Xiamen 厦门市

Setting and landscape

The city joins Xiamen Island, Gulangyu (鼓浪屿) and smaller islands to the mainland around the bay. The land slopes from middle and low mountains in the north-west, where Yunding Mountain (云顶山), on the border between Tong'an (同安) and Anxi (安溪), reaches 1,175.2 m, through hills, terraces and coastal plain down to mudflats. The city government ranks Xiamen Island as Fujian's fourth-largest island; its Yundingyan (云顶岩) rises to 339.6 m, and Gulangyu lies off its south-west shore across the Lujiang (鹭江), a channel about 700 m wide.

History

Xiamen Island belonged to Tong'an County from 933. Against pirates the Ming built a walled garrison, the Zhongzuo Suo (中左所), on the island, completed in 1394; in 1655 Zheng Chenggong (郑成功) renamed it Siming (思明州), and the name Xiamen became fixed after the Qing set up a Taiwan–Xiamen military circuit in 1684. Gulangyu became an international settlement in 1902, when the consuls of nine countries signed its regulations with the Qing.

What to see

Gulangyu, under 2 km² and closed to motor vehicles apart from electric island buggies, was inscribed as World Heritage in 2017 as a historic international settlement. Nanputuo Temple (南普陀寺), founded in the Tang below Wulao Peak (五老峰) in the south of Xiamen Island, is dedicated mainly to Guanyin and houses the Minnan Buddhist College. Hulishan Fortress (胡里山炮台), built from 1891 to 1896 on the shore by Xiamen University, keeps one of its original Krupp 28 cm guns. The campuses of Jimei School Village (集美学村) and early Xiamen University, founded by the Singapore-based entrepreneur Tan Kah Kee (陈嘉庚), are known for a 'Jiageng style' that sets Chinese roofs on Western bodies.

Food and local products

Shacha noodles (沙茶面) are blanched noodles under a scalding broth of shacha, a sauce whose name comes from Malay, made from sesame, garlic and scallion, herbs, peanut oil, shrimp and chilli. Sea-worm jelly (土笋冻), which the city calls its most representative snack, is made from peanut worms of the mudflats, simmered until they dissolve and left to set, and eaten cold. Tong'an fengrou (同安封肉) is a square of pork leg wrapped in gauze and braised with mushrooms, chestnuts, shrimp and dried oysters.

Getting oriented

The government sits in Siming District (思明区). Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport lies at the north-east end of Xiamen Island, 10 km from the centre, and the Fuzhou–Xiamen, Longyan–Xiamen and Xiamen–Shenzhen railways and the Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed line, opened in 2023, reach the city.

Highlights

• Gulangyu Island 鼓浪屿: Car-free island inscribed as World Heritage in 2017; an international settlement from 1902.
• South Putuo Temple 南普陀寺: Tang-founded temple below Wulao Peak, dedicated mainly to Guanyin.
• Hulishan Fortress 胡里山炮台: Coastal battery of 1891–1896 that keeps an original Krupp 28 cm gun.
• Jimei School Village 集美学村: Campus founded by Tan Kah Kee, known for Jiageng-style buildings.
• Shacha noodles 沙茶面: Noodles under a scalding shacha broth, a sauce of Malay origin.
• Minnan sea-worm jelly 土笋冻: Cold jelly of peanut worms from the mudflats.