Nan'an is a county-level city of southern Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Quanzhou City and as of 2023, had a total population of 1,663,542. More than 4,000,000 overseas Chinese trace their ancestry to Nan'an.

History

Inhabited since the Neolithic Era, the first incarnation of Nan'an was established as a commandery in the early 500s by the division of Jin'an County under Emperor Wu of Liang. It was under the jurisdiction of the Qingyuan Circuit during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was incorporated into Quanzhou Prefecture (泉州府) during the Qing dynasty, when it was considered one of the Three Wu Kingdoms alongside Jinjiang and Hui'an. Following the establishment of the Republic of China, Nan'an was a part of Jinjiang Prefecture until its incorporation into Quanzhou City in 1986; it was the site of military engagements during the Chinese Communist Revolution. Nan'an was established as a county-level city in its own right in 1993.

Geography and climate

Nan'an experiences subtropical monsoonal humid climate. It has an average temperature of 20.9 °C. The city covers an area of 2036 km2. Nan'an is situated below Anxi County, adjacent to Jinjiang City to the east and Tong'an District of Xiamen to the West. Nan'an is 97 km from Xiamen. It is 30 km from downtown of Quanzhou and 220 km from the provincial capital, Fuzhou. Islands and islets in Nan'an include:

Administrative divisions

The city is divided into 3 subdistricts, 21 towns, and 2 townships. The city also contains an economic development zone.

Subdistricts

Towns

Townships

Economy

Nan'an is fast developing into an economic and industrial hub for Quanzhou prefecture. Its close proximity to regional economic centres such as Xiamen, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen makes it an important investment location for foreign investments and Taiwan businessmen. Nan'an has very strong rail infrastructure and road links making it a gateway for tourism as well as commerce.

Culture

Nan'an is closely connected to the history of overseas Chinese, having been a hub of the Maritime Silk Road and a longtime economic and cultural centre for the Minnan people, with over 4 million overseas Chinese tracing their ancestry to the area Nanguan music has its origins in the area in and surrounding Nan'an. It is known as the location of Anping Bridge, a stone beam bridge dating back to the Song dynasty, as well as the burial place of Ming general Zheng Chenggong (better known internationally as Koxinga.) The local language of Nan'an is a variety of Hokkien, part of the Quanzhou family of Hokkien dialects. The surname Hong (洪; Ang in Hokkien and Teochew romanizations) has one of its origins in Nan'an.

Education

The Shishan campus of Quanzhou Normal University is located in Nan'an. Schools located in Nan'an include Nan'an Experimental Middle School.

Notable people

Native to Nan'an

Ancestral home