Get to know Xiang'an District
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- Administrative area
- District · 市辖区
- Part of
- Xiamen
- Chinese name
- 翔安区
- Local areas
- District guide
Area & population
- Area in the source
- 352.00 km²
- Population · 2020
- 578,255
- Administrative seat
- Dadeng Subdistrict (大嶝街道)
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
Setting and landscape
The district borders Quanzhou (泉州) to the north-east and Tong'an to the west. Low mountains and high hills in the east and north-east step down to terraced uplands in the south and south-east; plains, mudflats and islets complete the landscape, and the sea frontage runs about 75 km. Of its 21 main peaks, the highest is Gaoluntou Mountain (高仑头山), 946.1 m, in Xinxu Town (新圩镇); its streams, such as the Jiuxi (九溪), are all short. The district lists 209 protected old trees, including two camphors more than 1,300 years old.
History
From 1775 to the end of the Qing the area belonged to Maxiang sub-prefecture (马巷厅) of Quanzhou; in 1912 it returned to Tong'an County. The State Council approved the new district on 26 April 2003 and it opened on 19 October that year. Its name joins the old Xiangfeng (翔风里) and Min'an (民安里) wards and also reads as "auspicious and peaceful". Dadeng (大嶝), with its islands, once belonged to Kinmen County and is now Dadeng Subdistrict.
Heritage
The red-brick Tianqian settlement (田墘红砖聚落) on Dadeng was placed on China's tentative World Heritage list in 2012 as part of the red-brick architecture nomination. The district also keeps calligraphy attributed to Zhu Xi (朱熹), the inscriptions "Tong Min An" (同民安, "sharing peace with the people") and "Zhen Yin Chu" (真隐处, "a true hermitage"), and the former Kinmen County government site on Dadeng is named among its provincial protected sites. Historical figures linked to the district include the late-Song Neo-Confucian scholar Qiu Kui (邱葵) and the Ming official Hong Chaoxuan (洪朝选).
Getting oriented
The Xiang'an Tunnel (翔安隧道), opened on 26 April 2010, runs under the sea from Xiamen Island to the district and was the first undersea tunnel in China designed by Chinese experts; the Xiang'an Bridge (翔安大桥) is a second link. The Shenyang–Haikou Expressway has a Xiang'an exit, and the Fuzhou–Xiamen railway crosses the district.
Highlights
- Tianqian red-brick settlement 田墘红砖聚落: Village on Dadeng placed on China's World Heritage tentative list in 2012 with the red-brick architecture group.
- Former Kinmen County government site 大嶝金门县政府旧址: Provincial protected site on Dadeng.
- Xiang'an Tunnel 翔安隧道: Undersea road tunnel to Xiamen Island, opened in 2010.
Sources for this guide
翔安区情概况 · 厦门市翔安区人民政府
翔安区 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
翔安隧道 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-23.
Explore Xiang'an District
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Xiang'an District 翔安区
Plan your visit
Getting there
Xiang'an District is about 20 km in a straight line from central Xiamen. Search for 翔安区 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →More in Xiamen
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 翔安区 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 翔安隧道 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.