East Fujian

In the Chinese administrative system, the region is divided into two prefectures whose administrative centers are the cities of Fuzhou and Ningde.

• 🌍 Fuzhou - The main center of the region. The prefecture includes many smaller towns.
  • 🌍 Changle (长乐; Cháng​lè​) - with a town and the airport, on the coast to the east
  • 🌍 Fuqing (福清; Fú​qīng​)​ - an industrial town of about half a million, near the coast a bit south of Fuzhou
  • Lianjiang - coastal town with beaches and good seafood, north of Fuzhou
  • 🌍 Mawei District (马尾区 Mǎwěiqū), the port area, 20 km downstream
  • Minhou (闽侯县; Mǐn​hóu​xiàn) - several universities have new campuses in this area, west of downtown
  • Yongtai (永泰县; Yǒng​tài​xiàn) - scenic area with waterfalls, further west
  • Lianjiang (连江县; Lián​jiāng​xiàn), along the coast North of Fuzhou
• 🌍 Ningde - center of another prefecture
  • 🌍 Fuding
  • 🌍 Fu'an
  • 🌍 Xiapu

• 🌍 Pingtan (平潭县; Píng​tán​xiàn) - an island south of Fuzhou

The local languages of the region are Mindong (Eastern Min or Fuzhou Hua) and Minbei (Northern Min).

As anywhere in China, Mandarin is the lingua franca, very widely spoken. English is not widespread, but some people speak it well.

Fuzhou Changle International Airport (FOC ^IATA) is the main airport in the region. It is served by domestic flights to most other major Chinese cities, as well as some international flights to East and Southeast Asian destinations.

The main cities are all on the fast train line connecting Fuzhou and Shanghai, and all of them have stations but not all trains stop at all stations.

There is also a good modern highway connecting all these cities, plus smaller highways running inland to various other towns.

Fuzhou is connected to the Taiwan-controlled Matsu islands by ferry.

Except for the Min River valley, where Fuzhou and Mawei are located, most of the terrain here is quite hilly. There are roads through most of it, and some — like the main Shenzhen-Shanghai highway which passes through the region near the coast or the links from Fuzhou to major nearby places like Mawei, Changle and Fuqing — are modern multi-lane divided highways. Out in the countryside, though, there are lots of lesser roads and some villages in the hills have only a dirt road leading in.

Fairly frequent local bus service connects most towns (镇) with neighboring towns and the county seat. Ferries operate across some river estuaries. For example, there is passenger ferry service from Long'an 龙安 (the port for Dianxia Town 店下镇, connected by bus service to Fuding and Taimushan) to Shacheng Town (傻城镇), the port town on the border with Zhejiang, from which one can travel north into Zhejiang (the Yuliao 渔寮 resort area and beyond, toward Cangnan and Wenzhou) along the winding coastal road (bus service available).

The easiest way to leave this region is via the high-speed rail line running through the area roughly parallel to the coast. Going north this takes you into Zhejiang province, with Wenzhou just across the border and Ningbo, Hangzhou and Shanghai further on. Going south, it goes to other Fujian cities — Putian, Quanzhou, Xiamen ... — and then into Guangdong province, to Shantou and Shenzhen.