The three most important cities (North to South along the coast) are:
Other cities include:
Prefecture population numbers are from a Fujian government site [http://kr.fjta.com/FJTIS/FL/Brief/FuJian.aspx?cityid=300&mt_id=3]. Other numbers are from another site [http://www.citypopulation.de/China-Fujian.html] and may not be up to date.
The province's main tourist attractions are:
Putian has the primary temple of the sea goddess Mazu on Meizhou Island. Her annual festival, in spring, brings in hundreds of thousands of visitors, mainly fishermen or sailors from Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The island is also being developed as a more general tourist resort.
One could plan a tour of Fujian devoted to exploring its amazing variety of religious structures. Quanzhou has Qing Yuan Shan, a major Taoist site that attracts visitors from all over China, one of China's oldest mosques, and the world's last Manichean temple. Putian has the Mazu temple. Xiamen, Fuzhou and Quanzhou all have major Buddhist temples, and dozens of smaller temples are scattered around the countryside. Fujian was also a major area of missionary activity in the 19th century and Christian churches abound; mainland China's oldest church is in Xiamen.
Taining Town, is a UNESCO Global Geo park near Sanming.
Historically, Fujian has been one of the more prosperous and outward-looking provinces of China. In the 1900s, two of China's five treaty ports - Xiamen and Fuzhou - were in Fujian. After the Second World war, however, Fujian's traditional trade with Japan was reduced and her other main customer, Taiwan, was the enemy. Recently, however, Fujian is recovering. Like other coastal provinces, it is now one of the more modern and prosperous areas of China.
Fujian has a higher proportion of Muslims than most areas of Southern China due to the history of trade via the Maritime Silk Road, and quite a few Christians since it was a focus of 19th century missionary activity.
The handicraft of Fuzhou have are: Shoushan stone carving (the stone is translucent and prized as material for seals) is in various postures. Bodiless lacquer wares, Long'an wood carving, ivory carving, jade carving, cord painting, paper umbrellas and combs made of ox horn are all renowned at home and abroad.
However, Fujian also has dozens of its own dialects. The terrain is mountainous; at one time nearly every valley had its own language. These dialects are usually described with the prefix "Min", where Min is another name for Fujian. They include Minnan (Southern Min), Mindong (Eastern Min), Minbei (Northern Min), Minzhong (Central Min) and Puxian (named for Putian city and Xian county). These dialects are not mutually intelligible, though they do share certain common features. Generally speaking, the "Min" group of Chinese dialects is the most different from standard Mandarin of all the dialects in China. Minnan has fewer similarities with Mandarin than English has with Dutch.
Among the most important is '''Minnan''', (Southern Min), spoken in Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and surrounding areas. Many people in Taiwan speak the same dialect, though they may call it Taiwanese. In Malaysia and Singapore, the same language is called ''Hokkien'' (the Minnan word for Fujian).
The Mindong (Eastern Min) or Fuzhou Hua (Fuzhou speech) dialect is spoken in Fuzhou and also has a large number of speakers in the northern coastal areas. In Malaysia and Singapore, it is known as ''Hokchiu'' (the Mindong word for Fuzhou).
The Hakka (_q__ Keji?) people in the West of Fujian, and in several other areas of Southern China, came as refugees from one of Northern China's wars some centuries back. Hakka means "guest people". They have their own Hakka language (_q__?; Keji?hua), related to Northern dialects rather than to any other Fujian language.
Fujian is well connected via China's domestic airline, bus, highway and train networks.
The main airports are at Xiamen and Fuzhou; both have flights to Hong Kong as well as many mainland cities. Xiamen also has cheap international connections to Manila, Singapore and Bangkok; see Discount airlines in Asia for details. The scenic Wu Yi Mountain area also has an airport with good domestic connections. Often package deals are available - flights and accommodation, and perhaps a guide, for a fixed price.
Highway and external marine transportation are convenient. Everyday, there are regular tourist buses bound for Shenzhen city. Foreign passenger ships can berth at Mawei Harbor.
The main mode of intercity travel is by bus. There are trains, but some routes are not convenient because of mountainous terrain. New lines for high speed trains, on a more direct route along the coast, are under construction but will not be in service until at least late 2009. Flying within the province is relatively expensive.
Fujian has its own cuisine, largely based on seafood.
Fujian is famous for tea (in the 19th century, Fuzhou was China's busiest tea port) and you can get good tea almost anywhere. In fact, the English word "tea" was derived from its Minnan name. Try the tea eggs (___t_` chayedan), hard boiled eggs cooked in tea, available on streets everywhere.
Like most of China, Fujian has quite a few locations for several large coffee chains, including UBC Coffee (__??? shangd?o k?f?i), Ming Tien and SPR. It also has some good smaller chains, Blenz, Dawin and King Buck; these are usually cheaper.
As anywhere in China, beer is widely available. Hui Quan is a Fujian brand, a light palatable lager.
A chain of bars called Scotland (some complete with a statue of a kilted piper outside) have locations in Fuzhou and Xiamen. They have Filipino bands and are popular with expats, expensive by Chinese standards (\30 beer) but perhaps worth it.
Like other areas on the Southern coastal, Fujian is prone to typhoons, which occur mostly from July to September. The province is also located on several small fault lines, and so is occasionally hit by earthquakes, though these tend to be minor.
Neighboring provinces along the coast are Zhejiang to the North and Guangdong to the South. Jiangxi lies inland of Fujian. There are good connections to any of these by road or rail.