Skyline of historical neighborhood in Quanzhou. [Photo by Chen Yingjie for chinadaily.com.cn]

Quanzhou is located on the southeastern coast of Fujian province and faces the Taiwan Straits. It was among the first group of famous historical and cultural cities designated by the State Council. Quanzhou was also an important harbor and starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. It is one of the main ancestral homes of many overseas Chinese and Taiwan compatriots.

Quanzhou has a land area of 11,015 square kilometers and a sea area of 11,360 sq km. The prefecture-level port city in Fujian province saw its resident population reach 8.85 million in 2021. It has four districts and administers three county-level cities and five counties as well as the Quanzhou Taiwanese Investment Zone and the Quanzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone.

Quanzhou was a maritime hub of East and Southeast Asia trade networks between the 10th and 14th centuries. In 2021, the city became China's 56th UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city has a subtropical marine monsoon climate, a coastline of 541 kilometers and 58.7 percent of its area is covered by forests. It boasts rich mineral resources such as iron, manganese, gold, coal and quartz. The port of Quanzhou has facilities in four bays on the Taiwan Straits.

Visitors can experience traditional Chinese temples and opera houses and there are also 686 historical and cultural sites, including 20 sites under State protection, such as Kaiyuan Temple, Anping Bridge and Chonggu ancient town.

Quanzhou has implemented a number of supportive policies that grant Taiwan residents and companies the same treatment in terms of living, working and studying as those on the mainland. More and more Taiwan-funded enterprises have set up offices in the Quanzhou Taiwanese Investment Zone.

Quanzhou has been striving to develop the digital economy to support high-quality development. Over the past few years, the city's application of digital technologies information infrastructure has continued to expand. After building around 16,000 5G base stations in total, the city has successfully established 5G signals that cover central districts and towns, parks and hotspot areas.

In 2022, Quanzhou's GDP exceeded 1.21 trillion yuan ($174.33 billion), an increase of 3.5 percent compared to that in 2021, according to official statistics.