On Nov. 19, FAO arranged a tour for foreign teachers to visit Quanzhou, a crucial eastern port along the Maritime Silk Roads. After two hour drive from the campus, they first stopped at the Luoyang Bridge, the oldest stone beam bridge at sea port built in the Northern Song Dynasty. Foreign teachers were amazed by this pioneering engineering project which features raft-style foundation reinforced by breeding oysters on the surface to bind the piers and the footstones together.
In Quanzhou Maritime Museum, foreign teachers saw magnificent collection of historical gravestones and steles with religious inscriptions, most dating from the Yuan dynasty, carved to commemorate the death of foreign merchants of various cultures and religions. In the Ancient Chinese Sailboats Models Exhibition Center, FTS were fascinated by the shipwrecks and models of many ancient vessels and impressed with the superb shipbuilding techniques of the ancient local people.
A short break after lunch, foreign teachers visited Qingjing Mosque, China's only surviving mosque from the Song dynasty. Although the hall's large dome collapsed during an earthquake, the open-air, spacious and grassy field dotted with gigantic pillars still evokes an awe-inspiring sense of solemnity under the clear sky.
One day’s trip wound up enjoying charming string puppet and palm puppet performance at Quanzhou Puppet theatre. Foreign teachers lost their hearts to captivating and touching stories reenacted in vivid movements of marionettes which are controlled from the operation board through suspending strings attached to puppets’ joints.
