Jin'an District 晋安区

Setting and landscape

The district lies on the northern and north-eastern rim of the Fuzhou Basin (福州盆地) and slopes down from north-east to south-west. A spur of the Jiufeng Mountains (鹫峰山) descends through it in three steps: middle-mountain country in the north around Rixi (日溪), Shoushan and Huanxi (宦溪); a belt of low hills; and a plain. The highest point is Qilin Mountain (麒麟山), 1,129.3 m, on the Rixi–Shoushan boundary; the lowest, at Liuyi village (六一村) in Gushan town (鼓山镇), is only 1.2 m above sea level.

History

In 202 BC the area belonged to the Minyue kingdom (闽越国), and in 282 to Yuanfeng County (原丰县) in the Jin'an Commandery (晋安郡). From 981 Xindian (新店镇) and the Beifeng townships belonged to the new Huai'an County (怀安县), which was merged into Houguan (侯官县) in 1580. In 1996 Fuzhou's suburban district was renamed Jin'an District, and some of its townships went to Gulou, Taijiang, Cangshan and the new Mawei district.

What to see

Mount Gu rises on the district's eastern side. Its cliff inscriptions, called the "Stele Forest of the South-East" (东南碑林), are a nationally protected cultural relic, and the mountain is an example of miarolitic granite scenery. Yongquan Temple (涌泉寺) on the mountain carries a plaque written by the Kangxi Emperor and is a national key temple of Han Chinese Buddhism; the district government notes the view of Taiwanese scholars that about three quarters of Taiwan's Buddhist temples trace their lineage to it.

Guling, about 12 km from the city centre at an average altitude of 750–800 m, was opened as a summer retreat by foreign residents in the mid-19th century. Yixia village (宜夏村) keeps the sites of a foreigners' club, a swimming pool and a church, and an old path of more than 2,000 stone steps climbs up from Shanxi (鳝溪) in Gushan town. Fuzhou National Forest Park (福州国家森林公园), founded as an arboretum in 1960, was Fujian's first national forest park. In the northern hills, the Fujian Shoushan National Mine Park (福建寿山国家矿山公园), in the first national batch of 2005, covers Shoushan, Rixi and Huanxi and includes the China Shoushan Stone Museum (中国寿山石馆) and the Rixi Grand Canyon (日溪大峡谷).

Highlights

• Gushan cliff inscriptions and Yongquan Temple 鼓山涌泉寺: Cliff carvings known as the Stele Forest of the South-East; temple with a Kangxi Emperor plaque.
• Guling 鼓岭: Hill retreat opened by foreign residents in the mid-19th century, with club, pool and church sites at Yixia village.
• Fuzhou National Forest Park 福州国家森林公园: Founded as an arboretum in 1960; Fujian's first national forest park.
• Fujian Shoushan National Mine Park 福建寿山国家矿山公园: One of the first national mine parks (2005), centred on Shoushan stone.