Xiamen

Xiamen 厦门 Amoy
—  Sub-provincial city  —
厦门市
From top: Xiamen's CBD, Xiamen University, a house on Gulangyu Island, and Haicang Bridge
Location of Xiamen within Fujian
Xiamen Location within China
Coordinates:
Country	China
Province	Fujian (Hokkien)
County-level divisions	6
Area
- Total	1,565 km2 (604.2 sq mi)
- Water	300 km2 (115.8 sq mi)
Population (2009)[1]
- Total	2,520,000
Time zone	China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code	361000
Area code(s)	592
GDP	2009[1]
- Total	CNY 162.321 billion (USD 23.78 billion)
- Per capita	CNY 64,413 (USD 9,438)
- Growth	8.0%
License plate prefixes	闽D
Local dialect	Min Nan: Amoy dialect
Website	www.xm.gov.cn

Xiamen (Mandarin pronunciation: [ɕjâmə̌n]), also known as Amoy (English: /əˈmɔɪ/),^[2] is a coastal city in southeastern China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city under Fujian province in the People's Republic of China. It looks out to the Taiwan Strait and borders Quanzhou to the north and Zhangzhou to the south.

Xiamen and the surrounding countryside are famous for being an ancestral home to overseas Chinese. It became one of China's earliest Special Economic Zones in the 1980s. Xiamen covers an area of 1 565 km² with a total population of 2.5 million. It has been ranked as China's 2nd 'most suitable city for living'.^[3]

Quick facts

• One of China’s original four special economic zones^[4]
• Since 1981 Xiamen port ranks 8th among the top ports in China and 30th among the world’s top 100 ports ^[5]
• Xiamen is the world's largest supply base for raw tungsten materials ^[6]
• Xiamen is the world’s largest sunglasses manufacturing base, exporting 120 million each year ^[6]
• Xiamen is an important base in Fujian province for making medium and large-sized modern container vessels and yachts^[6]

City name

Earlier, the name was written as 下門 , meaning "Lower Gate" — possibly because of its position at the mouth of the Nine Dragon River. The characters "下門" ("lower gate") in Zhangzhou dialect of Hokkien (one of the major Min nan languages) are pronounced ε̄-mûi (using the POJ Romanization). This is the source of the name "Amoy". The dialect is still spoken in the west and southwest of the city. In the Quanzhou dialect, the most common, it is pronounced ē-mn̂g.

Later, the authorities found "下門" too unrefined and changed the name to the modern toponym "廈門", which has the same pronunciation in Mandarin (but not in Hokkien) and literally means "The Gate of the Grand Mansion". The name continues to be pronounced ē-mn̂g in Hokkien, effectively using the older name, "下門".

History

During the early Jin Dynasty, the place was made Tong'an District (同安縣) in 282, a sub-entity of Jin'an Prefecture (晉安郡). During the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), the city was known as a sustainable international seaport, and the Chinese scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095) spent some of his youth there while his father was a local bureaucrat on the government staff. In 1387, the Ming Dynasty used the place as base against pirates, and was part of Quanzhou. Koxinga, stationed here in 1650, named it Siming Island (思明洲), or "Remembering the Ming", but the city was renamed by the Manchus in 1680 to Xiamen Subprefecture. The name "Siming" was changed back after the 1912 Xinhai Revolution and the settlement was made a county. Later it reverted to the name Xiamen City. In 1949, Xiamen became a provincial city (省辖市), then was upgraded to a vice-province-class city (副省级市), or a municipality. It was made a Special Economic Zone in 1980.^[7]

Xiamen was the port of trade first used by Europeans (mainly the Portuguese) in 1541. It was China's main port in the nineteenth century for exporting tea. As a result, Hokkien (also known as the Amoy dialect) had a major influence on how Chinese terminology was translated into English and other European languages. For example, the words "Amoy", "tea" (茶; tê), "cumshaw" (感謝; kám-siā), and "Pekoe" (白毫; pe̍h-hô), kowtow (磕頭; khàu-thâu), and possibly Japan (Ji̍t-pún) and "ketchup" (茄汁; kiô-chap) originated from the Hokkien.

Xiamen was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing (signed in 1842) at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China. As a result, it was an early entry point for Protestant missions in China.

In 1999, the largest corruption scandal in China's history was uncovered, implicating up to 200 government officials. Lai Changxing is alleged to have run an enormous smuggling operation, which financed the city's football team, film studios, largest construction project, and a vast brothel rented to him by the local Public Security Bureau. According to Time, "locals used to joke that Xiamen should change its name to Yuanhua, the name of Lai's company." They subsequently claimed that potential investors were discouraged by the taint of corruption.^[8]

Geography

Gulangyu Island

Xiamen comprises Xiamen Island (longitude 118° 04'04"E, latitude 24° 26'46" N.), Gulangyu Island, and larger region on the mainland stretching from the left bank of the Jiulong River in the west to the islands of Xiang'an in the north east. This region accounts for four of the municipality's six district governments; Huli District and Siming District (except Gulangyu) are on Xiamen Island.

The Gaoji (Gaoqi-Jimei) Causeway built in 1955—57 transformed Xiamen Island into a peninsula (半岛), and so it was termed in the heady propaganda of the time.

Just east of Xiamen Island are the islands of Quemoy (Kinmen, or Jinmen) and Little Quemoy (Xiao Jinmen), which are governed by the Republic of China based in Taiwan.

Climate

Xiamen has a monsoonal humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa), characterised by long, hot and humid summers and short, mild and dry winters. It is liable to typhoons in late summer and early autumn. The warmest month is July, at 27.8 °C (82.0 °F), and oddly, the coolest month is February, at 12.4 °C (54.3 °F). The annual precipitation is 1,350 mm (53.1 in), with substantial rainfall beginning in late February. According to the CMA, Xiamen's lowest recorded temperature is 1.5 °C (34.7 °F), and therefore snow has never been recorded here in modern times.Last snowfall in the city was in January 1893, when it was covered by 15 cm of snow. In that occasion snow also fell at Guangzhou, Macao and in the inland parts of Hong Kong.

Administration

The sub-provincial city of Xiamen has direct jurisdiction over 6 districts (区 qu):

Town Center: Center Xiamen

	Subdivision			Population	Land area
	Pinyin	Hanzi	POJ	as of 2007	km²
	Xiamen City Proper
	■ Huli-qu	湖里区	O-li Khu	676,400	63.41
	■ Siming-qu	思明区	Su-beng Khu	736,400	73.14
	Xiamen Suburban and Rural
	■ Haicang-qu	海沧区	Hai-chhng Khu	143,000	155
	■ Jimei-qu	集美区	Chip-bi Khu	340,000	276
	■ Tong'an-qu	同安区	Tang-uaN Khu	548,200	658
	■ Xiang'an-qu	翔安区	Siong-an Khu	260,000	352

The districts of Siming and Huli form the Special Economic Zone.

In May 2003, Gulangyu Island (Kó-lōng-sū) and Kaiyuan District were merged into Siming District, Xinglin District (杏林区) was merged into Jimei District, and Xiang'an District was created out of a section of Tong'an District.

Cityscape

Haicang Bridge, stretching from Haicang District (left, west) to Huli District on Xiamen Island, and the shell-rooved International Passenger Terminal.

Economy

Xiamen China

Xiamen's primary economic activities include fishing, shipbuilding, food processing, tanning, textiles, machine tool manufacturing, chemical industries, telecommunications, and financial services. The city benefits particularly from investment capital from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

In 2008, a total of 356 projects with foreign direct investment had been approved in the city, with a contractual foreign investment amount of US$1.896 billion and an actual foreign investment amount of US$2.042 billion.^[10] In 1992, Xiamen was ranked among the top 10 Chinese cities in relation to comprehensive strengths with its GDP increasing by an average of over 20% annually. In 2008, Xiamen's GDP amounted to 156 billion Yuan, an increase of 11.1% over the previous year; and the per-capita GDP was 62,651 yuan (US$9,017). Further economic reforms were introduced, and this brought the total volume of imports and exports in 2008 to US$45.4 billion, while that of exports totalled US$29.4 billion.^[10]

Xiamen is also the host of the China International Fair for Investment and Trade held annually in early September to attract foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland.

Financial services

Xiamen Building at night

By Chinese standards, Xiamen has highly developed banking services. The biggest bank is the state-owned commercial bank, Sino-foreign joint venture Xiamen International Bank, and solely foreign-funded Xiamen City Commercial Bank.

Foreign banks that have established representative offices in Xiamen include:

• Hong Kong: Jiyou Bank, East Asia Bank, HSBC (China), Hang Seng Bank
• Singapore: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, United Overseas Bank
• Indonesia: Bank Mandiri, BCA
• US: Bank of the Orient, Citibank, Hartford Financial Services
• Europe: Standard Chartered Bank, Crédit Lyonnais
• Japan: Mizuho Bank
• Philippines: Commercial Bank, Allied Bank
• Thailand: Bangkok Bank
• Malaysia: CIMB Bank

There are more than 600 financial institutions in operation in Xiamen. Retail and corporate customers in Xiamen have access to a wide variety of financial services and various financial services firm.

Industrial Zones

• Xiamen Export Processing Zone

Xiamen Export Processing Zone is located in the south part of Haicang Development Zone with only 1.5 km away from Haicang Port Area, 10 km away from Gaoqi international airport and 3 away km from Haicang railway station. It has a favorable geographical location and well-development transportation network, especially sea transportation. It has total planned area of 2.4 square kilometers with 1.46 square kilometers for the first phase. Industries encouraged in the zone include Biotechnology/Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals Production and Processing, Heavy Industry, Instruments & Industrial Equipment Production, Medical Equipment and Supplies, Research and Development, Shipping/Warehousing/Logistics, Telecommunications Equipment, Trading and Distribution.^[11]

• Xiamen Haicang Taiwanese Investment Zone

Haicang is situated to the southeast of Xiamen Island, at the tip of the Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Delta in South Fujian bordering Zhangzhou City to the west, Jimei District to the north, and overlooking Xiamen Island across the narrow water. The 100-square-kilometer Haicang Taiwanese Investment Zone is the largest national Taiwanese investment zone authorized by the State Council in 1989. It is situated close to Xiamen Port.^[12]

• Xinglin Taiwan Merchants Development Zone

Xinglin Taiwan Merchants Development Zone was approved to be established on 20 May 1989 by the State Council. The planned area is 19.36 sqkm and the current area is 12.5 sqkm. The zone is located in Jimei, Xiamen. The main industries set up in the zone are chemistry, machinery, textile and electronics. The zone is 8 km far away from the Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and 3 km far away from the 319 National Highway.^[13]

• Xiamen Torch Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone

Torch Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone was approved by the State Council as one of China's national level high-tech industrial development zones in March 1999. In 2001, the zone became the first to achieve 10 billion yuan per square kilometer target output level. It is located close to Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport.^[14]

• Xiamen Xiangyu Free Trade Zone

In 1992, Xiamen Xiangyu Free Trade Zone is established and approved by The State Council. The overall planning area is 0.63 square kilometers. In 2008, there are 1100 enterprises in this park. Industries encouraged in the zone include Electronics Assembly & Manufacturing, Garment and Textiles Production, Trading and Distribution, Research and Development, Shipping/Warehousing/Logistics.^[15]

Culture

The local vernacular is Amoy, a dialect of Southern Min (閩南), also called Hokkien. Amoy is widely used and understood across the southern region of Fujian province as well as overseas. While it is widely spoken in and around Xiamen, the Amoy dialect has no official status, and the official language of all government business is Mandarin. Xiamen is famous for South Music, Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, puppet show, Gezi Opera and temple celebration events.

Music

Gulangyu in Xiamen is an island of 1.78 square kilometers. Once you enter the island's residential area, you will begin to hear the soft echo of music. Gulangyu is also called "Piano Island" by locals, piano music drifts from the villas and lingers throughout the island's narrow streets, many a famous Chinese musician hails from Xiamen. Every May there's an international music festival, and piano competitions and music festivals are also frequently held. On Huangyan Lu, on the way to Sunlight Rock, there's a concert hall where classical concerts are regularly held on weekends.

Art

wushipu oil painting village,Xiamen

Xiamen Wushipu oil painting village has been named as “the second of the world oil painting industry base” and the second batch of national cultural (art) industry base” by the China artist association and the culture property department of Culture Ministry. Xiamen has strong industry advantage in hand painted oil painting, which has two main manufacturing bases here ——Xiamen Wushipu Oil Painting Village and Xiamen Haicang Oil Painting Village. 80% market shares in European and American market is taken up by products exported from Xiamen. As the main manufacturing base of hand painted oil painting in China, Xiamen Wushipu Oil Painting Village has more than 5,000 artists. It has the ability to produce all kinds of oil paintings with different specifications and styles. With the support of Xiamen Municipal Government, it has formed a powerful industrial chain, provided related accessories such as frames, brushes and paint colors and formed stable target customers composed by hotels, villas, high-class departments, galleries and so on. As another mail manufacturing base of oil painting, Xiamen Haicang Oil Painting Village has more than 3,000 painters. The scale of Xiamen Haicang Oil Painting Village has developed rapidly in recent years, which is from originally 28 enterprises to more than 250 enterprises at the moment. The combination of manufacturing, sales and distribution makes it become true industrial base of commercial oil painting.

Media

Xiamen is served by Xiamen Media Group, which broadcasts news and entertainment such as movies and television series by AM/FM radio, close circuit television and satellite television. Media in Xiamen were temporarily blocked by the Government in June 2007 when about 10,000 people participated in protests against the building of a paraxylene factory by Tenglong Aromatic PX (Xiamen) Co. Ltd., which is owned by Taiwanese businessman Chen Yu-hao.^[16]

Transportation

A ferry to Gulangyu Island

Xiamen Island from ferry.

• Xiamen is served by the Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport, the base of Xiamen Airlines.

Currently, there are 13 Asian cities that have direct flights to Xiamen. They are Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, Seoul, Taibei, Kohiong, Taizhong, Singapore and Bangkok. Cities outside China's mainland that have direct flights to Xiamen are Hong Kong and Macau which are situated on Guangdong province's southern border.

• Taxi rides are available from the airport to the city. The taxi fare is around 8 to 50 RMB.
• A ferry service links Xiamen Island and Gulangyu Island.
• There are four major bridges linking Xiamen Island to the mainland.

The Xiamen Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system ^[17] is the main form of mass transit in Xiamen. It is a bus-only closed road system with stations and ticketing system similar to the light-rail system. Most parts of the 115 km BRT system are bus lanes along expressways, with specially constructed elevated roadways in the downtown area. There is no traffic light along the entire BRT system. The maximum speed of the buses is limited by design to 60 km/h. Five BRT routes are currently in service, namely BRT-1 Route, BRT-2 Route, Huandao Avenue BRT Route, Chenggong Avenue BRT Route, and Connecting BRT Route. The fare is 0.6 RMB per km for the air-conditioned buses. The BRT is supplemented by 20 shuttle bus services that connect nearby places to the BRT stations. The shuttle bus service has a flat rate of 0.5 RMB. There is some discount for the fares if pre-paid e-card is used.

Taxis are common and can be easily hailed in most areas of the city.

Many people in the city also ride bicycles to get from place to place. Unlike in most Chinese cities, where motorcycles and mopeds are the major form of transportation, such vehicles are not allowed in Xiamen. Using car horns is also banned.

Update: Motorcycles are widely used in xiamen - Dec. 2009. However, they are banned on Xiamen Island. The ban seems to be strictly enforced in the more built-up parts of the island. - Apr. 2010.

Infrastructure

Xiamen has a well-developed system of railway and highway transportation links with the rest of China. It has established economic and trade relations with 162 countries and regions worldwide. In the last few years, Xiamen has invested more than RMB30 billion in infrastructure construction.^[4]

Road

There are two major bridges linking Xiamen island that allows easy access to highway traffic and transportation. The Fuzhou-Xiamen and Zhangzhou-Xiamen highways link Xiamen with every part of Fujian province and with provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Zhejiang. There are also container freight services available between Xiamen and Shenzhen and Hong Kong.^[6]

Railways

Xiamen is connected to all parts of the country through the Yingtan-Xiamen railway, which is linked to the nationwide railway network. There are direct passenger services available between Xiamen and Shanghai, Nanjing, Hefei, Fuzhou, Nanchang and Yingtan. In addition to the Xiamen Railway Station, the Xiamen North Railway Station, in Gaoqi has been extended for the transport of import and export goods.^[5]

Air

With 62 air routes, the Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport is a main air hub in East China with flights to a number of destinations in Asia and most large domestic cities. It can handle a total of 6.28 million passengers and 201,300 tons of cargo.^[4]

Xiamen Port

Xiamen Port is one of the top ten ports in China. It is a huge, deepwater, ice-free port that never silts up. Xiamen Port is located on Xiamen Island which is at the mouth of the Jiulong River. It has an excellent natural harbour and is well connected to the mainland. The natural coastline in the port area is 64.5 km while the water is over 12 m indepth. There are 81 berths of big, medium or small tonnage, including 16 deep-water berths, of which 6 operate containers of over 10,000 tonnes. 100 000 t ships can berth straight at the inner port, while 50 000 t ships can pull in for loading and unloading. Currently, Xiamen port has navigation routes to Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Kaohsiung and Singapore. Xiamen has recently opened ocean routes to the Mediterranean Sea, Europe and the Americas. In 2000, the cargo throughput at the port was 19.65 million tons, an increase of 10.82% over the previous year; the container throughput reached 108.46 million TEUs, up by 27.83% from the previous year.

Tourism

Buddhism library, Nanputuo temple

Xiamen was recently voted China's cleanest city, and has many attractions for the tourist. Xiamen and its surrounding countryside provides spectacular scenery and pleasant tree-lined beaches. Gulangyu, also known as Piano Island, is a popular, peaceful weekend getaway with amazing views of the city and features many Victorian-era style European edifices. Xiamen's Botanical Garden is a nature lover's paradise. The Buddhist Nanputuo Temple, dating back to the Tang Dynasty, is a national treasure. Xiamen is also famous for its history as a frontline during the war with Kinmen (also known as Jinmen or Quemoy) 50 years ago. One attraction for tourists is to view Kinmen island, a few kilometres away and under Taiwanese control, from Xiamen island.

Shopping

Xiamen has a wide variety of department stores. There are also supermarkets run by Metro and Wal-Mart and the ShoeMart Shopping Mall which is owned and operated by Mr. Henry Sy a businessman who hails from the Philippines. There are also supermarkets on university campuses and they have delivery services for many goods. In the university campus, there are many bookstores. Both the supermarkets and bookstores are open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. In Xiamen, there are also night markets.

Zhongshan Lu

This is the main commercial street in Xiamen. It includes traditional shophouses with the latest fashion, shoes and wide variety of products. A large section of the street (between the ferry landing and Siming Street) has recently been fully pedestrianized. Between Zhongshan Lu and Shengping Lu, across Shuixian Lu, is the recently famous old street Zhenbang Lu 镇邦路, where this year's hottest Chinese movie Crazy Racer 疯狂的赛车 was filmed. Check out Wave Arthouse 味创意空间 and Atu on 24 Zhenbang Lu, the latest hotbed for creative industries in an old house.

Xiahe Lu

This is a newly established busy commercial precinct in Xiamen. Shopping centres located here include Railway Station World Trading Mall, Chengda Mall, Holiday World for Women and Children, Eupa and 3C.

Bailuzhou Shopping and Recreational Centre

This is situated in the upper Hubin Zhonglu and has a large assortment of shops and restaurants.

Colleges and universities

A view of the Xiamen University campus

A view of the Xiamen University, China.

National

• Xiamen University (founded 1921)
• Jimei University (集美大学)

These two were both founded by Tan Kah Kee.

Public

• Lujiang University (厦门理工学院/鹭江职业大学)
• Xiamen Oceanography Vocational College (厦门海洋职业技术学院)

Private

• Xiamen Nanyang College (厦门南洋学院)
• Xiamen Performing Arts College (厦门演艺职业学院)
• Xiamen Software College (厦门软件学院)

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Xiamen is twinned with:

• Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, since 1983
• Sasebo, Japan, since 1983
• Cebu, Philippines, since 1984
• Baltimore, Maryland, since 1985^[18]
• Wellington, New Zealand, since 1987
• Penang, Malaysia, since 1993
• Maroochy, Australia, since 1999
• Kaunas, Republic of Lithuania
• Guadalajara, Mexico, since 2003
• Zoetermeer, Netherlands, since 2004
• Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, since 2006
• Surabaya, Java, Indonesia, since 2006
• Mokpo, South Korea, since 2007
• Richmond, Canada, since 2008
• Marathon, Greece, since 2009

Notable inhabitants

• Han Kuo-Huang, ethnomusicologist
• Koxinga, a Ming loyalist
• Lai Changxing, businessman
• Raymond Lam, TVB actor and singer

References

External links

• Xiamen Government website (English)
• Xiamen travel guide from Wikitravel
• Xiamen PaintingHere(English)
• Historic maps
  • US Army map of Xiamen, 1945
  • Japanese Government Railways map of Xiamen and surrounds, 1915

Fujian Province Fuzhou (Capital) Topics History · Politics · Economy · Music · Opera · Language · Cuisine · Education · Administrative divisions Fujian in China Admin. divisions Fuzhou | Gulou District · Taijiang District · Cangshan District · Mawei District · Jin'an District · Fuqing City · Changle City · Minhou County Lianjiang County · Luoyuan County · Minqing County · Yongtai County · Pingtan County Xiamen | Siming District · Haicang District · Huli District · Jimei District · Tong'an District · Xiang'an District Nanping | Yanping District · Shaowu · Wuyishan City · Jian'ou City · Jianyang · Shunchang County · Pucheng County · Guangze County Songxi County · Zhenghe County Sanming | Meilie District · Sanyuan District · Yong'an City · Mingxi County · Qingliu County · Ninghua County · Datian County · Youxi County Sha County · Jiangle County · Taining County · Jianning County Putian | Chengxiang District · Hanjiang District · Licheng District · Xiuyu District · Xianyou County Quanzhou | Licheng District · Fengze District · Luojiang District · Quangang District · Shishi City · Jinjiang City · Nan'an City · Hui'an County Anxi County · Yongchun County · Dehua County · Kinmen* Zhangzhou | Xiangcheng District · Longwen District · Longhai · Yunxiao County · Zhangpu County · Zhao'an County · Changtai County · Dongshan County Nanjing County · Pinghe County · Hua'an County Longyan | Xinluo District · Zhangping City · Changting County · Yongding County · Shanghang County · Wuping County · Liancheng County Ningde | Jiaocheng District · Fu'an City · Fuding City · Shouning County · Xiapu County · Zherong County · Pingnan County · Gutian County Zhouning County ■ = Sub-provincial city ■ = Prefecture-level city *Kinmen is administered as a county by the Republic of China, but claimed by the PRC.

Economic Development Zones of the People's Republic of China The original four Special Economic Zones Shenzhen · Zhuhai · Shantou · Xiamen New open development zones Hainan Province · Dalian · Qingdao · Qinhuangdao · Lianyungang · Pudong · Yantai · Zhanjiang · Ningbo · Wenzhou · Nantong · Fuzhou · Guangzhou · Beihai