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Which Chinese port did Ibn Battuta identify as Zaytun?
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Ibn Battuta
Ibn Baṭṭūṭah (right) with an Egyptian man in Egypt.
The 14th-century Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta identified the great Chinese port of Zaytun as Quanzhou, located in present-day Fujian province.21
The name Zaytun was a rendering of Citongcheng, a common name for the city at the time. During the Yuan dynasty, Quanzhou served as China's most significant port and was a major center for international trade.2