Sanfang Qixiang – Fuzhou’s Historic Neighbourhood

In the city of Fuzhou lies a neighbourhood that has produced far more than its fair share of famous historical figures. This neighbourhood in question goes by a rather curious name – the ‘Three Lanes and Seven Alleys’, or Sanfang Qixiang. The place can trace its origins back to the late Tang Dynasty.

But it wasn’t until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that it took the form that we see today. Numerous splendid residences and courtyards survive from that period. Yet it’s not for its buildings that the three lanes and seven alleys are famous, but for its former residents – ministers, generals, industrialists, and many others. People have long wondered what it was about this small community that produced so many people of such outstanding talent.