Xiamen Local Customs

At Gulangyu, time seems to stop. You can see children in school at play - with traditional local games.

Compared with the standard video games, now also prevalent all over China, it is a nice change to watch simple games that do not require any electronic monitor or expensive sports equipment.

Bring back fond memories of childhood games.

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Fireworks are associated with China in my mind. And on my first visit to an International Conference, we were thrilled to see the magnificent display of fireworks , particularly at the closing ceremony. The different types and colours of the fireworks were really splendid.

Perched on a rock overlooking the entrance of Xiamen harbor is a huge statue of General Zheng Chengong. It is NOT of Admiral Zhenghe who led the Ming naval in faraway sea expeditions.

Xiamen became one of the last strongholds of the Ming dynasty in the 17th century when the Manchu Qing Dynasty took over the Beijing capital. Loyalist Ming General Zheng Chengong even launched an expedition against the Dutch who were occupying the island of Formosa (Taiwan). This statue on Hulanyu Island at the harbor is to honor General Zheng.

Saw traditional sedan chairs at Fort Huli.

If you cannot walk the steps up this cannon fort, you can hire one of these hammock-like-chair. Last resort as you will be swaying side to side depending on the goodwill of two men carrying you.

With new economic growth, old houses have been bulldozed down for brand new high rise apartments where neighbors hardly even see each other except when taking the common lift.

Yet, in parts of old Xiamen, pockets of communities still interacting in the old ways. Where you know whose whose children are doing what and whose whose children have gone overseas and not coming back.

Worth walking through the old neigborhood of years passed by.