Ibn Battuta remarked upon Quanzhou people’s love of gardens and nature, and judging from the number of parks and natural preserves, gardens are still their first love.

Micro to Macro Gardening Quanzhou is like a four-tiered miniature landscape, from prize-winning miniature gardens in residents’ courtyards or on balconies to residential gardens, community parks and squares, city gardens, and parks and forests, including the nearby mountains and rivers.

Community parks, squares and forests reflect the harmony, creativity and care invested in potted landscapes, but on a much larger scale. Quanzhou has spent hundreds of millions on unique gardens. With land at a premium, they have to be pretty innovative—building car parks below kid parks, or using “vertical” landscaping (rooftop gardens, hanging planters).

The parks are very diverse. Quanzhou Water Park attracts vacationers; Kaiyuan Temple offers serenity; Fuxin Garden Square had a musical fountain. Qingyuan Mountain, the ancient “fairyland”, appeals to both athletes and meditative souls who savor the Taoist setting. Some parks have entrance charges to cover maintenance costs, but where possible parks are inexpensive or free to maximize use by low-income families.

Bridging the Gap With the growing generation gap, Quanzhou is seeking innovative ways to meet the needs of both young and old by emphasizing both passive and active leisure and cultural activities, educational activities for retirees, and increased opportunities for elderly volunteers. City parks offer the older generation plenty of opportunities to teach the youth Chinese shadow boxing, calligraphy, Chinese painting, or how to perform the simple but elegant Minnan tea ceremony.

West Lake Park Every decent-sized city in China has a lake park, the most famous being Hangzhou’s 2,000-year-old West Lake, which in 2011 became a UNESCO World Heritage Center. But Quanzhou’s newly renovated West Lake is also delightful.

Dubbed “Northwest Ocean” by locals, this park in the northwest of the city was a swamp until the city dredged it out. Dykes and bridges connect the islands, which have once again become home to wild creatures and birds. Ornately painted wooden pleasure boats serve tea as you tour the lake. Take a camera to photograph the wild pigeons and egrets, which sometimes almost cover the trees. Also visit the many memorial forests planted by local volunteers.

East Lake Park The nicely wooded and landscaped East Lake Park, right in the middle of town, was one of Quanzhou’s original “Eight Famous Sites”. Scenes surrounding the “Lotus Fragrance on the Stars” lake include Fragrance of Lotus, Pavilion of Praying for Plain Wind, and Children’s Playground.

Zaytun Park Zaytun Park (Citong Park), on Zaytun Road, was opened in 1997 and includes such sites as Citong Sunken Flowerbed and Listening to Rain in Banana Groves.

Fragrant Grass Garden This delightful midtown garden on Xinmen Street was built by General Shi Lang, and was the site of the original Chongzheng Academy.

Water World (Aquatic Elysium) This park was a real hit with our family because it is big (7,357 square meters), fun, and inexpensive—such a bargain that during summers we loaded up our Toyota van with a dozen kids, made the drive from Xiamen, and returned late the same evening. We liked the water slides, paddle boats, and tidal pool (though I’ve had bigger waves in our bathtub).

Quanzhou Amusement Park is in Quanzhou Exhibition Town, across the river to the south. The English brochure boasts it covers more than 250 mu (pronounced “Moo”). The more than 30 amusements include the Ferris wheel, roller coaster, playground, and go-karts. To quote the brochure, “It is a large modern playground integrating amusement, shopping and body build.” I’m sold!

Parks in Rural Quanzhou

Anxi Zhimin Field Sport and Ecological Recreation Center Wow-now that’s a mouthful! This outdoors center in Anxi’s Longmen Township offers a good day or two of exciting outdoor activities, including white water rafting (supposedly the best in Fujian), rock-climbing, hunting, hiking, field survival, and tea making (which can be as arduous as the rest).

Dehua Peach Fairy Creek Ecological Tourist Area Peach Fairy Creek (“Taoxian Xi”) offers bamboo rafting, rubber rafting, hiking, and traditional performances of “Nanyin” (Southern Music), Folk songs, and “Santong” Drum (三通鼓).

Ancient Garden City

About 700 years ago, the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta remarked upon Quanzhou people’s love of gardening, and that love of nature is evident even today, ranging from the intimate care given miniature landscapes and balcony plants to neighborhood gardens, community parks, and city parks and forests. Gardening is a grassroots affair, from the bottom up as well as top down. And Quanzhou folks’ aesthetics have transferred to architecture as well.

It seemed that most Chinese cities’ approach to rapid modernization used to be razing everything old and replacing it with tile-and glass-covered concrete cubicles. Of course, who are we Americans to talk? We don’t have ancient culture to preserve, but we do have a natural heritage, which we’re decimating. New housing developments invariably begin with bulldozing down the ancient trees, which are then replaced with saplings bought on sale at a local nursery.

Quanzhou’s marriage of old and new architecture accommodates not only the natural heritage but the cultural and historical heritage as well. The new housing areas are a delightful blend of old and new, retaining the ancient Chinese or foreign flavor, while incorporating modern technology and innovations such as solar water heating. And while the first new apartment buildings had little in the way of green space, Quanzhou leaders have a motto: “Do more, learn more”, and each successive project has had more, and better, greenery (thanks in part to innovations like car parks below gardens.

Today, as in Marco Polo’s day, Quanzhou’s true wealth lies not in products but the place, and the people.