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Xiamen |
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It is said that in the
ancient time, flocks of egrets (Bailu in Chinese) migrated to dwell on
Xiamen Island from time to time and that is why people call Xiamen "Ludao"
(Island of Egrets) and Xiagu Strait "Lujiang" (River of Egrets). The
first settlement of people on Xiamen Island dates back to the latter
part of the New Stone Age. That was three to four thousand years ago.
And the recorded history dates back to the middle period of the Tang
Dynasty, which was more than 1140 years ago. During the Tianbao Period
of the Tang Dynasty, the ethnic Chinese surnamed Xue (薛) and Chen (陈)
migrated to Xiamen Island from Fu'an in the east of Fujian Province
and Zhangzhou in the south of Fujian Province and settled at the
southern and northern foot of the Hongjishan Mountain respectively.
The administrative organization of Xiamen City was first set up in the
Song Dynasty. It was then affiliated to Tongan County, Quanzhou
Prefecture. In the twentieth year during the Hongwu Period in early
Ming Dynasty (1387), the imperial government started to build stockade
villages and forward posts on the island and named the island "Xiamen",
meaning the "Gate of the Motherland". And the geographical name of "Xiamen"
became the official name of the island despite that Xiamen was once
renamed "Siming Prefecture" and "Siming County" during the several
hundred years from then on. In 1933, Xiamen was officially established
as a city. That made it the first city set up in Fujian Province. |
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Geography |
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Xiamen
is a scenic coastal city in Southeast China. It is located at
24°22ˊ-24°56ˊ North Latitude and 117°53ˊ -118°23ˊ East Longitude in
the southeastern part of Fujian Province. It is from there that
Jiulongjiang (Nine Dragon River) empties into the sea. Xiamen City
sits in front of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou plains and borders on Taiwan
Strait. It stands opposite to Taiwan and the Penghu Islands at a
distance. Xiamen City consists of Xiamen Island, Gulangyu Island and
part of the coastal area in the northern bank of Nine Dragon River. It
covers an area of 1,565 square kilometers. There are seven districts,
namely, Kaiyuan, Siming, Gulangyu Island, Huli, Jimei, Xinglin and
Tong'an under the jurisdiction of Xiamen, with a registered population
of 1.2659 million people. By the end of 1998, the constructed area of
Xiamen City had reached 70.18 square kilometers. |
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Climate |
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Xiamen enjoys subtropical
oceanic climate. In most time of the year, it has warm and rainy
weather without extreme heat in summer nor extreme cold in winter. The
annual temperature averages 21℃ and the rainfall averages 1,100
millimeters a year with northeast wind prevails all year round.
Affected by the abrupt changes of temperature and the air currents
from the Pacific Ocean, Typhoon attacks Xiamen five to six times a
year, occurring mostly between July and September. |
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Natural Ecological
Environment |
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In recent years, Xiamen
City has made great progress with marked achievements in terms of
harnessing the ecological and natural environment in a comprehensive
way. In 1995, Xiamen won the title of "China's Advanced City in Terms
of Comprehensive Management of the Environment" and came in the first
place in terms of the environmental sanitation in the appraisal
organized in 35 big and middle-sized cities; in May of 1996, Xiamen
City was granted the title of "One of China's Cleanest Cities".
According to Xiamen City Environmental State Bulletin released by the
Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection, during the year of 1997,
the municipal government put a total of 180 million yuan into the
green project, which includes planting more trees in the urban gardens
and parks and reinforcing the shelterbelts around the city. As a
result, 163.9 hectares of new gardens and green areas emerged in the
city, which made the coverage of green areas in the urban area reach
35.4% and the public green area per capita approaches 9.9 square
meters. In the year of 1997, Xiamen City generated 2,735,000 tons of
garbage, all of which have been properly disposed of. A percentage of
94.88% of domestic garbage was duly treated. And as much as 2,498,000
tons was treated in a harmless way. The air quality of Xiamen City
remained good and among the best of the country's separately listed
cities. In 1997, the air pollution index (API) in the urban area of
Xiamen City was 36. the daily and yearly average values of sulfur
dioxide, nitro-oxides and the suspended particles-three of the four
key indices used for assessing air quality, maintain within the range
of first-rated standards. In July of 1998, the API of Xiamen City was
28. After analyzing the 14 items selected for assessing the quality of
the source of drinking water in the quantitative examination with
respect to the comprehensive control of urban environments, 97.2% of
Xiamen's drinking water comes up to the relevant standard in terms of
the quality of source. In 1997, the environmental noise in the urban
area averaged 56.5 decibels. In order to get a clearer picture of the
average level of noise in the tourist attractions of the city, the
Municipal Bureau of Tourism entrusted the municipal environment
monitoring station to arrange for a special survey of the noise level
in eight selected tourist attractions. The survey found that the
average round-the-clock level of noise in the eight attractions
averaged 55.48 decibels. |
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Economy |
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With
the approval of the State Council, a special economic zone (SEZ) was
established in an area of 2.5 square kilometers in the northwest of
Xiamen City in October, 1980. in March, 1984, the SEZ was enlarged to
the whole island of Xiamen (including Gulangyu Island), covering an
area of 131 square kilometers and the policy of free port was
gradually introduced into the SEZ. In May 1989, an investment zone
enjoying the same treatment as the SEZ exclusively open to Taiwanese
investors was set up in Xinglin, Haicang and Jimei (three districts of
Xiamen City) with the approval of the State Council. In November 1992,
Xiangyu Island Tax Bond Area was formed, again with the approval of
the State Council.
Ever since Xiamen became a special economic zone, the municipal
government has always been adhering to the fundamental policy of
reform and opening-up. By taking full use of its geographical
advantage, Xiamen has absorbed a huge amount of foreign capital,
especially the funds from the overseas Chinese and Taiwanese to
promote the economic integration among the enterprises of similar
product structures. Now Xiamen has formed an export-oriented economic
pattern with developing industry as the priority and three industries
developing in a balanced way. After more than a decade's continuous
improvement, Xiamen SEZ has created a relatively favorable investment
environment and the foreign-invested companies have become an
important force in developing the SEZ's export-oriented economy.
After years of construction, Xiamen City has now become a scenic
coastal city boasting of complete infrastructure and robust
internationally and domestically economic activities from a once
closed and underdeveloped island. It ranks in the tenth place among
the Chinese cities in terms of comprehensive economic strength. It is
also one of the 40 Chinese cities with attractive physical investment
environment. Currently, Xiamen has defined its development target for
the 21st century. The basic guideline for developing industries is to
expand and adjust the secondary industry, vigorously develop the
tertiary industry, optimize and upgrade the primary industry. The
priorities in the development of industries will be in the following
seven sectors: industry adopting advanced technology, communication
and transportation, foreign and domestic trade and commerce, banking
and insurance, tourist service, construction and real estate and
information telecommunication. |
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Culture |
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Since the adoption of
reform and opening-up policy, Xiamen's cultural, broadcast and
television undertakings have been forging ahead and bringing about
changes day after day. Wireless and cable TV stations, AM and FM radio
stations are trying their best to attract audience. Daily and evening
newspapers, commercial journals and TV weekly are acclaimed by readers
of different levels. More than 300 cinemas and theaters, cultural
centers, libraries, museums, singing and dancing troupes, singing and
dancing halls distributed in different parts of the city provide the
citizens with rich cultural life. International cultural training and
exchanges in different forms at different levels are conducted
frequently. |
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A Survey of Tourist
Industry |
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Xiamen
is a beautiful "seaside garden". "A city in the sea and sea in the
city" is a vivid description of Xiamen. Islands and islets, cliffs and
crags, rocks and stones, temples, subtropical flowers and trees, set
off each other more beautifully. Xiamen is famous for its large number
of overseas Chinese and that forms the basis for Xiamen to become a
city blending local conditions and Taiwanese customs, delicious
seafood and exotic buildings. Such pleasant climate as warm as in
spring all year round is another feature attractive to tourists
visiting this seaside city. Xiamen is located opposite to Taiwan and
the Southeast Asia across the Taiwan Strait. This geographical
advantage and the complementary transport facilities including
waterways, land roads and airways are also powerful force for the
sustained development of Xiamen's tourist industry.
Xiamen started to develop its tourist industry shortly after the
founding of New China. In November 1949, Overseas Chinese Travel
Service Xiamen, i.e. Xiamen China Travel Service was founded, which
was actually the first travel agency formed in New China. With the
adoption of reform and opening up policy, Xiamen's tourist industry
emerged as a flourishing industry. From 1991 to 1998, the number of
foreign tourists visiting Xiamen, the days the tourists spend
sightseeing in Xiamen and the (foreign exchange) income from tourism
come in the tenth place for successive 8 years among the tourist
cities nationwide. The domestic tourism has also been making
impressive progress. Now Xiamen has been listed as one of the tourist
cities of China with its outstanding performance in developing tourism
during the last decades and the tourist trade has become one of the
key economic sectors and a new economic growth point for the Xiamen
City.
With a view to building Xiamen into a "seaside garden" as a burgeoning
tourist city, the quality of Xiamen's tourist trade has been markedly
improved. It has also made great progress in expanding the tourist
markets both at home and abroad. In the respect of the legislation in
tourism, Xiamen City has promulgated its own regulations and rules in
order to standardize the business activities of the tourist trade in
Xiamen. They include the Management Regulations Governing Xiamen's
Tourism, the Temporary Provisions Concerning the Protection and
Development of Tourist Resources in Xiamen, the Measures to Regulate
the Designated Tourist Units in Xiamen and the Temporary Provisions
Concerning the Regulation of One-day Excursion Routes in Xiamen, etc.
The above papers and documents together constitute the basic
legislation in regulating the local tourism and have contributed to
creating a favorable condition for "governing the tourist trade
according to regulations and rules". With respect to the development
of tourist resources, Xiamen has established more than ten tourist
attractions including Gulangyu Island, Ten Thousand Stone Hill (Wanshishan),
South Putuo Temple, Jimei Village of Scholars, etc. And the Gulangyu
Island-Ten Thousand Stone Hill Tourist Route has been designated as
one of the country's major scenic spots by the State Council.
Especially, in order to make Xiamen a city more attractive to foreign
companies and individual investors, it has completed the construction
of the following new tourist projects since 1995-Xiamen Film and
Television Recreational City, Taiwan Folk Custom Village (i.e., the
Jingzhou Amusement Park), Undersea World in Gulangyu Island, Rongguang
Treasures Museum on Hulishan Fortress, City of Aeronautical Science
and Technology in Jimei, Oriental (Dongfang) Country Golf Club and
Triumphant (Daige) Country Golf Club, both of which are designed and
constructed according to the international standards. All the above
entertainment facilities have been open to public. As for the tourist
hotels and travel agencies, Xiamen City currently has 79 hotels
capable of receiving foreign tourists, of which 45 are four-star rated
hotels with more than 10,200 guestrooms; and some 340 middle and
small-sized social hotels with about 2,200 beds. There are 12
international travel agencies and 36 domestic travel agencies and over
200 public places of entertainment. During 1998, Xiamen entertained
483,500 overseas tourists and 5,855,200 domestic visitors, which
brought in $239 million of foreign exchange and 5.576 billion yuan in
RMB respectively. The increased return from the tourist trade
contributes to a 6% rise in the municipal GDP.
To get ready to meet the new challenge of the new century with more
vigorous force, Xiamen has defined its trans-century target in
developing tourist industry-to build Xiamen into a major tourist port
in Southeast China and seaside tourist city of the country attractive
to international sightseers and holiday makers with complete tourist
infrastructure and recreational facilities. |
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City Bird of Xiamen |
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Egrets are the world's
rare birds. They belong to heron family of bird class. Xiamen boasts
small egrets, middle egrets, large egrets, Chinese egrets and gray
egrets, which dwell on the island as the only five types of herons
ever seen in China. People choose to call them egrets (Bailu in
Chinese) collectively because they, except the gray egrets which have
dark gray body-feathers, have beautiful snow-white feathers. The small
and middle egrets are of the largest numbers and are seen more
frequently. On October 23 of 1986, at the 23rd Session of the Standing
Committee of the 8th Municipal People's Congress it was decided that
the egret be the City Bird of Xiamen. |
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City Flower of Xiamen
Triangular Shaped Plum Blossom |
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The Standing Committee of
the Eighth People's Congress of Xiamen City decided the matter on
October 23, 1986 in its 20th conference. The scientific name of the
flower is Bougain Villeasp. It is an evergreen clamber bush or a
hanging down shrub, which belongs to the category of bougain of the
bongainvillea family. It is a wood nature liana. The nature of its
leaves has the luster. Its flower is small and opens on the top. The
flower usually grows in clusters in the bud plate. The three big bud
plates are very distinctive, constructing a major object sight for
enjoying. In ancient times, it was called "Nine Layers of Vine". It is
called "Leaves Tiny Flower" and "Triangular Flower" in North China and
it was called "Bougain" as translated in sound from English in
Hongkong. It was originally planted in Brazil of South America and it
is a long time since it was imported and planted in China in 1972.
It has a great number of varieties, and large amount of colors. It has
the nurture color of red, orange, yellow, white and purple, and it has
the shape of single petal flower, double petal flower and mottled
plate flower etc. it couples hardness with softness, and it is simple
and unadorned. It is easy to plant and possesses much variety of
colors, so it can be used to make potted landscape. As a result, to
use the Triangular Shaped Plum Blossom as the city flower, to plant it
broadly and to take care of it will not only afforest and beautify
Xiamen, but also better show the style and features of Xiamen, the
character of Xiamen people and the rapid development of the Xiamen
Special Economic Zone. |
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City Tree of Xiamen
Phoenix Tree |
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 The
Standing Committee of the Eighth People's Congress of Xiamen City
decided the matter on October 23, 1986 in its 23rd conference. Phoenix
Tree is also called "Red Pillars" or "Flamboyant Tree". It is a
deciduous arbor belonging to leguminous family. It can be as tall as
20 meters. The crown of the tree is very broad with binatopinnate
double leaves. There are 10~24 pairs of plumed plate. Each plumed
plate has 20~40 pairs of small leaves. The little leaves appear to be
long ellipse shape. The tree will blossom in summer with botrus big
flowers of red color and luster. The legume has the nature of wood
with a length of 50 centimeters. It was originally planted in Africa.
There are a lot of the trees planted in the south of our country. It
is a beautiful tree for courtyard and street. With elegant branches
and beautiful leaves, it is a typical southern China tree. In the
summer days, the trees can provide shady and cool atmosphere to the
city. The red flowers showed cluster after cluster representing the
construction field, which is like a raging fire of the Special
Economic Zone. It also represents the features of Xiamen, the
character of Xiamen people and the rapid development of the Xiamen
Special Economic Zone. |
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Tourism Logo of Xiamen |
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 The
Crag of Sunlight (Riguangyan) is popularly called Dazzling Crag (Huangyan).
It sits on the top of the Dragon's Head Hill (Longtoushan) in the
mid-south of Gulangyu Island. Standing 92.68 meters above the sea
level, the summit of Dragon's Head Hill is the highest peak on the
Island. On top of the Crag a round platform is built for visitors to
lean on the railing and look far into the distance so as to have a
bird-eye view of the overall landscape of Xiamen and Gulangyu Islands.
It is this very platform that was selected to serve as the tourist
logo of Xiamen City. |
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Local Culture |
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Local Operas and Quyi
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Gezaixi (A Kind of
Local Play)
Gexaixi is a kind of play popular in Fujian Province, Taiwan and
Southeast Asia where Chinese are concentrated. It adopts the tunes
popular among people and the words of the masses. The music of
voices is Taiwanese which is originated from blending the dialects
of Xiamen and Zhangzhou. It is very easy to learn and to understand.
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Nanqu (Southern Music)
Nanqu is also called Nanyin, Nanyue, Nanguan, and Nanxian. It is a
kind of music dating from Tang Dynasty. Nanqu is simple and refined
in artistic style. The music is nostalgic and moving.
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Gaojiaxi (Another
Kind of Local Play)
Gaojiaxi is another kind of local play popular in Fujian Province.
It features questions and answers along with impromptu comic
gestures and remarks, interesting and humorous antiphonal singing
lines to make people laugh and leave a deep impression on the
audience. The buffoon is the most important role in Gaojiaxi.
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 Geography Climate Natural Ecological Environment Economy Culture A Survey of Tourist Industry Local and Culture
City Bird of Xiamen City Flower of Xiamen City Tree of Xiamen Tourism Logo of Xiamen Transportation Shopping
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 Information
provided by China National
Tourism Administration. |
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