Open left menu Xiamen. Xiamen city, China: description, attractions, recreation Accommodation in Xiamen

Xiamen (Xiamen, And mine; whale. trad. 廈門市, ex. 厦门市, pinyin: Xiàmen shì listen)) is a sub-provincial city in Fujian Province (PRC), the largest port of the province on the coast of the Taiwan Strait. Located on the islands and adjacent mainland coast between Quanzhou (to the north) and Zhangzhou (to the south).

Offshore about ten kilometers from the city is the Kinmen Island group, administered by Taiwan.

Story

The name Tong'an (同安) was first mentioned in 282. Under the name Amoy (茶) it was first mentioned in the chronicles of the Song Dynasty (1126-1279) and in the notes of Marco Polo. During the Yuan Dynasty, Xiamen's beautiful harbor served as a haven for local pirates.

The first English trading ship appeared on the shores of the island in 1670, and after some time the British managed to develop vigorous commercial activity here: the British East India Company opened factories and created a large trading post. But in 1730, the Beijing government, dissatisfied with the onslaught and willfulness of the British, issued a decree according to which all ships, except Spanish ones, were prohibited from trading in this port.

Trade with Europe resumed immediately after the First Opium War, which was unsuccessful for the Middle Empire. The city was captured by a British squadron under the command of Sir Hugh Gough and Admiral Parker on August 27, 1841. In 1843 the port was opened to trade of all nations. Foreigners began to settle on the islands in the bay (see Gulangyu), and an extraterritorial settlement was created on Kolongsu Island - Amoi settlement. The first settlers to arrive in Amoy were Protestant missionaries. Clergymen from the American Reformed Church, the Dutch Reformed Church, the American Episcopal Church, the London Missionary Society, the American Presbyterian Church and the English Presbyterian Church began arriving on the island in 1842. They occupied a special place in the process of formation of the settlement. Through their efforts, the Tek-chin-ka and Hope and Wilhelmina hospital chains were founded, and schools for Chinese children were created. In addition to the Tung Wen Institute and the Anglo-Chinese College, sponsored by both Chinese and foreign merchants, the universities of the three largest Protestant missions and the United High School are located on Kolongsu Island. In 1863, an English chapel was erected, where services were held in English every Saturday. It was the largest English missionary church with a capacity of nearly 1,000 people. In addition to Protestant missions, there was a Roman Catholic mission on the island, under the tutelage of the Spanish Church. By 1908 there were already about 100 missionary communities in Amoy.

Initially, all commercial enterprises were built not on Kolongsu Island, but on the shore from the city. Nevertheless, many businessmen preferred to locate their private residences on the island due to its natural protection from typhoons. Also in its southern part, on a rock, a British consulate building was erected. On the pier there are consulates of Germany, the USA, France and Japan, several post offices, two large clubs with a library and reading rooms, two hotels and a pharmacy. Kolongsu was also home to the largest sports base, with fields for tennis, cricket, hockey, etc. The eastern edge of the island was completed by a Signal Station, which notified the arrival of ships at the port and the approach of typhoons or storms. The majority of the population of Kolongsu Island was Chinese: there were three Chinese villages with a population of 4,000 people around the settlement.

Throughout the 19th century, Xiamen port remained the most important port for the tea trade. As a result, the local dialect became the source of many words that penetrated into European languages ​​(for example, “ketchup”). In addition, Xiamen served as a springboard for the settlement and colonization of Taiwan, where large tea plantations were planted by Xiamen tea traders.

Administrative division

The sub-provincial city of Xiamen is divided into six districts (qiu/khu 区):

	Districts				Population	Square
	Putonghua	Hieroglyphs	South Min name		in 2007	km²
	Xiamen proper(island of the same name)
	■ Huli District	湖里区	O-li Khu	Oli	676,400	63.41
	■Siming District	思明区	Su-beng Khu	Subing	736,400	73.14
	Suburbs(on the mainland)
	■ Haicang District	海沧区	Hai-chhng Khu	Khaitskhyn	143,000	155
	■Jimei District	集美区	Chip-bi Khu	Chipbee	340,000	276
	■ Tong'an District	同安区	Tang-uann Khu	Tangwan	548,200	658
	■ Xiang'an District	翔安区	Siong-an Khu	Xiong'an	260,000	352

Siming and Huli districts are united into a special economic zone.

Geography

The historical city center is located in the southwestern part of Xiamen Island, south of Yundan Lake (whale.)Russian, which in the past was a wide estuary of the Yundan Rivers. Xiamen Island is connected to the mainland by 4 bridges: in the west of Haicang the Haicang-Huli districts, three (Xiamen, Xiling, Jimei transoceanic bridge) in the north connect the districts of Jimei and Huli; and one tunnel (Xiang'an in the northeast between Xiang'an and Huli districts). On Gulangyu Island (English)Russian to the southwest of Xiamen Island there were foreign consulates, houses of foreign merchants, etc.; now it is a historical museum-reserve. The narrow strait between the islands of Xiamen and Gulangyu was called the Xiamen harbor itself. All of these areas are now included in the Siming District.

These days, most of Xiamen Island is urbanized, with beaches along the southern shore of the island and port facilities along the western shore (facing Xiamen Harbor in the modern, broad sense). The main campus of Xiamen University is also located on the southern shore of the island.

The four mainland districts of Xiamen are also being urbanized at a rapid pace. Located on the western shore of Xiamen Harbor, Haicang is an industrial and port area. In the Jimei district there is Jimei University and “Turtle Park” - a memorial complex in honor of the famous huaqiao, people's educator Chen Jiageng (English)Russian where he himself is buried (whale.)Russian in a traditional turtle grave (English)Russian.

Qingjiao Ciji Gong 20120225-02.jpg

Qingjiao Qiji Temple, Haicang

Jimei - Kah Kee Park - DSCF9270.JPG

Turtle Park, Jimei

Bingzhou Peninsula area - land reclamation - DSCF9205.JPG

Filling a construction site, Bingzhou Island, Tong'an

Xiamen - Xindian - DSCF9181.JPG

Xindian village, center of Xiang'an district

Twin Cities

Xiamen is a sister city to the following cities:

• Cardiff, UK - c
• Sasebo, Japan - c
• Cebu, Philippines - with
• Baltimore, USA - c
• Wellington, New Zealand - with
• Penang, Malaysia - with
• Sunshine Coast, Australia - c
• Guadalajara, Mexico - with
• Zoetermeer, Netherlands - with
• Kuching, Malaysia - with
• Surabaya, Indonesia - with
• Mokpo, South Korea - c
• Richmond, Canada - c
• Marathon, Greece - c
• Dushanbe, Tajikistan - with

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Notes

Links

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

Administrative divisions of Fujian Province Sub-provincial cities: Xiamen Urban districts: Fuzhou | Longyan | Nanping | Ningde | Putian | Quanzhou | Sanming | Zhangzhou

Administrative regions of Fujian

Excerpt describing Xiamen

The next day, Prince Andrei went on visits to some houses where he had not yet been, including the Rostovs, with whom he renewed his acquaintance at the last ball. In addition to the laws of politeness, according to which he needed to be with the Rostovs, Prince Andrei wanted to see at home this special, lively girl, who left him with a pleasant memory.
Natasha was one of the first to meet him. She was wearing a blue home dress, in which she seemed even better to Prince Andrei than in the ball gown. She and the entire Rostov family received Prince Andrei as an old friend, simply and cordially. The entire family, which Prince Andrei had previously judged strictly, now seemed to him to be made up of wonderful, simple and kind people. The hospitality and good nature of the old count, which was especially striking in St. Petersburg, was such that Prince Andrei could not refuse dinner. “Yes, these are kind, nice people,” thought Bolkonsky, who, of course, don’t understand one bit the treasure they have in Natasha; but good people who make up the best background for this especially poetic, full of life, lovely girl to stand out against!”
Prince Andrei felt in Natasha the presence of a completely alien to him, special world, filled with some unknown joys, that alien world that even then, in the Otradnensky alley and on the window, on a moonlit night, teased him so much. Now this world no longer teased him, it was no longer an alien world; but he himself, having entered it, found in it a new pleasure for himself.
After dinner, Natasha, at the request of Prince Andrei, went to the clavichord and began to sing. Prince Andrei stood at the window, talking with the ladies, and listened to her. In the middle of the sentence, Prince Andrei fell silent and suddenly felt tears coming to his throat, the possibility of which he did not know was within himself. He looked at Natasha singing, and something new and happy happened in his soul. He was happy and at the same time he was sad. He had absolutely nothing to cry about, but he was ready to cry. About what? About former love? About the little princess? About your disappointments?... About your hopes for the future?... Yes and no. The main thing that he wanted to cry about was the terrible opposition he suddenly vividly realized between something infinitely great and indefinable that was in him, and something narrow and corporeal that he himself was and even she was. This opposite tormented and delighted him while she sang.
As soon as Natasha finished singing, she came up to him and asked him how he liked her voice? She asked this and became embarrassed after she said it, realizing that she should not have asked this. He smiled looking at her and said that he liked her singing as much as anything she did.
Prince Andrei left the Rostovs late in the evening. He went to bed out of habit, but soon saw that he could not sleep. He lit a candle and sat in bed, then got up, then lay down again, not at all burdened by insomnia: his soul was so joyful and new, as if he had stepped out of a stuffy room into the free light of God. It never occurred to him that he was in love with Rostova; he didn't think about her; he only imagined her, and as a result his whole life seemed to him in a new light. “What am I fighting for, why am I fussing in this narrow, closed frame, when life, all life with all its joys, is open to me?” he said to himself. And for the first time after a long time, he began to make happy plans for the future. He decided on his own that he needed to start raising his son, finding him a teacher and entrusting him with it; then you have to retire and go abroad, see England, Switzerland, Italy. “I need to use my freedom while I feel so much strength and youth in myself,” he said to himself. Pierre was right when he said that you have to believe in the possibility of happiness in order to be happy, and now I believe in him. Let’s leave the dead to bury the dead, but while you’re alive, you must live and be happy,” he thought.

One morning, Colonel Adolf Berg, whom Pierre knew, as he knew everyone in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in a spick-and-span uniform, with his temples smeared in front, as Emperor Alexander Pavlovich wore, came to see him.
“I was just now with the Countess, your wife, and was so unhappy that my request could not be fulfilled; I hope that with you, Count, I will be happier,” he said, smiling.
-What do you want, Colonel? I am at your service.
“Now, Count, I’m completely settled in my new apartment,” Berg said, obviously knowing that it could not but be pleasant to hear this; - and that’s why I wanted to do this, a little evening for my friends and my wife’s acquaintances. (He smiled even more pleasantly.) I wanted to ask the Countess and you to do me the honor of inviting us for a cup of tea and... dinner.
“Only Countess Elena Vasilievna, considering the company of some Bergs humiliating for herself, could have the cruelty to refuse such an invitation. - Berg explained so clearly why he wants to gather a small and good society, and why it will be pleasant for him, and why he spares money for cards and for something bad, but for a good society he is ready to incur expenses that Pierre could not refuse and promised to be.
- But it’s not too late, Count, if I dare to ask, then at 10 minutes to eight, I dare to ask. We will form a party, our general will be. He is very kind to me. Let's have dinner, Count. So do me a favor.
Contrary to his habit of being late, Pierre that day, instead of eight minutes to ten minutes, arrived at the Bergs at eight minutes to a quarter.
The Bergs, having stocked up what they needed for the evening, were already ready to receive guests.
In a new, clean, bright office, decorated with busts and pictures and new furniture, Berg sat with his wife. Berg, in a brand new, buttoned uniform, sat next to his wife, explaining to her that it is always possible and should have acquaintances with people who are higher than oneself, because only then can there be a pleasure from making acquaintances. - “If you take something, you can ask for something. Look how I lived from the first ranks (Berg considered his life not as years, but as the highest awards). My comrades are now nothing yet, and I am in the vacancy of a regimental commander, I have the happiness of being your husband (he stood up and kissed Vera’s hand, but on the way to her he turned back the corner of the rolled-up carpet). And how did I acquire all this? The main thing is the ability to choose your acquaintances. It goes without saying that one must be virtuous and careful.”
Berg smiled with the consciousness of his superiority over a weak woman and fell silent, thinking that after all this sweet wife of his was a weak woman who could not comprehend everything that constitutes the dignity of a man - ein Mann zu sein [to be a man]. Vera at the same time also smiled with the consciousness of her superiority over her virtuous, good husband, but who still erroneously, like all men, according to Vera’s concept, understood life. Berg, judging by his wife, considered all women weak and stupid. Vera, judging by her husband alone and spreading this remark, believed that all men attribute intelligence only to themselves, and at the same time they do not understand anything, are proud and selfish.
Berg stood up and, hugging his wife carefully so as not to wrinkle the lace cape for which he had paid dearly, kissed her in the middle of her lips.
“The only thing is that we don’t have children so soon,” he said, out of an unconscious filiation of ideas.
“Yes,” Vera answered, “I don’t want that at all.” We must live for society.
“This is exactly what Princess Yusupova was wearing,” said Berg, with a happy and kind smile, pointing to the cape.
At this time, the arrival of Count Bezukhy was reported. Both spouses looked at each other with a smug smile, each taking credit for the honor of this visit.
“This is what it means to be able to make acquaintances,” thought Berg, this is what it means to be able to hold oneself!
“Just please, when I am entertaining guests,” said Vera, “don’t interrupt me, because I know what to do with everyone, and in what society what should be said.”
Berg smiled too.
“You can’t: sometimes you have to have a man’s conversation with men,” he said.
Pierre was received in a brand new living room, in which it was impossible to sit anywhere without violating the symmetry, cleanliness and order, and therefore it was quite understandable and not strange that Berg generously offered to destroy the symmetry of an armchair or sofa for a dear guest, and apparently being in In this regard, in painful indecision, he proposed a solution to this issue to the choice of the guest. Pierre upset the symmetry by pulling up a chair for himself, and immediately Berg and Vera began the evening, interrupting each other and keeping the guest busy.
Vera, having decided in her mind that Pierre should be occupied with a conversation about the French embassy, ​​immediately began this conversation. Berg, deciding that a man's conversation was also necessary, interrupted his wife's speech, touching on the question of the war with Austria and involuntarily jumped from the general conversation into personal considerations about the proposals that were made to him to participate in the Austrian campaign, and about the reasons why he didn't accept them. Despite the fact that the conversation was very awkward, and that Vera was angry for the interference of the male element, both spouses felt with pleasure that, despite the fact that there was only one guest, the evening had started very well, and that the evening was like two drops of water is like any other evening with conversations, tea and lit candles.
Soon Boris, Berg's old friend, arrived. He treated Berg and Vera with a certain shade of superiority and patronage. The lady and the colonel came for Boris, then the general himself, then the Rostovs, and the evening was absolutely, undoubtedly, like all evenings. Berg and Vera could not hold back a joyful smile at the sight of this movement around the living room, at the sound of this incoherent talking, the rustling of dresses and bows. Everything was like everyone else, the general was especially similar, praising the apartment, patting Berg on the shoulder, and with paternal arbitrariness he ordered the setting up of the Boston table. The general sat down next to Count Ilya Andreich, as if he were the most distinguished of the guests after himself. Old people with old people, young people with young people, the hostess at the tea table, on which there were exactly the same cookies in a silver basket that the Panins had at the evening, everything was exactly the same as the others.

Pierre, as one of the most honored guests, was to sit in Boston with Ilya Andreich, the general and colonel. Pierre had to sit opposite Natasha at the Boston table, and the strange change that had occurred in her since the day of the ball amazed him. Natasha was silent, and not only was she not as good-looking as she was at the ball, but she would have been bad if she had not looked so meek and indifferent to everything.
"What with her?" thought Pierre, looking at her. She sat next to her sister at the tea table and reluctantly, without looking at him, answered something to Boris, who sat down next to her. Having walked away the whole suit and taken five bribes to the satisfaction of his partner, Pierre, who heard the chatter of greetings and the sound of someone’s steps entering the room while collecting bribes, looked at her again.
“What happened to her?” he said to himself even more surprised.
Prince Andrei stood in front of her with a thrifty, tender expression and told her something. She, raising her head, flushed and apparently trying to control her gusty breathing, looked at him. And the bright light of some inner, previously extinguished fire burned in her again. She was completely transformed. From being bad she again became the same as she was at the ball.
Prince Andrey approached Pierre and Pierre noticed a new, youthful expression on his friend’s face.
Pierre changed seats several times during the game, now with his back, now facing Natasha, and throughout the entire 6 Roberts made observations of her and his friend.
“Something very important is happening between them,” thought Pierre, and the joyful and at the same time bitter feeling made him worry and forget about the game.
After 6 Roberts, the general stood up, saying that it was impossible to play like that, and Pierre received his freedom. Natasha was talking to Sonya and Boris on one side, Vera was talking about something with a subtle smile to Prince Andrei. Pierre went up to his friend and, asking if what was being said was a secret, sat down next to them. Vera, noticing Prince Andrei's attention to Natasha, found that at an evening, at a real evening, it was necessary that there be subtle hints of feelings, and seizing the time when Prince Andrei was alone, she began a conversation with him about feelings in general and about her sister . With such an intelligent guest (as she considered Prince Andrei) she needed to apply her diplomatic skills to the matter.

Xiamen (Amoy) and Gulangyu Island - Fujian, China 2016 ?>

Xiamen (Amoy) and Gulangyu Island - Fujian, China 2016

Xiamen or Amoy is a large port city in Fujian province on the seashore. From here to Henan Island is just a stone's throw away, that is, an hour's flight. Opposite the main island of Xiamen, a 15-30 minute ferry ride away, is the pretty island of Gulangyu. This is where we began our acquaintance with the city.

Gulangyu - another China

Gulangyu China is an island of colonial culture in modern China.

Gulangyu (Gulang Yu) is an island of 1000 colonial-era monuments: villas in a mixed Western-Chinese style. Back in 1880, a settlement of European consulates appeared here with hospitals, hotels, churches, post offices and even a local newspaper published in English.

And most of the well-preserved estates were built in 1925. Most major attractions have a fee. The cost of a single ticket is 100 yuan. To see the island, you don’t have to pay for it; you can just walk along the narrow streets and along the embankments.

You should definitely check out the beaches of the island; if you wish, you can even swim in the sea.

In the evening one of the streets turns into a night market, with a good selection of street food. The most delicious thing is the special round dumplings that the aunties skillfully prepare right before your eyes. There is a sea around, so there is a lot of seafood. These dumplings come in both pork and shrimp varieties. An omelet with mussels and small octopuses is popular.

Everywhere you can try dried fruits and dried meat, it’s all very tasty.

Prices for Gulangyu are steep because... everything here is geared towards tourism. If you can eat for 100-200 rubles together, you won’t find accommodation cheaper than 450 rubles per bed. There is an option to pitch a tent on the beach. For some reason, the ferry to the island is only from one place, from the central pier, although on some maps there are as many as 3 ferry crossings. And the cost is very expensive, 45 yuan per person. Remember that this is the price for a round trip, despite the fact that the ticket is kind of flimsy, a small ticket. We accidentally and safely threw away this ticket, because... there was no mention of the ability to return back using this ticket. No one warned us at the box office either.

Stay

Xiamen is the most famous city in Fujian

Xiamen is the third most expensive city in China. And the salaries are probably corresponding. There are no cheap hotels for foreigners at all. If you come across some inexpensive hostel, then they definitely do not accept foreigners, they simply do not have a license for this.

We visited here twice: the first time when we arrived from Chaozhou, and the second time on the way back, when we returned from the north of the province. Both times we needed accommodation. The police helped us check into one hotel, although we didn’t want that at all. I just asked at the restaurant if they knew where cheap accommodation was nearby, and the staff called the police. They asked us to wait, and after 30 minutes of waiting we saw that the police had arrived. This is how the Chinese worry about foreigners.

Sometimes, by the way, we give ourselves a break and make purchases like this, which greatly surprises and confuses the Chinese.

For another 1 day we found accommodation through the Couchsurfing website. It’s funny that the guy couldn’t accept him himself, but gave the contact of a friend who happily provided his accommodation in the form of a bed. The owner, however, never showed up. But other guests moved into our room - traveling Chinese from other provinces.

Grigory Potemkin and gifts from RealChinaTea

On this day we also met with an interesting tea entrepreneur, famous in his circles, Grigory Potemkin, who runs his RealChinaTea project. He has strong website copy and a well-developed brand - the basis for the success of his business. The tea supplied by them is also good. We have convinced ourselves of this. Having agreed, we went to his office and spent a couple of hours talking and drinking tea. I was entrusted with the brewing, and I tried my best. And finally, Grisha gave us 4 jars of red Chinese and Taiwanese teas. One of the cheapest among them, Tan Yang, was our favorite.

Xiamen attractions

1. ZhongshanLu Pedestrian Street

ZhongshanLu Street is one of the main attractions of Xiamen - disappointed. We visited a pedestrian street with what we thought was a meager choice of street food. The fact is that this area is rich in seafood, and we cannot afford it. So we tried to try something affordable. Triangles with rice and pork in steamed banana leaves, a local version of dumplings, sweet peanut soup, etc. I can’t say that I liked all these delicacies, they were too specific. True, we tried everything in one place, maybe they just don’t cook well there.

2. Nanputo Si Monastery

1000 year old Buddhist monastery of Nanputo Si- the largest and most revered Chinese Buddhist temple in the city. The temple is interesting for the bright design of its roofs and the statue of the thousand-armed Guanyin with four faces in the octagonal Hall of Great Empathy (Dabei Dian).

3. Port of Xiamen

The views to and from the port of Xiamen are quite picturesque. The port is huge, one of the largest in China.

………………….

Our second visit to Xiamen is unusual. Trying to earn some money for accommodation and transportation, I decided to sell old Russian banknotes at the railway station in Xiamen. They wrote a sign in Chinese - advertisements for sale. We sat near the shopping center, fellow Chinese looked, were interested, but did not buy, they were afraid. The janitor seemed to want to reduce the price, but he ran away before he even really started. We moved to the cash registers. Then people came up to us and said, go to the police, they will help. They led me by the hand, turned to the railway station employees, and said - wait for the police. For a long time no one appeared, but then an ordinary station employee came and incredulously asked what was the matter. Even after learning about our problem - a small amount of money, he was still very suspicious of our personalities and, asking for a passport, called somewhere. Then to someone else. And then he brought 100 yuan from his boss and added us to a second seated ticket to Guangzhou the next day in the evening, on that day it was no longer available. So we ended up with two tickets to Guangzhou for a harsh 12-hour journey in the cheapest seated carriage. At night.

This was just the beginning of our adventures that day, but I will write about this in the right place later, in another post.

Transport Xiamen (China)

Public bus services are well developed, including a BRT line on a dedicated line/route. The city's high-speed bus line was not tried because it was never needed; regular buses were used. But in general, I liked the transport in Xiamen: convenient, cheap, fast, there are almost no traffic jams or they are not big at all.

How to ride Chinese city buses for free. Important!

1. Go through the second door, from which the trustworthy Chinese are just leaving. In 80% of cases, especially when there are a large number of people, you will not be asked to pay for the ticket.
2. Go to the front, correct, door and hand the driver 100 yuan in a single piece of paper. Confidently show that you need to go and ask for change using signs or in Chinese. In 99.5% of cases, the driver will not have change, and he will not kick you out. *Only once we were asked to leave the bus and not return without change. We didn’t have time to get out, the local old man decided to pay for the fare for us, thank him very much for that.

*Please note that the author of these methods strongly discourages resorting to deceptive techniques to travel on public transport. The “How to Get to China Buses for Free” techniques are experimental methods used only to enrich the experience, and not for the purpose of methodical daily use. Remember that asking for free travel and obtaining permission, thereby not violating anything, is the only legal method of travel both on Chinese buses and on any other public transport in the world.

Ferries to Gulangyu

Google maps and Maps.me maps strongly indicate that there are several crossings from the main island of Xiamen to Gulangyu Island, but we only saw and used one - from the far northern pier. The large, modern ferry has a harmful nature - they only sell expensive round-trip tickets for 40 yuan. By the way, we stupidly and successfully threw them away upon reaching Gulangyu Island. We made this very serious mistake due to the fact that no one warned us about the opposite property of the ticket and our, or even more likely, my stupidity. Conclusion: never throw away any checks, tickets, official papers for at least a few days, until it is obvious that this paper will no longer help you save your money or life (and this probably happens).

Due to our slowness, we had to buy return tickets, i.e. we paid one-and-a-half times the cost of a round-trip ticket from Xiamen to Gulangyu. Well, this will be a lesson for us.

Xiamen food. Fujian cuisine

• There is delicious: round dumplings (meatballs) with shrimp or pork filling (very tasty dough and broth in which they swim). Very tasty dough. Shrimp ones are pink in color, and pork ones are white, although the dough used is the same.

• A delicious soup with seafood and noodles - we were treated to it in a cafe-restaurant by a local friend.
• And there are some very strange ones: even I can’t appreciate peanut soup, it’s kind of sweet.

Of course, this is not a complete list of what we tried, much less what you can eat in Ximen, but we didn’t have the money or time to try everything. The city and province are famous for their seafood. There are many different dishes with them: from grilled squid and octopus to soups and various dumplings. There are also desserts - here they are - mostly for everyone.

Housing in Xiamen. Where to stay in Xiamen

Couchsurfing in Xiamen well presented, but requests must be made in advance. We stayed 1 night via Couchsurfing and it was a fun and free experience.

Hostels in Xiamen there are cheap and expensive ones. An expensive hostel on Gulangyu Island is a good option because... This is the cheapest option to stay on a tourist island if you don't have a tent or don't want to sleep in one. There are cheap ones in Xiamen itself, but most only accept people with a Chinese ID card (analogous to our passport), be careful.

Hotels Xiamen Islands- the cheapest one can be cheap, even 50 yuan for a double room, but it will also not accept foreigners. But those with such a license will be expensive, from 120-130 yuan.

Weather in Xiamen

Xiamen's weather is changeable. For 1.5 days it seemed to us that the weather was like in St. Petersburg: gray, gloomy, drizzling. And at other times the bright sun was shining and a fresh breeze was blowing - it was real sunny summer weather, although it was the very end of autumn. If we get lucky.

Conclusions about Xiamen

Xiamen is an interesting city. There are attractions that are worth visiting. There are also those that are not necessary to visit. For example, the Zhunshalu tourist street with food and souvenirs did not attract us, we didn’t even like it. You can skip it, there is nothing like that. But the night tourist market on Gulangyu is a cool place, fun and tasty, a visit is recommended.

Pros: good transport accessibility to the main attractions, delicious seafood and some other local food, a pleasant city in sunny weather, a sufficient number of people speak English, Gulangyu Island with colonial architecture.

There are also disadvantages. The city is expensive, the locals are somewhat aloof, and because of this (the city is expensive, you need to earn a lot of money to live well here), you come across strange food, sometimes bad weather, similar to St. Petersburg (heavy, gray, with rain).

You can visit the city, but 2-3 days are enough to get acquainted. Be sure to spend one of these days on Gulangyu Island. If you visit paid attractions of the city and islands, then probably 1 day more. Has anyone visited these attractions, what is your opinion - are they worth the money?

In China, do not forget to visit the most beautiful places: Wuyi Mountains in Fujian, Lijiang and Dali in Sichuan, Guilin and Yangshuo in Guangxi, Guangzhou in Guangdong and Xian in Shaanxi, Chaozhou and Fenhuang in Guangdong, the Taoist Mountains of Wudanshan and Huashan no less beautiful. Sichuan is amazing