Xiamen Things to Do

Gulangyu Island is the biggest island of Xiamen. Gulangyu's roads are short with many twists and turns crisscrossing the islet. Vehicles are forbidden on this tiny island. If you have the time, take a leisurely walk on Gulangyu's paved, 4 kilometer ring road. Numerous large, graceful colonial houses that used to serve as consulates or residences of European, Japanese and US diplomats in the late 19th or early 20th century are now still standing amidst the traditional Chinese courtyard mansions.

The island is also called the “Island of Pianos”, with its very good music tradition. There are more than 500 pianos among 6000 households on the island, Many famous musicians in China were born and brought up on the island.

Nanputuo Temple sits at the south foot of Wulao Peak (Five Elders Peaks). The temple's magnificent complex ornate structures were built over 1,000 years ago in Dang Dynasty. Nanputuo Temple's halls and pavilions sprawl across the Five Old Men Mountains like an oversized Chinese miniature landscape. There are many giant statues of Buddha in this temple. It is also home of a few hundred monks.

Jimei is Tan Kah Kee's hometown and a college town. Mr.Tan, a patriotic overseas Chinese, set up 12 schools of different levels from kindergarten to colleges and combined into Jimei University. Jimei is also a prime tourist site with distinctive strong local culture. The buildings along the Dragon-boat Lake are especially charming with the wall half-hidden in the green trees and the roofs glittering under the sun, all of which are reflected in the lake presenting a fantastic view.
Aoyuan ( Turtle Park), one of the highlights, lies in the southeastern corner of Jimei, stretching out to the sea. The park has a marvelous display of 653 carvings, depicting various historical scenes, personage stories from ancient to modern China, and the inscriptions. The carvings are so fine and exquisite that visitors marvel at the craftsmen's skill and feat.

Huli Hill Fort has always been considered the door to Xiamen. Huli Hill Fort is virtually impregnable, thanks to its construction built of sand, clay, camphor tree juice, lime, and glutinous rice. The fort boasts the World of Exotic Stones and an exhibition of ancient weapons, including a 60 ton German Krupp. Built in 1896, this is the last of China's over 100 coastal cannons, and the longest in the world. With a range of 16,640 meters, it could easily lay into Taiwan - occupied Jinmen island, a mere two miles offshore.

Xiamen University, the picturesque campus by the sea, is a wonderful place to stroll around on a sunny morning or afternoon. First head for the lake in the center of campus. If you walk the paths around the lake you will discover arched bridges and an island with bronze life-size statues. From the lake, there's the view of modern architecture of the new administration and classroom buildings as well as the original ancient style dormitory buildings on the opposite sides. Behind those buildings you can hike up the mountains in the back. There are many trails that lead over the mountain to the botannical gardens on the other side.

There are lotsa construction going on when I was there. Old building being abolished to make way for the new. So you would get to see old buildings mixed with new ones and how they connect and blend. Although the houses seemed to be independent, some of them are connected as they are relatives living together.

As there aint any housing planning rules like leaving a space from each house as common area, the families would usually maximise their space by building the house as large as they can. The result is very narrow roads leading to some of the houses. For these, the road is only wide enough to ride a motorbike to home. Its about shoulder length of two adults. So its not possible to drive a car. Going home seemed like walking in a mini maze.

See if you can get someone to invite you into their house. The exterior of the building looks very different from the interior. The exterior may look very nice and newly built, but the interior is quite old and hardly furnished. I have seen a house whereby the top floor is not occupied as the renovation is not done, eg electricity wiring not installed. As building a house requires a lot of money, its quite common for them to build the exterior first and then complete the interior of each floor as and when they have the money to do so.

Another interesting thing that I saw is that they park their motorbikes in the living room as they are worried about theft.

Bailu Dong (White Deer Cave) is housed in a temple from the Ming Dynasty. The cave contains 2 statues of white deer. This temple has beautiful views of Xiamen and can be accessed by climbing through the various caverns and stairs leading from the Tiger Stream Rock Temple.

This beautiful is located island just across the water from Xiamen. No buses or cars are allowed and there are many sites to see on it. Part of the island is an amusement park of sorts. There is also a clean beach and numerous temples and historic sites to see. Gulangyu was until World War 2 in the control of foreigners as a concession. You can see this in the architecture of the older buildings on Gulangyu Island.