Thus wrote Marco Polo when he visited QUANZHOU , then called Zaytoun (from the Arabic word for olive, symbol of peace and prosperity), in the late thirteenth century. At this time, Quanzhou was a great port, one of the two largest in the world, exploiting its deep natural harbour and strategic position in relation to the islands of Taiwan, the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia. It also became uniquely cosmopolitan, with tens...
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