Fuzhou tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 07:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Asia/Shanghai local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian Province, built on the north bank of the Min River (Minjiang) approximately 50 km upstream from the river mouth at Mawei on the Taiwan Strait. The city has a maritime history that stretches back over 2,000 years; during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE) it was one of China's most important export ports, shipping Fujian porcelain and silk to Southeast Asia and beyond via the maritime Silk Road. Today the Mawei district on the Min River estuary is the main deep-water commercial port, while the historic Three Lanes and Seven Alleys district in the city centre preserves the stone-and-wood merchant architecture of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The tidal regime at Fuzhou is semidiurnal with a spring range of approximately 5.0 m above Chart Datum at the Mawei port area. This is one of the largest tidal ranges on the Chinese coast. Mean high water springs reaches approximately 4.5 m above Chart Datum; mean low water springs drops to approximately 0.3–0.5 m. Neap range narrows to 2.0–2.5 m. The Taiwan Strait's geometry — a roughly north-south channel 200 km wide between mainland Fujian and Taiwan — funnels tidal energy and amplifies range compared to the open Pacific. Tidal current in the strait reaches 2–4 knots on springs in the main channel. The Min River tidal bore is the most dramatic tidal event in the Fuzhou area. On spring tides, the tidal wave advances up the Min River from the estuary as a visible bore — a wave front 0.3–0.8 m high — travelling upstream at 10–15 km/h. The bore is observable from the riverbanks between Mawei and the Fuzhou city centre (approximately 20 km of river). The best positions for viewing are at the river bends where the bore is most sharply defined; the bore arrives approximately 2–3 hours after high water at the river mouth, depending on river flow and tidal height. Spring tides produce the most pronounced bores; the bore is most powerful after heavy rainfall when river flow is high. For commercial shipping, the Mawei deep-water port operates independently of tidal state for vessels with drafts up to 12 m; the channel is dredged. Smaller vessels operating in the Min River estuary above the port need to plan around the 5.0 m spring range — the tidal current in the main channel runs 2–3 knots on springs and the water level change requires careful anchorage depth calculation. Fishing on the Min River estuary and the Fujian coast targets a wide range of species. Eel migration from the Min River estuary in autumn is a traditional fishery; yellow croaker (huangyu) fishing from Fuzhou boats in the Taiwan Strait is a culturally important seasonal activity. The strong tidal current at the strait provides highly productive feeding conditions for fish on the current edges; trawler and line-fishing fleets time their operations to the spring ebb, when current is strongest and fish concentrate. For visitors, the Mawei waterfront provides direct access to the tidal character of the Min River. At spring low water, the mudflats on the inner curves of the river expose for several hundred metres; at spring high water the waterfront promenades at Mawei are at the same level as the water surface. The tidal staining on the stone quay faces shows the 5.0 m range clearly as a brown band on the lower quay walls. All tide predictions for Fuzhou come from the Open-Meteo Marine gridded model. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes; height accuracy is ±0.3 m above Chart Datum. Fuzhou's traditional food culture has a strong tidal imprint: the Min River estuarine zone between Mawei and the bay supports one of China's most productive dace (meirei) and eel fisheries. The traditional Fuzhou dish of eel cooked in red fermented tofu (fu yi shaohe) uses river eel caught from the estuarine zone, where the freshwater-saltwater boundary on the Min River spring flood is most productive for eel concentration. The Min River mudskipper (dantu, Boleophthalmus pectinirostris) — a tidal-flat fish that breathes air and walks on its fins — is also a traditional Fuzhou delicacy harvested from the low-water mudflats of the inner estuary. Visitors to the Mawei waterfront at spring low water will see mudskippers on the exposed mudflats.