Trading port
Quanzhou was established in 718 during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). In those days, Guangzhou was China's greatest seaport, but this status would be surpassed later by Quanzhou. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), Quanzhou was one of the world's largest seaports, hosting a large community of foreign-born inhabitants from across the Eurasian world. Today, a number of relics related to that era are preserved and exhibited in the Quanzhou Overseas Relations Museum. A particularly important exhibit is the so-called Quanzhou ship, a sea-going junk that sunk some time after 1272, and was recovered in 1973–74.
Due to its reputation, Quanzhou has been called the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. From the Arabic name of the city, Zayton, the word satin would be coined. Zayton is also the word for olive and the symbol of peace in the Arabic and Persian languages. Quanzhou may have been given this title by the Muslims in honour of fact that it was a cultural melting pot at the time due to the trade culture. Another spelling of Zaytun is "Zaitun".
Zhao Rugua was a customs inspector at Quanzhou. He wrote the Zhufan Zhi (諸蕃志, or Chu-fan-chi, which was about foreign places and items which were traded. Zhao wrote on the origin of the Frankincense trade into China:
"Ruxiang or xunluxiang comes from the three Dashi countries of Murbat (Maloba), Shihr (Shihe), and Dhofar (Nufa), from the depths of the remotest mountains. The tree which yields this drug may generally be compared to the pine tree. Its trunk is notched with a hatchet, upon which the resin flows out, and, when hardened, turns into incense, which is gathered and made into lumps. It is transported on elephants to the Dashi (on the coast), who then load it upon their ships to exchange it for other commodities in Sanfoqi. This is the reason why it is commonly collected at and known as a product of Sanfoqi."
In The Travels
