Quanzhou: Reclaiming a glorious past

• Quanzhou is a city with a glorious past, and a muted but reviving present.
• Its rise and fall reflect the ebb and flow of successive dynasties’ maritime policies.
• Revitalization since 1978 has been built around spatial development, economic liberalization and industrial growth.
• Taiwan, home to many of Quanzhou’s diaspora, has played and is playing a vital role in its revival.
• As a ‘pivot city’ in China’s Maritime Silk Road, Quanzhou’s future will likely outshine its past.

Quanzhou, a coastal city in Fujian province, boasts an illustrious history spanning two millennia. Marco Polo who visited the city in its heyday proclaimed it to be one of the greatest ports in the world. However, its importance waned as succeeding dynasties discouraged and then prohibited maritime trade. This decline spawned migration to Taiwan and neighboring Southeast Asia in search of a better life. The much diminished city's revival began only with China's opening up in 1978. This revival also carried costs, despite haphazard development eventually replaced by spatial planning to reap agglomeration benefits. Still the legacy of pollution from manufacturing poses a challenge as the city attempts to upgrade production through technology. Quanzhou's story shows how history looms large both in imparting costs and in terms of conferring benefits. An important example of the latter is its choice as a pivot city of China's proposed Maritime Silk Road over more economically important cities. This choice is likely based on its links to a vast diaspora during its history.