(Chinese: 惠安; pinyin: Huì'ān; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hūi-oaⁿ) is a county under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Quanzhou, Fujian, People's Republic of China. It is situated in the middle of the Fujian coast, between Quanzhou and Meizhou Bay. The county has a population of 921,794, as of late 2003, with a non-agricultural population of 289,396 people. The dialect is Hui'an dialect, related to Hokkien.
The most scenic area in the county is Chongwu, an old walled town with beaches.
Fishing villages on the rocky peninsulas east of Chongwu.
Stone statuary factories.
Luoyang Bridge, on the border with Quanzhou (see in Quanzhou#See).
Stone sculptures of various sizes are available from numerous stone carving businesses. While most statues would require a truck to transport, some businesses have shops that offer more portable statuettes.
Besides fresh seafood, dried fish, mollusks and seaweed are available for sale at Chongwu's market. (If you intend to take any dried seafood out of the country, be aware of the relevant quarantine regulations of your country).
Administratively, Hui'an is a county in Quanzhou prefecture, and the term "Hui'an" can refer either to the entire county or to the county seat (officially known as Luocheng Town 螺城镇). The area is a mixture or urban and rural. County population is around a million, and about 300,000 of those are in the main town.
Hui'an County is famous for the peculiar way the locals would traditionally build their houses: instead of using bricks and tiles (like most of China), adobe (as can be seen, for example, in the tulou country in south-western Fujian), or irregularly shaped stones, Hui'an builders would use long, narrow rectangular blocks of locally mined granite. Both building walls and its roof could be constructed out of such blocks; in addition, similar stone blocks would be used to build storage sheds, temples, retaining walls, bridges, and even fences. Although this technique can be found elsewhere on southern Fujian coast as well, it is Hui'an County where it can be seen most commonly. While cheaper modern building materials are extensively used today, beautiful buildings and structures created using the traditional technique can still be found in many towns and villages around Hui'an, in particular inside the walled town of Chongwu.
These days, Hui'an craftsmen have turned their stoneworking skills to serving the national market. The entire 25 km long road from Hui'an county seat to Chongwu (county road X308) is lined with stone statue firms, their wares - statues of Buddha and Boddhisatvas, Confucius and Mao Zedong, dragons and elephants, as well as garden sculptures - filling their front yards. Other statues are installed along the road permanently.
Another industry extensively present in the county is footwear manufacturing.
