Quanzhou

In the 13th Century, in Mongol-ruled China under the descendants of Kublai Khan, Tamil merchants ran successful businesses in the port of Quanzhou, and even erected a temple to Shiva on the coast of the East China Sea.

It was developed in China’s Minnan region between the 15th and 17th centuries and is now centered in China’s coastal areas of Xiamen Bay and Quanzhou Bay as well as in Malacca.

A home-groomed economist who studied finance at Xiamen University from 1978 to 1984, He obtained a doctorate in economics in 1998, when he was the party chief of Quanzhou city in Fujian.

Putian and Quanzhou were among six cities elsewhere in Fujian flagged as being at risk of flash floods and landslides.

Elsewhere in Fujian, six other cities including Putian and Quanzhou were flagged at risk of flash floods and landslides.