Prosperous Fujian Province is a rugged part of southeast China. It faces Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait, is not far from Hong Kong, and comes with good road, rail, and air connections.
The coastal city of Fuzhou is the provincial capital; it’s a sizeable city of just over a million people and was China’s busiest tea port in the 19th century. Fuzhou has always been into trade and today harbors the likes of Nike, Adidas, and Reebok factories with many thousands of employees.
Fuzhou comes with many suburbs, such as Mawei and Fuqing, along with several villages, while in town is some fantastic shopping and the bustling main square and Wu Shan looking on. Fuzhou is also a popular handicraft center featuring stone carving, wood carving, lacquerware, and paper umbrellas.
Tourist sights out of town include Drum Mountain (Gu Shan) and a Taoist temple known for its hiking, archives, and vegetarian restaurant. Qi Shan is also a bus ride away and is a popular forest park with waterfalls, a huge suspension bridge and monkeys.
Farther south from Fuzhou is the busy, historic port town of Quanzhou, while Xiamen is south again. Nearby villages worth checking out in this region are Anxi, the tea provider for the Boston Tea Party; Dehua, for its white pottery (blanc de chine); and the charming walled town of Chongwu, with its gorgeous beaches.
Other major Fujian attractions include Wu Yi Mountain, a mountainous region known for its tea plantations; the ancient Hakka earth round houses in Yongding County; and the small traffic-free island of Gulang Yu, not far from Xiamen.
Apart from being famed for its tea, Fujian is also big into seafood and has a rich cuisine of its own. Fujians are also mad on coffee and there are myriad coffee shops (Chinese and Western) in towns, cities, and villages throughout the province.
Fujian is well connected by air from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei and is also linked to Zhejiang and Guangdong by road or rail. Avoid the heat and typhoon season June through August. Spring and fall are the best times in Fujian.
Fuzhou and Xiamen are the main airports in Fujian, with flights from Hong Kong and numerous mainland cities. Shanghai is a 1-hour, 30-minute flight from Fuzhou. Wu Yi Mountain also has an airport. Fujian is also well connected by road, rail, and sea, with buses and trains from Shenzhen city, and ferries at Mawei Harbor.