Quanzhou Maritime Museum

The Quanzhou Maritime Museum, formally the Quanzhou Museum of Overseas Communication History, presents the story of Quanzhou's role as a major port of the maritime Silk Road in Fujian, China. Its most famous exhibit is the remains of a Song dynasty ocean-going ship found in 1973 in the Houzhu Harbour, dated to the late 13th century. The wooden hull, about 24 metres long and 9 metres wide, was preserved in a harbour mud, and was found with cargo including spices such as fragrant wood and pepper, shells, and ceramics. Alongside the ship, the museum displays models of Chinese and foreign vessels, navigation instruments, trade ceramics, coins and objects from the Arab and Persian merchant communities that settled in Quanzhou. A section on religious heritage shows stone carvings from Islamic, Nestorian Christian, Manichaean and Hindu communities, many with inscriptions in Arabic, Syriac, and Chinese. The curatorial approach is thematic and chronological, with galleries on ship construction, trade, religion and overseas Chinese migration. Exhibits are laid out to show how the port functioned, with maps, models and reconstructed scenes. Admission is free, and the museum is closed on Mondays. The Song ship was conserved through long-term treatment of its waterlogged timbers and remains the core of the museum's reputation. Interpretation includes Chinese and English labels in the main galleries, and visitors typically spend about two hours here. It works as an orientation point for the UNESCO-listed Quanzhou sites and is often visited before the Qingjing Mosque and Kaiyuan Temple. The museum details can change, so visitors should check current opening arrangements and any reservation requirements locally.