Ancient traditions upheld in Fuzhou

Fuzhou, a coastal city in East China where natives began their first maritime adventures several thousand years ago, is pursuing a bigger role in the modern maritime industry.

The Fuzhou government set the goal in a recent plan to facilitate its economy in increasing the marine industries’ total output volume to 700 billion yuan ($101.6 billion) in 2020, a rise of 400 billion yuan from the volume in 2015.

“It is rare to see harbor cities in China survive and thrive for more than 1,000 years, Fuzhou is one of those rare cities,” said Ye Qindi, a maritime expert at the Fuzhou Academy of Social Sciences.

According to Ye, Fuzhou’s role as an international shipping hub has been affirmed since the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220). During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Fuzhou became a major base for Zheng He’s fleets to explore the ancient Maritime Silk Road, deeply boosting political, economic and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

Fuzhou was a major port in the modernization moves of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), with a number of shipyards constructed.

Ye said that maritime culture has been deeply rooted in Fuzhou’s residents — who have a passion for seafaring activities like trading and fishing — for many centuries.

The sea area in Fuzhou is 10,573 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to its land area.

It has numerous islands, a long stretching coastline, deepwater harbors, wide tidal flats, rich marine biological resources as well as potential in marine and wind energy resources.

The city now has 55 harbor berths that can accommodate vessels of more than 10,000 metric tons. The advanced fishing industry has made Fuzhou one of the key seafood suppliers in China.

In the coming years, Fuzhou will concentrate on building a major international shipping hub with a number of deepwater harbors, developing four portbased industrial bases each with annual revenue of more than 100 billion yuan, fostering more innovative maritime industrial clusters and building several marine tourism destinations.

“The structure of Fuzhou’s marine economy is becoming more reasonable, with a diversified industrial system being formed,” said Ye Xiangdong, a professor at the Party School of the Fuzhou committee of the Communist Party of China.

Relying on its beneficial location and resource advantages, Fuzhou will give more priority to marine biological medicine, yachting, marine engineering equipment, marine energy and related service industries, according to Ye.