Places

Jianyang (建阳) district of Nanping is where the Song-dynasty Jianzhan (建盏) tea bowls were born — the black-glazed stoneware cups with mineral crystallisation patterns known as hare's fur (兔毫), oil spot (油滴), partridge feather (鹧鸪斑) and the rarest of all,

Xiamei Village (下梅村) sits 6 km east of Wuyishan City, inside the Wuyi World Heritage buffer zone.

The Nine-Bend Stream (九曲溪, Jiǔqū Xī) is Wuyishan's defining waterway: 9.5 km of emerald river curling nine times through Danxia peaks, each bend giving a different view.

Jiuli Lake (九鲤湖) — "Nine Carp Lake" — sits in Xianyou County, 50 km northwest of Putian city in a forested mountain valley.

South Shaolin Temple (南少林寺) on Lin Mountain, 10 km northwest of Putian city, is the most widely accepted site of the origin of Southern Shaolin martial arts (nánshǎolín quán, 南少林拳).

Guanghua Temple (广化寺, "South Mountain Guanghua") sits at the foot of Phoenix Mountain, 2 km south of Putian old town.

The Ancestral Temple of Mazu (妈祖祖庙) on Meizhou Island is the mother temple of the Mazu faith — the site where Lin Moniang, born here in 960 CE, was first enshrined as a sea goddess after her death in 987.

Meizhou Island (湄洲岛) sits 1.82 nautical miles off Putian's coast in Xiuyu District — small, shaped like an eyebrow (hence mei zhou, "eyebrow islet"), and the single most important site in the Mazu faith worldwide. It's a full national 5A scenic area with three main draws:

Nanputuo Temple (南普陀寺) sits at the foot of Wulao Peak in southeastern Xiamen Island, shoulder-to-shoulder with Xiamen University.

Sunlight Rock (日光岩, Riguangyan) is the granite summit at Gulangyu's centre — only 92.7 metres tall, but offering the single 360° view that defines the island in every postcard: Xiamen city to the east across the strait, Gulangyu's villas tumbling down all sides, and the South China Sea b

Xiamen University (厦门大学), founded in 1921 by overseas Chinese patron Tan Kah Kee, has one of the most memorable campuses in China: wedged between Wulao Peak and the South China Sea, with red-tile Nanyang-style academic buildings, a lake, and a beach within the campus wall.

Zengcuoan (曾厝垵) is the seaside backpacker neighbourhood directly across Huandao Road from the long sand beach on the island's south shore.