Putian

Putian has its own local dialect called Puxian Min (known as Henghua in Southeast Asia), named after Putian city and the surrounding Xianyou county (albeit with slight dialectal variations between the two areas). It is not mutually intelligible with Minnan Hua, Fuzhou Hua or any other variety of Chinese. Nevertheless, non-elderly locals will be bilingual in the local dialect and Mandarin.

Putian is on both the main highway and the high-speed rail line between Fuzhou and Quanzhou, or Xiamen beyond Quanzhou. It is a major town and most or all busses and trains stop there.

Another high-speed rail line runs inland from Putian to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province which borders Fujian on the west.

• 🌍 Putian Museum (莆田市博物馆), 175 Yanshou, Yanshou Village, Longqiao Subdistrict, Chengxiang District (城厢区龙桥街道延寿村延寿175号) (at the southern end of Shouxi Park (绶溪公园); take bus nos. 1, 7, 12, 23, 60, 98, 99, 202 or 303), ☏ +86 594 2252299, toll-free: +86 400 1234567, admin@pt.com. 09:00-17:30 (summer), 09:00-16:30 (winter), no entry in last 30 minutes, closed on Mondays, open on most public holidays except the eve of Chinese New Year. Has exhibitions on the history and culture of the Putian region. Free. (updated Sep 2021)
• 🌍 Temple of Mazu, Goddess of the Sea (湄洲妈祖祖庙), Meizhou Island, Xiuyu District (秀屿区湄洲岛) (in the northern part of Meizhou Island, just a few hundred meters south of the ferry docks), ☏ +86 594 5094688, mazu323@163.com. 07:00-17:30. The original temple of this Goddess is on Meizhou Island in Putian. Her annual festival, in spring, brings over 100,000 visitors, including many from Taiwan and Southeast Asia, Putian also has two other Mazu temples, one downtown and the other north of the city.
  Worldwide, Mazu is reported to have 3,000 temples and over 100 million worshippers, mainly fishermen and sailors. Mazu worship is on the UN list of intangible cultural heritage. There are at least two Mazu temples in San Francisco's Chinatown. Entry to the temple is free but you must purchase a ¥65 ticket to visit the island. This is in addition to the ferry ticket, which costs ¥45 for a round trip. 
• 🌍 Southern Shaolin Monastery (莆田南少林寺), Linshan Village, Xitianwei Town, Licheng District (荔城区西天尾镇林山村) (take bus no. 201 from Putian Railway Station, get off at Xitianwei Circle (西天尾圆圈), then catch the special shuttle bus that goes to the temple), ☏ +86 594 2899371. 08:30-17:30. A reconstructed Buddhist temple built on the remains of an old Tang Dynasty temple, claimed to be connected to the Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province which is one of China's most famous centers of martial arts. There is another Southern Shaolin temple in nearby Quanzhou. Free. (updated Dec 2017)