Quanzhou Overseas Relations Museum

Quanzhou Overseas Relations Museum in Fujian province is the only museum in China taking the overseas relations as a special subject. It was established in 1959. By showing its abundant and value historical relics of overseas transportation, it reflects the development history of the Middle Ages’ big port in the east——Ci Tong Port（刺桐港）. It also reflects the important role that Quanzhou plays in the economic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries.

1 Introduction
2 Rare Collections
3 References
4 See also

Introduction

The museum consists of two parts: the old one and the new one. The old one, housed in the former Kaiyuan Temple, is used for exhibiting ancient boats. The new one was completed in 1991. Located on the scenic banks of East Lake, it looks like a large ship sailing on the sea.. It covers an area of 3,000 square meters and the built-up area is up to 7300 square meters. There are four exhibition halls in it named “ Quanzhou Maritime Museum”（泉州海外交通史陈列馆）, “Quanzhou Religious Stone Museum”（泉州宗教石刻馆）, “Quanzhou Ethnic Culture Museun”（泉州民族文化陈列馆） and “Ancient Chinese Model Museum”（中国古代船模馆）.

Rare Collections

Among the exhibits of particular interest are:^[1]

The "Quanzhou ship": The ship of the Song Dynasty: unearthed in 1974.
Stone stelae and tombstones with religious inscriptions. Besides Buddhist ones, there are Islamic, Christian, and Hindu ones.
Export ceramics: the Dehua（德化） porcelain is particularly value.
Ancient navigation equipment: like the four-claw anchor of the Ming Dynasty（明代四爪铁锚）

References

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Quanzhou Overseas Relations Museum

Contents

Introduction

Rare Collections

References

See also