To explore Xiamen, Please visit Amoymogic maintained by Xiamen University Professor Dr. Bill Brown and Mrs. Sue Brown
Xiamen XiamenIsland is located on the southeast coastland of China, which is well known as the “Garden on the Sea” with its unique local culture and beautiful scenery, excellent weather all year round. Xiamen is a port city and a transportation hub, easily accessible by air, sea or land. The GaoqiInternationalAirport is on the north-eastern tip of the island, 25 km away from XiamenUniversity.
Gulangyu (Gulang Islet)
Gulang Islet, located to the southwest of Xiamen, is only about a five-minute journey by local ferry. The name of the island means 'above-the-sea garden' because of its variety of pretty flowers, the best of which can be viewed in the Shuzhuang Garden.
The highest point on the island, the Sunlight Rock, is also the symbol of Xiamen city. Just as the saying 'one who has not visited the Great Wall is not a true hero’; those who have not visited the Sunlight Rock cannot claim to have truly seen Xiamen.
Gulangyu Island is also named “Island of Piano” after the well known piano museum with various pianos of different periods from all over the world. Possibly due to the beautiful scenery here, people living on the island have a strong liking for music, boasting the highest piano ownership rates in China.
Gulangyu Island is by far the best sight of this beautiful town, with its variety of colonial buildings, pleasant winding streets and musical locals. There are so many charming features, from the profusion of ancient trees, all labeled, to the variety of seafood restaurants.
The Underwater World of the Islet has a variety of marine life exhibits worth visiting.
Nanputuo Temple Nanputuo Temple is known as “the Ancient Temple of One Thousand Years”. It was built in Tang Dynasty (618-907) and is one of the famous ancient temples in Minnan (South Fujian Province).
Tianwang Palace, Daxiong Palace, Dabei Palace, Cangjing Palace, the side rooms, the bell and the drum buildings form a group of buildings which look magnificent of Buddhist feature, showing the dignity of Buddhist laws.Tourists and local Buddhists often come here to pray, and this makes this Temple active and widely known.
On one side of Nanputuo Temple is situated the Minnan Buddhist College which was set up in 1925, and is a place to publicize the Buddhist scripture and educate Buddhist followers. You can also taste the unique and well-known vegetarian food of Nanputuo Temple.
Jimei School Town and Turtle Garden
Jimei, situated northwest of Xiamen Island, is the hometown of Tan Ka-Kee who was a well renowned leader of the overseas Chinese. This site is full of buildings of south Fujian architectural style.
Jimei School Town is not only a place for breeding talent but is also a very beautiful place of interest. The most recommended site is the Dragon Boat Pond along whose banks are buildings characteristic of the typical ancient Chinese style and at whose center are two pavilions resembling two flying birds.
Another major resort in Jimei is Ao (Turtle) Garden, which was built by Tan Ka-Kee in 1950 with an area of 8,990 square metres. Inside the Garden there are stone relief porches, the monument of Jimei’s liberation, and the tomb of Tan Ka-Kee. Among the stone reliefs are carved characters that are vividly presented in various postures and manners.
Hulishan Fort
Only 1 km south of Xiamen University stands the imposing Huli Mountain Canon Platform. Originally built in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) to fend off foreign imperialists,
the platform boasts a huge nineteenth century heavy artillery piece produced by the German conglomerate Krüpp, with a maximum range of 10,000 metres. Currently the museum houses over 4,000 exhibits, including intriguing rocks with natural paintings, ancient swords and guns. There is a mini-cannon here made by the Portuguese which is only 11 cm long.
Island Ring Road
The Island Ring Road has a length of nearly 30 kilometres, and is close to the sea. On the side near the sea, there are the Sea Rhythm Platform, the Moon-Playing Slope, the Star-Counting Garden and the Yefeng Village.
The Island Ring Road is designed and forested in an artistic way which combines the sea, the beaches and the vegetated area into one, and therefore the Road becomes a spectacular scene of beauty in Xiamen.
Xiamen Garden Show Park
The Garden Show Park locates in Jimei Town, and covers an area of 6.76 sq kilometers, consisting of five exhibition islands, four ecological scenic islands and two peninsulas.
It mainly consists of the north China gardens, Jiangnan gardens, Lingnan garden, international garden area, Fujian-Taiwan garden area, landscape engineer garden area and public garden area, thus the Garden is a perfect miniature of the Chinese Garden art.
lShopping in Xiamen
XiamenIsland is located on the southeast coastland of China, which is well known as the “Garden on the Sea” with its unique local culture and beautiful scenery, excellent weather all year round. Xiamen is a port city and a transportation hub, easily accessible by air, sea or land. The GaoqiInternationalAirport is on the north-eastern tip of the island, 25 km away from XiamenUniversity.
Supermarkets, department stores, grocer's shops, markets are common places for shopping. Zhonshan Road shopping street, Lianhua Shopping Complexes such as Laiya Shopping Complex, SM Shopping Complex, Carrefour, B&Q, Walmarts next to Xiamen Train Station, Metro in Huli and extra just to name a few.
Chinese cuisine arts enjoy a high reputation in the world. Chinese dishes appeal to the senses through color, shape, aroma and taste. Chinese food is famous also for its sheer abundance. It is due to the diversity of geography, climate, products and customs that there are widely different food styles and tastes in local regions of China. In Xiamen, most people enjoy Fujian Cuisine, which is renowned for its choice seafood, beautiful color and magical tastes of sweet, sour, salt and savory, the most distinct feature is their “pickled taste”. You must try to experience as more as possible before you leave, otherwise you may regret greatly.
Xiamen University
Xiamen University was founded in 1921 by Tan Kah Kee, the well-known patriotic overseas Chinese leader. It was the first university in China founded by an overseas Chinese. At present it is the only university in any of five special economic zones and is one of China 's higher-level universities designated for the state key construction of the “211 Project” and the “985 Project”. Currently, Professor Zhu Chongshi is the President of the University and Professor Zhu Zhiwen is the Chairman of the University Council.
Over the past eighty –six years, as the result of following the school motto: Pursue Excellence, Strive for Perfection , Xiamen University has accumulated rich experience in offering its educational programs and has presented its distinctive features in running the programs. Equipped with a strong team of faculty and staff, Xiamen University, which provides a fairly complete range of programs of education, has become a first-class comprehensive university in China with extensive international influence. Since its founding, Xiamen University has produced more than 140,000 undergraduates and graduates for the country and over 50 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) have studied or worked at Xiamen University.
Xiamen University has a graduate school and 21 schools containing 55 departments. With 14 Doctoral degrees in first –class disciplines, and 17 Master degree in first-class disciplines, the university offers 79 undergraduate programs, 217 graduate programs, and 131 PhD programs. 13 subjects have been assessed and awarded as “the national key disciplines”. There are 12 Post doctoral research centers, 5 subjects of “national educational centers for talents”, 8 subjects listed among the state key disciplines in the "211 Project” construction during the period of the ninth Five-year plan, 11 subjects listed among the state key disciplines in the "211 Project” construction during the period of the tenth Five-year plan and11 subjects listed among the innovation research bases in the second phase of the “985 Project”.
Xiamen university has a high level team of faculty and staff including 2,282 full-time faculty and professional researchers , 1,329 professors and associate professors including 354 doctoral supervisors, of whom 18 are academicians of CAS and CAE (8 adjunct academicians). Moreover, 7 faculty members of Xiamen University are seated on the State Council's Academic Degree Appraisal Committee. 8 have been listed in the "One-hundred plus One-thousand plus Ten-thousand Talent Project”; 56 have been included in the Ministry of Education's training program for the "Leading Figure for the New Century";20 have obtained the "Science Grant for National Outstanding Youth" from the state; There are 11 special and 9 speech professorships of “Yangtze Scholar” , 2 “National Innovation Research Team” and 1 “Education Ministry Innovation Group” .
The university now has a total enrollment of over35,000 full-time students on campus, including 20,195 undergraduates, 12,213 master students, 2,023 doctoral students, and over 1200 international students. In 2005,Xiamen Unversity received a straight-A score in the undergraduate level Teaching Appraisal organized by the Ministry of Education.
Xiamen University has set up over 80 research institutions, including 2 State Key Laboratories, 1 State Engineering Research Center 4 Education Ministry Key Laboratories , and 5 state key research bases in humanities and social science. In 2005, the Science Park of Xiamen University was recognized as a state university science park by the Ministry of Education.
2 scientific research findings won the Second Class Prize of National Natural Science Award in 2006. 4 research reports were published in the international Science and Nature journal from 2004 to 2006. Xiamen University has strong potentiality in human and science research. Taiwan studies, Southeast Asian studies, economic studies, and accounting studies are at the highest tier among domestic universities.
Xiamen University has inter-university cooperative ties with over 100 institutions of higher education at home and abroad. Xiamen University has formally established multi-lateral cooperative relationship with seven other universities around the world by signing the Agreement on Global U7 Consortium in 2004. In 2005, there were 8 members of this group. Because of its especially favorable geographical location and advantageous human resources, it is the key university most actively engaged in cross-straits educational, scientific and cultural exchanges.
At present, Xiamen University’s 3 campuses cover over 524.5 hectares. With green hills behind and fronting the sea, Xiamen University is recognized as one of the most beautiful universities in China. Xiamen University has a constructed area of 1.35 million square meters and its libraries hold 4.11million volumes (including 1 million electronic volumes). The scope and level of its high-speed information network on campus is rated at the top of all universities in China and has become the one of the main injunctions of CERNET2.
Xiamen University is now making great strides towards its goal of "building a high-level university well-known both at home and abroad."
lAbout Xiamen XiamenIsland is located on the southeast coastland of China, which is well known as the “Garden on the Sea” with its unique local culture and beautiful scenery, excellent weather all year round. Xiamen is a port city and a transportation hub, easily accessible by air, sea or land. The GaoqiInternationalAirport is on the north-eastern tip of the island, 25 km away from XiamenUniversity.
