Places to Go

1. Three Lanes and Seven Alleys
Lanes and alleys in Fuzhou, preserved since the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) Dynasties, represent one of the many important symbols of this renowned historic city. Among them, the most famous are the Three Lanes and Seven Alleys, lined on both sides of the Nanhou Street.
Located in the city center, they cover an area of 40 hectares. An abundance of cultural relics can still be found in this centuries-old neighborhood, which mainly comprises former residences of historic celebrities and architectures of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties.
2. Drum Mountain
Drum Mountain is located 8 km. east of Fuzhou, stretching over 1,890 hectares. Its highest peak is 919 m above sea level. According to legend, there sits at the mountaintop a huge stone flat as a drum that produces drum-beating sound whenever it rains. Hence, the name Drum Mountain.
One of the top 10 scenic areas in Fujian, Drum Mountain boasts Dharma Eighteen Scenes, Baiyun Cave, Guling Resort, Shanxi Stream, Moxi Stream, etc. It is widely believed that a trip in Fuzhou not including the Mountain will prove to be pointless.
3. Xichan Temple
Xichan Temple, a key one in China, is one of the five major temples in Fuzhou. Located at the foot of Yishan Hill in the west outskirts, it was built in the Six Dynasties period (220-589) and rebuilt in A.D. 867.
Covering an area of 7.7 hectares, the litchi-rich temple has 36 major buildings, including the Heavenly Guardians Hall, the Main Hall of Sakyamuni, the Lecture Hall, Depositary of Buddhist Scriptures, and the Jade Buddha Tower. It also houses such cultural relics as the Seven-Star Well dug in the Tang Dynasty (618-906), the Bhaishajyaguru (Medicine Buddha) Sutra written by Emperor Kangxi (1662-1723) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and frescos painted in the Qing Dynasty.
4. Fuzhou Forest Park
As one of the nine national forest parks in China, Fuzhou Forest Park, located at Chiqiao Village, Xindian Town in northern suburbs of Fuzhou, is 7 km. away from the city proper with a total area of 859 hectares. The park is surrounded on three sides by hills and flanked on one side by a river. Penrack Peak in the north has an altitude of 634 m, while Bayi Reservoir in the south is only 47 m above sea level.
The park is divided into five parts themed respectively for Central Asian tropical evergreen broadleaf, South Asian tropical rainforest, banyan trees, wild fruit trees, and coastal mangrove, with more than 2,500 species of plants from home and abroad. Also in the park are rare and precious plants garden, cycad garden, Chinese rose and camellia garden, and potted plants garden.
5. Lin Zexu Memorial
Lin Zexu Memorial is located on Macao Road, Fuzhou. In 1904, the thirtieth Year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign of the Qing Dynasty, a memorial temple was built by the local people to honor Governor Lin Zexue for his anti-opium campaign and high moral conduct. In 1982, it was rebuilt as Lin Zexu Memorial, funded by the provincial and municipal governments. It is now a cultural relic site under the provincial protection and serves as a national moral education center as well.