Religious harmony in starting port city of Maritime Silk Road
Print Edition
QUANZHOU, in southeast China’s Fujian Province, was once the country’s major port for foreign trade during the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368).
Foreign traders and missionaries, drawn to the starting point of Maritime Silk Road, were enchanted by the area and often chose to stay, bringing with them an array of religions, traditions and cultures. As a result, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Taoism all thrived side by side in Quanzhou. And thanks to the local government’s efforts in the protection and renovation of these unique, crumbling, centuries-old temples and mosques, the area is once again thriving.
“Now, about 200 people come for Friday prayers. A few years ago, there were rarely more than 70,” said Zhang Lianzhu, who has worked for 23 years in Quanzhou’s Qingjing Mosque, the only surviving mosque in China from the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
Zhang attributes the rise to better publicity and the government’s financial support. The government gave the mosque around 200,000 yuan (US$29,000) at the turn of the century and now donates four times that much.
Each year, the mosque receives around 200,000 visitors from inland provinces and regions with large Muslim populations.
“These Muslims have a saying: If you cannot afford to travel to Mecca, go to Quanzhou instead,” Zhang said.
Many come to Quanzhou not just to pray, but to visit the Islamic cemetery, where two Islamic saints from 7th-century Quanzhou are said to be buried.
Zhang, a Muslim herself, said the city is well-known for its rich history of cultural diversity. “It is famed as a ‘museum’ of religions,” she said.
Quanzhou Maritime Museum has the largest collection of Islamic and Hindu gravestones, capstones and inscriptions in the country, according to Chen Shaofeng, a historian at the museum.
Lin Yongquan, a priest at the Catholic church in Quanzhou, said there are about 2,000 Chinese Catholics in Quanzhou, and around 100 foreigners from India, the Republic of Korea and the Philippines.
In the Kaiyuan Temple, a Buddhist monument built around 685 during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), there are two columns with fragments of a temple dedicated to Hindu God Shiva.
“The interaction of religious cultures was frequent in Quanzhou. Some religious art has Chinese characteristics,” said Wu Youxiong, a religious historian.
At the gate of Qingjing Mosque, two stones feature auspicious clouds, a traditional Chinese symbol. Back in Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), the word “Fo” — the Chinese translation of Buddha — was commonly used by local people to describe their own particular god.
“The fact that these religions coexisted in harmony in Quanzhou was indispensable to interaction and integration,” Wu said.
“I love living here as no one treats you differently because of your religious belief,” said Hazim Alrikabi, an Iraqi businessman who has lived in Quanzhou for 13 years.
Father Lin said religions in Quanzhou share strong bonds today. “I often meet with the heads of our Buddhist and Taoist temples and mosque during our various festivals.”
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