Xiamen, the second largest city in Fujian province next
to the capital Fuzhou, covers a total area of 1,516
square meters. As one of the five earliest special economic
zones, with heavy investment from Taiwan and Hong Kong,
it has been a city growing in strength. Despite its
fame as an industrial powerhouse, this port city has
not lost much of its charm, and as a sightseeing haven
has become one of the best areas to visit in Fujian
and for good reason: With good food, some great architecture
and a mild to hot climate, Xiamen is hard to beat.
Facing
Taiwan across the strait, it is also considered a
place of regret, for even today the only way for many
mainlanders with relatives in Taiwan to get close
to the island is to look through big binoculars. The
geographical location also makes it an ideal deep-sea
port which witnesses no freezing season and so, since
early times, numerous people have resorted to the
sea route to emigrate to a promised land. Today, there
are over 350,000 Overseas Chinese with ancestors from
Xiamen.
Xiamen,
known in the West as Amoy, has long been an important
trading port both for the Chinese and the Colonialists
that were to make use of it. It is the island of Gulangyu,
however, that nowadays most attracts Westerners to
this area of Fujian, with its hundreds of interesting
and quietly crumbling colonial villas. For the Chinese,
one of the main reasons for visiting this isle is
to pay homage to the great general and pirate Koxinga,
who led heavy resistance against the invading Manchu
armies in the seventeenth century, and who fought
and defeated the Dutch armies in Taiwan. Tributes
to Koxinga are scattered all about the island, including
the majestic granite statue of him, staring out towards
Taiwan.
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