What is it?

Silk Road Programme is a digital platform and website that presents information about the historical sites, artifacts, and ideas that spread along the old trade routes. It also aims to connect and spread current ideas along the same present routes. Since Quanzhou was a major port city along the Maritime Silk Road, I was able to find some valuable information. Quanzhou was a major port city under the Song and Yuan dynasties and was linked to other maritime silk road trade ports, including Madras in India, Siraf in Iran, Muscat in Oman, and Zanibar. The Arab merchants nicknamed Quanzhou “Zayton” or “Zaitun” from Chinese word for the Erythrina variegata or the red flowers that grew around the city. During its heyday, Quanzhou was a city where Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Nestorians, Manichaeans, Jews, Catholics and Muslim could co-exist peacefully with one another. Some of the most famous travelers to Quanzhou port city were Marco Polo and Ibu Battuta.

Interesting Tidbits

On this website, you can find anything related to the silk trade road. I found a page that explained the history of porcelain, one of the notable exports from China. I learned that it was exported worldwide since the Han Dynasty. During the Song dynasty, the “Five Great Kilns” emerged, and during the Yuan dynasty, the blue and white porcelain which we usually think of when we think of “china”, emerged. Porcelain continued being an export from China even when Quanzhou was no longer used as an overseas trade city. This website also has pictures of sunken maritime ships that were found off the South China Sea.

Connection to Guiding Questions

This website is a great source of background information about Quanzhou. It gives a brief description of the city, includes photos of famous sites, and provides elaborate information about Quanzhou’s exports. If I want, I can also seek information about its rival port city, Guangzhou, and the port cities where a majority of the residents of Quanzhou were from. Since it is a database, it also has links to informative videos and articles for further research.

The Silk Roads Programme. (n.d.). UNESCO. Retrieved July 6, 2020, from https://en.unesco.org/ silkroad/