Introduction

Abstract

I have been asked by my hosts, the Economics Department at Xiamen University, what I would like to do tomorrow as there are no appointments. I mention that I would like to go to Quanzhou, a port city about 100kms north of here. Quanzhou has fascinated me since reading Marco Polo many years ago. Quanzhou was Marco Polo’s Zaitan, which he considered the greatest port in the world in the 13th Century, filled with Arab and Malay merchants come to trade with China. It and its surrounding region were also a major source in later years of the Hokkien migrations to Southeast Asia. There are, therefore, two reasons to visit: the first historical, as some of the old quarters are said to survive, including a 13th Century mosque; the second a hunch about likely destinations for foreign capital under China’s ‘open door’ policy. My hosts agree but are not enthused and we later mention my plans to leading officials of the SEZ. They are equally incredulous: ‘Why do you want to go there? There’s nothing there.’