Quanzhou currently administers four districts (Licheng, Fengze, Luojiang, and Quangang), three

county-level cities (Shishi, Jinjiang, and Nan'an), five counties (Hui'an, Anxi, Yongchun, Dehua, andKinmen [pending reunification]), as well as the Quanzhou Economic and Technological Development

Zone and the Quanzhou Taiwanese Investment Zone, with a permanent resident population of 8.914 million.

Favorable natural conditions

Both its land and maritime areas cover 11,000 square kilometers, with mountainous terrain

accounting for four-fifths of its total land area. Featuring a mild subtropical maritime monsoon

climate, it is known as "a land where flowers bloom through four seasons amid perpetual rains, andwinter thunder is heard without snowfall".

Long-standing historical evolution

In the third year of Wu Yong'an (260 AD), Dong'an county was established under Jian'an

commandery, with its seat in present-day Fengzhou town, Nan'an city, administering territories now comprising Quanzhou, Xiamen, Putian, and parts of Zhangzhou. In the first year of Tang Jiushi (700 AD), the administrative center was relocated to today's Licheng district, Quanzhou, and designated Wurong prefecture; it was renamed Quanzhou in the second year of Tang Jingyun (711 AD).

Profound cultural heritage

Quanzhou is an important starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, one of the first 24

National Historically and Culturally Famous Cities designated by the State Council, the inaugural

"East Asian Culture Capital," and a World City of Gastronomy. During the Tang dynasty, Quanzhoy

was one of China's four major foreign trade ports; during the Song and Yuan dynasties,"Zayton Port" was acclaimed as the "largest port in the East", trading with more than 100 countries and regions and presenting a thriving scene described as "streets thronged with people from distant lands" and "merchants from myriad nations amid the roar of the open sea". The site "Quanzhou: Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China" is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, comprising 22component heritage sites; integrating the characteristics of Central Plains culture and maritime culture, it has fostered a distinctive Minnan culture. As the birthplace of Minnan culture and a major repository of its cultural heritage, Quanzhou has developed the distinctive "Five Southern Cultural Traditions", namely Nanyin music, Nanxi opera, Minnan-style architecture, Minnan-style martial arts, and Minnan-style craftsmanship. It currently has eight UNESCO-level intangible cultural heritage inscriptions, 36 national-level intangible cultural heritage items, and 44 national-level cultural preservation units, and stands as China's only city with UNESCO recognition across all three categories of intangible cultural heritage lists. In 2025, it was selected for the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a "City of Gastronomy".

Chinese communities

Quanzhou is a nationally renowned hometown of overseas Chinese and one of the principal ancestral places of origin for Han compatriots in Taiwan. Approximately 10 million overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese of Quanzhou origin are distributed across 170 countries and regions worldwide, accounting for nearly one-sixth of China's total overseas Chinese population and nearly two-thirds of Fujian's total; among them, 90 percent reside along Maritime Silk Road routes. Some 700,000 compatriots live in Hong Kong and 60,000 in Macao, ranking first among China's 25 key prefecture-level "hometowns of overseas Chinese". Additionally, 44.8 percent of Taiwan's Han population—over 9 million people—trace their ancestry to Quanzhou, and more than 180 place names in Taiwan are identical to those in Quanzhou.

Thriving private economy

In 2024, the city's GDP reached 1.31 trillion yuan, placing it among China's top ten industrial cities. Its industrial value-added accounts for about 30 percent of Fujian's total, making it the province's largest industrial city. It boasts nine industrial clusters each exceeding 100 billion yuan—textiles/apparel, footwear, petrochemicals, electronics/information, machinery/equipment, building materials/home furnishings, food/beverages, handicrafts, and paper/printing—along with a cultural and tourism sector surpassing 100 billion yuan, forming seven national-level specialized industrial clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises; modern sports products have been included in a national advanced manufacturing cluster. The private economy exhibits the "78999" characteristic: contributing approximately seventy percent of tax revenue, eighty percent of GDP, ninety percent of technological innovation outcomes, ninety percent of urban employment, and constituting ninety percent of enterprises. Dubbed the "Special Zone of Private Enterprise", Quanzhou has been approved for multiple reform and pilot initiatives, including a designated city for establishing a private-economy demonstration city, a comprehensive reform pilot zone for financial services supporting the real economy, and a national innovation demonstration zone, and is listed among China's 18 emblematic reform and opening-up regions.