Our group was amazed at the clealiness of the city. The hotel folks proudly told us that for the fourth year runing, Xiamen has won the award for the "Cleanest City in China".
Apparently, several years ago, some city officials visited Singapore to observe how the streets are kept clean. Now we see an army of sweepers everywhere. And the cars are so clean too. To our delight, some of the streets reminded us of current Penang Road (in Penang) and North Bridge Road (in Singapore).
There is minimal air pollution, because there are no heavy industries. But during our entire stay, there was a perpetual thin sea mist in the air. Xiamen has always been traditionally a fishing port. So there is a lot of shipping activites here, including smuggling!
Moreover, it was one of the five treaty ports, during the era of the "Carving of the Watermelon".
Many Chinese, 200-250 years ago, began their journey to South East Asia and elsewhere, from Xiamen, more so than from Shanghai. The ancient meaning of Xia Men was 'the lower gate to the sea'; now the meaning has been changed to "Mansion Gate" which also means "Gateway to China".
Since it was a treaty port (from 1843-1949), denizens from 14 European trading nations could build their homes there, but on a smaller island off Xiamen Island. This little island, Gulangyu Island, has been conserved as a tourist destination, a showcase of colonial architecture, and is only accessible 5-10 mins by ferry/boat.
On this island is the huge stone statue of a local hero, pirate-cum-patriot Zheng Cheng Gong or Koxinga, standing like a sentinel overlooking the Xiamen harbour. And no cars are allowed on the island. Everybody walks.
The only people allowed to live there are those employed to take care of the island and the many old buildings left behind by the Europeans. And those employed are usually the descendents of the original occupants ie fisherfolk, servants of the European masters, gardeners. Now they are petty bureaucrats, shopkeepers, tourist guides, secury guards, students, teachers, sweepers, itinerant hawkers. There are no restaurants. But there are schools, and three churches. On Sundays people/visitors from Xaimen attend church services on Gulangyul.
Nobody who is legitimately an inhabitiant of Gulangyul wants to leave the lovely island.
But many had to leave when they found jobs on Xiamen or marry and move. So the island is not crowded.
Xiamen is actually part island and part mainland, like Penang. The island part has 500-700k people. In total the population of Xiamen is 2 million.
The island part is an education hub of sorts. We saw schools, colleges, Xiamen university, temples which also function as seminaries, a nunnery, a Naval Academy. Xiamen is also a garden city, with a huge botanical garden. It reminded me of the huge botanical garden in Cape Town, also spreading all the way to the mountains.
The mainland part has a university town, Jimei, funded by the late philanthropist Tan Kah Kee, whose mausoleum is sited there. Jimei University has 10k students. Xiamen University, which has 20k students, was also funded by Tan Kah Kee.
The climate is balmy all year round, we were told. Never colder than 10 deg C, the hottest months are July and August with average temps of 27/28 deg C. The week when we were there, it was quite chilly for some of us, 13 - 20 deg C.
The people are so friendly; they speak Hokkien. The main cuisine seems to be seafood. Some of us bravely tried a local delicacy, seaworms in gelatin, served in thick slices. I made the mistake of taking a close look. I had to smother the slice in chilly sauce before I could eat it. But it was okay, kind of crunchy; just the yuck factor.
Daily foot massages - reflexology- was the must-have highlight each evening. Introduced to us by Khai Choon, the massage is nothing like any we have experienced. I cannot describe it well enough to do it justice. You have to go to the Xiamen Crowne Plaza.
Xiamen is definitely worth a second visit. I have not gone on the golf courses yet. But Khoon Hin did, twice, with Khai Choon. On the next visit, some of us might discreetly try to locate our ancestors' kampongs. A few of us have already ascertained where the kampongs might be, with help from some of the hotel staff. We had a photo taken with one of them for Chong Hye's benefit. "
Regards,
Joo Ee.