Fuzhou, the banyan city, is Fujian's relaxed capital — a provincial town of lacquered temples, camphor shade and a lanes quarter that is one of the finest old neighborhoods in southern China. Most travelers skip it for Xiamen an hour south, which is exactly why it rewards the stop: three days buys you Ming-dynasty streets without the crowds, a mountain monastery above the city, the shipyards where China's modern navy was born, and a kitchen with a dish famous enough to have its own legend.
