Office was stationed here, it managed overseas trade and related affairs at various ports in Quanzhou.

The office originally housed a famous pavilion called "Qingfen Pavilion," which was praised in poems by notable figures such as Fu Bocheng in the early Southern Song Dynasty. It was a pavilion symbolizing integrity and the condemnation of greed. To the east of the Maritime Trade Office was the maritime trade warehouse, to the southwest were the Water Gate and Queniao Bridge, and to the west was Shuixian Palace. After the office was moved to Rongcheng (Fuzhou), it fell into disuse and was gradually replaced by residential buildings. Today, only the ruins remain.

The Shuimen Water Gate is located west of Zhujie, with Queniao Bridge to the north. In the third year of Shaoding during the Southern Song Dynasty (1230), You Jiugong, the prefect of Quanzhou, built a wing city along Pofu Gully to protect the outer city, and the Shuimen Water Gate was constructed at that time.

In the twelfth year of Zhizheng during the Yuan Dynasty (1352), Linjun Qi Yuli expanded the outer city southward to connect with the wing city, constructing Nanxun Gate to the left of the Water Gate between Deji Gate and Linzhang Gate. The Nanxun Gate Water Gate was originally about 5 meters high, 3.5 meters wide, and 2.7 meters deep, with an arched structure and a top made of stone slabs, where the arch itself formed part of the city wall. Behind the Water Gate was a stone sluice gate, and remnants of its long stone trough still exist. The city wall above the Water Gate was demolished in 1956. However, Queniao Bridge to the north of the bridge still stands today. The original six-plank bridge has been replaced with a concrete one, and one or two large stone railings remain in the moat nearby.

From the Song to the Ming Dynasties, personnel and goods from ocean-going merchant ships could reach the Maritime Trade Office for customs declaration by boat, traveling along the Jin River, Pofu Gully, the Water Gate, and the moat.

The Maritime Trade Office and the Water Gate are important relics of Quanzhou Port and also serve as historical testimonies to the port’s prosperity.