An aerial view of Fudao, a winding pedestrian greenway in Fuzhou, Fujian province. CHINA DAILY

On the ground, I learned more about Fuzhou's can-do spirit and that of Fujian's other main cities. The province strikes me as a place where the past, the present and the future sit well together. A great trading hub adapts. Once it was silk, and now the products traversing the great transcontinental trade routes are even more plugged into the global economy – like lithium-ion batteries made in Fuzhou. The batteries from Contemporary Amperex Technology power everything from electric scooters to trucks and boats. In the Fuzhou Software Park strides are being made in artificial intelligence and cloud computing. And, since this is Fuzhou, the geeks can seek inspiration along the 20 kilometers of trails set up on the hillsides under an adjoining forest rehabilitation project.