Digital Humanities

Imagine a county whose territory was carved up repeatedly over centuries, leaving it with less than one-third of its original size. That is Youxi. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (741 AD), it entered history with a vast territory of 3,424.64 square kilometers. Five hundred years later, this land had been split into three pieces, giving birth to two new counties: Yongan and Datian. I opened the Youxi County Gazetteer, and between its yellowed pages lay the story of a “mother county” torn apart. ...

In Southern Fujian, the earth has not always been a silent foundation. Zhangzhou — an ancient city famed for the prosperity of Moon Harbor — was repeatedly shaken by tremors deep within the crust. In 1445, the earliest documented earthquake struck the prefectural city. In 1591, city walls collapsed and the earth split open. In 1604, a magnitude 8.0 quake off the coast of Quanzhou rocked the entire region. I opened the Wanli Zhangzhou Prefecture Chronicle and the Zhangzhou Seismological Chronicle. In the volume on “Portents and Disasters,” I saw how our ancestors captured the “turning of the Earth Dragon” with cold, precise numbers. ...

Can you imagine two stone towers surviving a Magnitude 8.0 earthquake? No reinforced concrete. Just granite. Built 800 years ago, without computers or formulas for structural mechanics — relying only on the hands and eyes of craftsmen. The Twin Pagodas of Quanzhou’s Kaiyuan Temple — Zhenguo and Renshou — did exactly that. On December 29, 1604, a Magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck Quanzhou Bay. Countless houses inside and outside the city collapsed. Even the government office buildings were destroyed. But the two stone pagodas stood amid the ruins, unmoved. Not luck. Design. ...

Did you know that some counties in Fujian were literally “pieced together” from scraps of their neighbors? Not just one. In the mountains of central Fujian during the Ming Dynasty, at least three counties were carved out—cut from the flesh of a “mother county,” stitched together at the borders, and stamped with a new name. The deepest cut went into Youxi County. Established in 741 AD during the Tang Dynasty, Youxi covered over 3,400 square kilometers in the early Ming—more than twice the size of modern-day Xiamen. But in 1452 and 1535, the imperial court took a knife to it: first slicing off four districts (Du) to create Yongan, then carving out another twelve to create Datian. ...

Have you ever wondered how a tidal flat, submerged by seawater for millennia, could be turned into fertile farmland that sustains thousands? This is not a myth. This is what the people of 16th-century Zhangzhou actually did. In the late Ming period, the people of Southern Fujian faced a brutal choice: inland lay endless dense mountain forests, every inch of which had already been claimed by clan lineages. Offshore lay the roaring tidal flats, submerged twice daily by the ebb and flow, offering vast stretches of unclaimed mud. ...

Do you know where Marco Polo’s “Greatest Port in the World” really was? Not Venice. Not Alexandria. It was Quanzhou. Europeans called it “Zayton.” In 1087 AD, the Northern Song court established the Maritime Trade Bureau (Shibosi) in Quanzhou. Before that, the city’s overseas trade was managed remotely from Guangzhou. One imperial decree, and Quanzhou became China’s first special economic zone. I’m Chuke. Today, I want to flip through the Quanzhou Prefecture Chronicles and the Quanzhou Customs Records, and see how this city managed global trade across two dynasties. ...

Ever wondered where Fujian’s highest county seat is? Not Wuyi Mountain. Not Taimu Mountain. It’s a place called Zhouning, tucked deep inside the Jiufeng Mountain Range — 800 meters above sea level, ten times higher than Xiamen. And its neighbor Shouning County? It’s home to 265 peaks over 1,000 meters. I’m Chuke. Today I want to flip through a stack of yellowed local gazetteers and explore the green backbone of Mindong — the Jiufeng Mountain Range. ...

Do you know where China’s first steam-powered warship was built? Not Shanghai. Not Tianjin. It was Mawei, Fuzhou — a tiny, unremarkable town in the 1860s. In 1869, a warship called Wannian Qing was launched here. Displacement: 1,370 tons. When the news reached Beijing, it shook the imperial court. Because before that day, every warship China owned had been bought from foreigners. I’m Chuke. Today I want to flip through some yellowed Fuzhou gazetteers and tell you the story of a small town that built 34 warships in 34 years. ...

Geographical Connection Specific folk geographical nodes mentioned include: Xinghua Prefecture City (Chengxiang), Hanjiang, Jiangkou Town, Huangshi, Pinghai Wei, Meizhou Island, Fengting (Xianyou), Mulan River Basin, Licheng District, Lingchuan, Zhongmen, Nanri Island. II. The Pinnacle of Seasons: Temporal Coordinates and Spatial Logic of the World’s Longest Lantern Festival The Putian Lantern Festival is famous for its month-long span, a temporal logic closely related to the social structure established since the founding of the Xinghua Army in the fourth year of the Taiping Xingguo era of the Northern Song (979 AD). ...

Geographic Links Luoyang River (Formerly Wan’an River, a natural barrier between Quanzhou and Huian) Wan’an Ferry (The ancient ferry crossing before the bridge, spanning five Li with treacherous waves) Quanzhou Prefecture (A major maritime hub during the Northern Song Dynasty) Huian County (Location of the bridge’s northern terminus) Zhaohui Temple (Located at the north end, dedicated to the Sea God and bridge contributors) I. The Chasm of Wan’an: Engineering Challenges of the Northern Song Luoyang Bridge, historically known as “Wan’an Bridge,” spans the mouth of the Luoyang River northeast of Quanzhou. Before the Northern Song Dynasty, this was the site of the notorious “Wan’an Ferry,” where turbulent waters and tidal surges often led to tragic shipwrecks. ...