Xunpu () is an

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

fishing village in

Quanzhou Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China, People's Republic of China. It is Fujian's largest most populous metropolitan region, wi ...

, southern

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is located approximately southeast of downtown Quanzhou. The village is a regional tourist attraction, owing to its specialty product,

s, and its traditional

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

subculture. Traditional Xunpu homes, called ''héké cuò'' / ''ô-khak chhò'' (), are made of oyster shells. Xunpu's female villagers don traditional pink floral tunics with buttons to the left and loose black trousers, tie their hair in a chignon and decorate it with colorful flower garlands called ''zanhuawei'' / ''chiām-hoa-ûi'' (). During the imperial era, Xunpu women did not practice footbinding, which was common in the rest of China. Some Chinese historians attribute these cultural differences to a theory that Xunpu's villagers are descendants of Arab traders, although most villagers are now devout

Mazu Mazu or Matsu is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She is also known by several other names and titles. Mazu is the deified form of Lin Moniang (), a shamaness from Fujian who is said to ...

followers, not Muslims. Other major women fishing villages in

include Hui'an and

Meizhou Island Meizhou Island (; Pu-Xian Min: ''Mî-ciu-doh''), Meichow; Meichou, is a small island close to the coast of China. Meizhou Town () is an administrative unit of Xiuyu District, Putian, Fujian, China. It is known for being the birthplace of the ...

Demographics

In the 1999 Census, Xunpu had a population of 6,002 persons, of which 2,990 were male and 3,012 were female. 70% of villagers bear the surname Huang ().

References

Populated places in Fujian Quanzhou Tourist attractions in Quanzhou {{Fujian-geo-stub