Fuzhou is an old port city; On the trail of Marco Polo|Marco Polo visited it. In the 19th century, it exported more tea than any other Chinese port. The actual port is in the suburb of Mawei. In 1884, the French destroyed a dockyard at Mawei, sinking a good part of the Chinese navy and killing hundreds.Today it is the provincial capital and administrative center, and also a major center for light industry. Nike has a factory there, and a Taiwanese firm that makes shoes for Adidas, Reebok and others has four. All are large factories, with several thousand employees each.Fuzhou is the least developed provincial capital in China. This is due to possibility of military conflicts with Taiwan. With the improvement of cross-straits relations, the Chinese government has identified Fuzhou for investment and development.Several suburbs are administratively part of Fuzhou, though they are some distance away and fairly large — Mawei, Fuqing and Changle. Changle, Fuqing and various villages in the area are the main source of illegal immigrants smuggled to Western countries. The largest number of Chinese illegal immigrants are from Fuzhou and Fujian Province. http://wikitravel.org/en/Fuzhou