Geography of Xiamen

Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, Haicang, and Xiang'an. All together, these cover an area of with a population of 5,163,970 as of 2020 and estimated at 5.28 million as of 31 December 2021. The urbanized area of the city has spread from its original island to include most parts of all six of its districts, and with 4 Zhangzhou districts ( Xiangcheng, Longwen, Longhai and Changtai), form a built-up area of 7,284,148 inhabitants. This area also connects with Quanzhou in the north, making up a metropolis of nearly ten million people. The Kinmen Islands (Quemoy) administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan) which lie less than away separated by Xiamen Bay. As part of the Opening Up Policy under Deng Xiaoping, Xiamen became one of China's original four special economic zones opened to foreign investment and trade in the early 1980s.

Xiamen Island possessed a major international seaport. The port of Xiamen is a well-developed first-class trunk line port in the Asia-Pacific region. It is ranked the 8th-largest container port in China and ranks 17th in the world. It is the 4th port in China with the capacity to handle 6th-generation large container vessels. On 31 August 2010, Xiamen Port incorporated the neighboring port of Zhangzhou to form the largest port of China's Southeast. Ever since the 12th century, Xiamen was also an important origin for many migrants to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The overseas Chinese used to support Xiamen's educational and cultural institutions.. Xiamen is classified as a Large-Port Metropolis .

Xiamen is one of the top 70 cities in the world by scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index. The city is home to several major universities, including Xiamen, one of China's most prestigious universities as a member of the Project 985, Huaqiao, Jimei, Xiamen University of Technology and Xiamen Medical College.

Name

Xiamen had always been known as Tong'an County since antiquity until Republic of China Era of the 20th century, followed by administrative zoning restructures and naming changes.

Tong'an County first appeared in Han dynasty records. Xiamen Island was described as Jiahe Islet of Tong'an County during the Song dynasty (960–1279). It received its present name from the Xiamen Defense Castle erected on the island by Zhou Dexing in 1387 during the Ming dynasty to meet the needs of coastal defense. The name was formerly written using, , and then changed into or "Gate of China".

After the fall of the Ming dynasty, Zheng Chenggong, or Koxinga, a Ming loyalist and general, occupied Xiamen island as an anti-Qing base. In 1650, the seventh year of Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing dynasty, Zheng set a military base in Xiamen island and changed its name into , meaning "Remembering the Ming".

When its port prospered under the Qing, especially during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the island's name was changed to again.

The island's name of 思明 was in return restored after the Xinhai Revolution that inaugurated the republic in 1912.

The island's name of 廈門 was restored in 1933, along with Xiamen being administratively planned as a city, the first of its kind in Fujian province. 思明 continues to be used as the name of one of its districts.

Xiamen is the atonal pinyin romanization of the characters' pronunciation in Mandarin. It has also been romanized as Hiamen. The older English name "Amoy" was based on the same name's pronunciation in the Zhangzhou dialect of Hokkien, ''Ēe-mûi''.

Geography

Xiamen is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian whose urban core grew up from the port of Xiamen on southern Xiamen Island, now located within Siming District. It now also includes Gulangyu Island and the rugged coast of the mainland from the northeast bank of the Jiulong River in the west to the islands of Xiang'an in the east. Xiamen Island lies about one degree north of the Tropic of Cancer.. It is divided between Huli District in the north and Siming District in the south. Siming also includes Gulangyu. Its mainland territory is divided among Haicang, Jimei, Tong'an, and Xiang'an districts.

In the 19th century, Xiamen's harbor on Yundang Bay was considered one of the world's great natural harbors. Land reclamation has since been used to fill in the mouth of this inlet, turning it into Siming District's Yundang Lake. The municipal government is located on other reclaimed land beside it.

The nearest point of Liehyu in the Kinmen Islands, Republic of China (Taiwan), lies only off Xiamen Island.

Xiamen Island is the fourth largest island in Fujian province. It became a peninsula after the completion of the seawall in 1955. Xiamen waters include Xiamen Port, Outer Harbor Area, Maluan Bay, Tongan Bay, Jiulong River's estuary area and the waterway on the east side. Outside the Xiamen Port, Big Kinmen, Little Kinmen, Dadan, Erdan and other island are arranged in a horizontal line. Inside, it has Xiamen Island, Gulangyu Island and other island barriers, making it a good natural port protected from storms.

Climate

Xiamen has a monsoonal humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cwa''), characterised by long, hot and humid summers (but moderate compared to much of the rest of the province) and short, mild and dry winters. The warmest month is July, with a 24-hour average of , and the coolest month is January, averaging ; the annual mean is . Extremes since 1951 have ranged from on 29 December 1991 to on 20 July 2007. Spring, both by humidity and percentage of sunshine, is the dampest season but typhoons in late summer and early autumn can make the latter period wetter overall. Summer and autumn are marked by comparatively sunny conditions, while autumn is warm and dry. The annual rainfall is . With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 24% in March to 56% in July, the city receives 1,853 hours of bright sunshine annually. Frost occurs very rarely, and the last snowfall in the city took place in January 1893, when snow also fell at Guangzhou, Macau, in the inland parts of Hong Kong and in the hills of Taipei.

The area is known within China for its relatively low pollution.

History

The area of Xiamen was largely bypassed by the Qin and Han conquests and colonization of Guangdong, which passed west of Fujian down the Lingqu Canal between the Xiang and Li rivers. It was first organized as Tong'an County in AD282 under the Jin, but it lost this status soon afterwards. Tong'an County was again established in 933 under the Later Tang.

The settlement on the southeastern shore of Xiamen Island (now part of Siming District) developed as a seaport under the Song, although legal foreign trade was restricted to nearby Quanzhou, which administered the area. In 1387, attacks by the "Japanese" or "dwarf" pirates—many of them actually disaffected Chinese—prompted the Ming to protect the harbor with the fortress that gave Xiamen its name. The Portuguese first reached Xiamen in 1541. After the fall of the Ming to the Qing in 1644, Southern Ming loyalists including Koxinga used Xiamen as a base from which to launch attacks against the invading Qing-aligned Han Bannermen from 1650 to 1660. In 1661, Koxinga drove the Dutch from Taiwan and moved his operations there. His base on Xiamen fell to a combined Qing and Dutch invasion in 1663.. The East India Company traded extensively with the port, constructing a factory there in 1678. It was raised to the status of a subprefecture in 1680, but the taxes and other restrictions placed on traders compelled the British to relocate to Canton and Fuzhou the next year. Trade resumed in 1685. and continued until the imposition of the Canton System. However, despite the Canton system which restricted Western trade to the port of Guangzhou, the Spanish were still allowed to trade in Xiamen. However, the Spanish rarely used this privilege as Chinese traders would ship their goods from Xiamen to Manila and vice versa, which was more profitable for both sides.

By the 19th century, the city walls had a circumference of around , with an inner and outer city divided by an inner wall and a ridge of hills surmounted by a well-built fort. The inner harbor on Yundang Bay was also well fortified and these defenses were further strengthened upon the outbreak of the First Opium War. Nonetheless, Xiamen was captured in 1841 between Guangzhou and Zhoushan. Rear Adm. Parker bombarded the Qing position to little effect, but the assault by the men under Lt. Gen. Gough caused the Chinese to flee their positions without a fight. The city was abandoned during the night and fell the next day on 27 August.. The Chinese had spirited out the entire treasury of sycee bullion under the nose of the British by disguising it inside hollow logs. Xiamen being too large to garrison, a small force was left to hold Gulangyu. The next year, the Treaty of Nanjing made Xiamen one of the first five ports opened to British trade, which had previously been legally restricted to Guangzhou. Subsequent treaties opened the port to other international powers.

As the primary international port for Fujian, particularly Zhangzhou and its hinterland, Xiamen became a center of China's tea trade, with hundreds of thousands of tons shipped yearly to Europe and the Americas.. Its local dialect influenced a variety of translations of Chinese terms. Its principal exports during the period were tea, porcelain, and paper; it imported sugar, rice, cotton, and opium, as well as some manufactured goods. Xiamen was also a center of Protestant missionaries in China; the missions operated the city's two hospitals.. The merchants of Xiamen were thought among the richest and most entrepreneurial and industrious. in China, but the city was widely accounted the dirtiest city in China. Owing to local belief in feng shui, the streets were "as crooked as ram's horns" and averaged about in width to keep out sunlight and control public disturbances.. Its population was estimated at 250,000 in the 1870s; by that point the island was largely barren and full of roughly 140 villages, with a total population around 400,000.. European settlement in the port was concentrated on Gulangyu Island off Xiamen proper; it remains known for its colonial architecture.

File:Thomas Kitchin. Composite Europe. 1787. (E).JPG, The first flag in the second row was a flag of Amoy as recorded in a map published in 1787
File:Amoy & Kolang-soo.jpg, Amoy (Xiamen) and Kolang-soo (Gulangyu) in 1844
File:Amoy town and harbour seen from Kalangsu Wellcome L0034288.jpg, Amoy (Xiamen) Town and Harbor from Kalangsu (Gulangyu) in 1874.
File:Island of Koolansoo and Amoy by Lai Afong, c1870.jpg, Lai Afong's photograph of Amoy (Xiamen) from Koolansoo (Gulangyu).
File:Hulishan cannon.jpg, A Krupp gun at the Hulishan Battery, installed to protect Xiamen during the late Qing era.
File:Amoy_1946_AMS.jpg, Hsia-men (Xiamen) and Ku-lang Hsü (Gulangyu) in a 1945 American map.
File:Xiamen 一国两制统一中国 20170725.jpg, Large characters saying "One Country, Two Systems" and "Reunify China" on Xiamen Island's west coast, facing the nearby Kinmen Islands, Republic of China (Taiwan). Similar propaganda on Kinmen face Xiamen, reading "Three Principles of the People Unite China".
File:Gulangyu-2.jpg, Gulangyu ''(foreground)'' and Xiamen ''(background)''.
File:DV239 Amoy (Xiamen), China.jpg, A scene in Amoy painted by a passing traveler in 1899
File:Entrance to Amoy.jpg , Xiamen's paifang
File:Amoy labourers. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869. Wellcome L0056063.jpg , An 1869 stereogram of laborers in Xiamen. The first coolies left Xiamen for Havana in 1847
File:Album of Hongkong Canton Macao Amoy Foochow 050.jpg , "Plan of the Country around Amoy", 1870
File:View of the rooftops of houses, Amoy, China Wellcome L0056009.jpg , A stereogram of houses in Xiamen
File:Southern Putuo Monastery, Xiamen (Amoy), Fukien province Wellcome L0055717.jpg , Nanputuo Temple
File:Amoy Island.png, A 1915 map of the "Environs of Amoy", showing the city and island before the massive land reclamation projects of the 20th century.
File:Yundang Lake.jpg, Siming District, looking north from the southern shore of Yundang Lake

By the 20th century, the local export economy had collapsed due to the success of British tea plantations in India. During the Qing and the early 20th century, many southern Fujianese emigrated to Taiwan and Southeast Asia, such as in the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, etc., spreading Hokkien language and culture overseas. Some 350,000 overseas Chinese currently trace their ancestry to Xiamen. Some of this diaspora later returned: an estimated 220,000 Xiamen residents are returning overseas Chinese and their kin. Accessed 11 June 2011 Others continue to help fund universities and cultural institutions in Xiamen.

At the time of the Xinhai Revolution, the native population of the city was estimated at 300,000 and the foreign settlement at 280. After the establishment of the Republic of China, the area around Xiamen was renamed Siming County. Xiamen's trade during the period was largely conducted through Taiwan, which had been seized by Japan during the First Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese subsequently claimed Fujian as their sphere of influence during the colonial squabbling over China. Japan occupied Xiamen Island from May 1938 to September 1945 during World War II. During the Japanese occupation, the city provided some shipments of rice to the Portuguese Colony of Macau. In the late phases of the Chinese Civil War that followed, the Communists captured Xiamen and Gulangyu in October 1949 but failed to capture Kinmen. The same year, Xiamen became a provincially administered city ().

In 1955 and 1958, mainland China escalated Cold War political tensions by shelling nearby islands from Xiamen in what became known as the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. The Nationalists responded by reinforcing Kinmen and shelling Xiamen. The Gaoji Causeway built from 1955 to 1957 notionally transformed Xiamen Island into a peninsula, and so it was termed in the heady propaganda of the time. Due to political tensions, the eastern half of Xiamen Island and much of the Fujian Coast facing the offshore islands remained undeveloped in the 1960s and 1970s. The Water Police and Post-Office were situated directly across the water from the American embassy.

When Deng Xiaoping initiated his Opening Up Policy, Xiamen was made one of the first four special economic zones in 1980, with special investment and trade regulations attracting foreign investment, particularly from overseas Chinese. The construction of Huli Export Processing Zone in Xiamen Special Economic Zone was officially started on 15 October 1981. In 1984, Xiamen Special Economic Zone was expanded from an area of 2.5 square kilometers of Huli to 131 square kilometers of the whole island. The city grew and prospered. In June 2010, Xiamen Special Economic Zone was expanded to the whole Xiamen city, and four districts outside Xiamen Island – including Jimei, Haicang, Tongan and Xiang'an – were included into the zone. After this expansion, the area of Xiamen Special Economic Zone reached 1,573 square kilometers, 11 times larger than before.

On 18 April 1988, Xiamen was promoted to sub-provincial status and began to be specially considered in China's state planning.

Answering the call of the Belt and Road Initiative, Xiamen has focused on dealing with international competition with a more confident attitude and to facilitate the construction of the important hub city of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

In 2001, the governments of mainland China and Taiwan agreed to initiate the " Three Mini-Links" and restored ferry, commercial, and mail links between the mainland and offshore islands. Trade and travel between Xiamen and Kinmen was restored and later expanded to include direct air travel to Taiwan Island. In 2010, travelers between Xiamen and Kinmen made 1.31 million trips.

In 2006, Xiamen was ranked as China's 2nd-"most suitable city for living", as well as China's "most romantic leisure city" in 2011.

Demographics

A large number of the populace are migrants.

According to the 2020 Census, Xiamen has a population of 5,163,970 inhabitants. According to the 2010 Census, Xiamen has a population of 3,531,347 inhabitants, almost 1.8 times the population counted for the last census in 2000 (which was of 2,053,070 inhabitants). The annual average population growth was of 5.57% for the period 2000–2010. This masks the population explosion in Jimei District, however, which quadrupled since the prior census; Huli District's population more than doubled. The resident population was 1,967,800 in 2013 yearend, and with a population of 3.73 million (those residing at least half a year). The total resident population is said to be 4,255,000 in December 2014, without specifying what counts as a resident.

By the end of 2016, the resident population of Xiamen has reached 3.92 million, the majority being Han people. There are also some ethnic minorities such as She and Hui. Xiamen is also the famous hometown of overseas Chinese with a sizable population of overseas Chinese, returned overseas Chinese and relatives of overseas Chinese.

Languages

As with all of China, the official language is Mandarin. Migrants of non-Hokkien ancestry usually speak Mandarin and/or their inherent tongues.

The indigenous language is Hokkien, a subgroup of Southern Min, with the Tong'an dialect being the most populous and prevalent. The Xiamen dialect is mostly defined to the southwest quarter of Xiamen Island, while the Zhangzhou dialect is spoken in a section of Haicang District.

The English words "Amoy", "tea" (), " cumshaw" (), "pekoe" (), kowtow (), and "ketchup" () are derived from the local Hokkien.

Religion

The first evidence of organised religion existed in the area was dated to Sui dynasty when Buddhism was first spread to Tong'an region and spread to Xiamen Island during Tang dynasty. In the 19th century, Xiamen proper had two Dutch Reformed and two LMS churches. Xiamen Island was home to three Dutch Reformed missions at "Kang-thau", "Kio-than", and "Chhan-chhu-oa".

Administration

Xiamen is a sub-provincial city of Fujian with direct jurisdiction over 6 districts.

In May 2003, Gulangyu and Kaiyuan districts were merged into Siming District; Xinglin District () was merged into Jimei District; and Xiang'an District was created out of a section of Tong'an District.

Economy

Xiamen has a diverse and well-developed economy. It is the first to refer to the business environment indexes of the World Bank with the aim of creating world's first-rated business environment. In 2018, its business environment ranked 2nd among 22 cities across the country that was evaluated by the National Development and Reform Commission. Its measures in areas such as dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, and trading across borders take the lead in the country.

Its social credit system has been improved. In 2018, its overall credit index ranked 2nd among 36 provincial capitals and sub-provincial cities and above.

The Siming and Huli districts form its Special Economic Zone.

Xiamen focuses on the development of five major industries – electronic information, equipment manufacturing, tourism and culture, modern logistics, and financial services.

The city strives to build more than 10 industrial chains, each with an output value of 100 billion yuan ($14.71 billion), including panel displays, computer and communication equipment, semiconductors and integrated circuits, software and information services, machinery and equipment, new materials, tourism and exhibitions, cultural creativity, modern logistics, financial services, biological medicine and urban modern agriculture.

Xiamen's GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 15.4 percent since China's reform and opening-up four decades ago. In 2018, per capita GDP: 118,015 yuan ($17,105); per capita disposable income: 50,948 yuan; public financial budget revenue: 128.3 billion yuan; 1,626 hi-tech enterprises, accounting for 44 percent of the total number of Fujian province; 600.5 billion yuan of total foreign trade value; degree of dependence on foreign trade has reached 125 percent.

By the end of 2018, Xiamen brought in a total of 14,818 foreign-invested projects; contractual foreign investments: $66 billion, actual foreign investments: $37.9 billion; 62 overseas Fortune 500 companies invested in 112 projects in Xiamen.

The city has economic and trade relations with 162 countries and regions worldwide, and benefits from foreign investment, particularly capital from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, US, Japan, Switzerland, Malaysia, Philippines, Germany and UK.

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.

Xiamen also hold Straits Forum annually. The 2019 edition kicked off in the coastal city from 15 to 21 June. More than 10,000 people attended the annual forum this year.

Financial services

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

Various foreign banks that have established representative offices in Xiamen.

There are more than 600 financial institutions in operation in Xiamen.

Development zones

Haicang Investment Zone () 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 Investment Zone is the largest national investment zone for Taiwan business people authorized by the State Council in 1989. It is situated close to Xiamen Port. The zone aims at becoming a new port area, a new industrial area and a sub-center of greater Xiamen in the 21st century. It is divided into the following four functional areas in line with its overall plan: Haicang Port Area, Xinyang Industrial Area, Southern Industrial Area and Haicang New Urban Area.

Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone () is located in the northwest part of Xiamen, within the area of Dongdu port. Near No 319 national road and Yingxia railway, it is connected with Gaoqi International Airport. On 15 October 1992, the State Council approved establishment of the zone with an area of 5 square kilometers; the first phase covers 0.63 square kilometers and was put into operation on 28 November 1993. It is the most modern international logistics zone in the southeast part of China.

Xiamen Torch Development Zone for High Technology Industries () was jointly established by the former State Scientific and Technological Commission and the Xiamen municipal government in 1990 and has gradually developed into "one zone with multi parks". A favorable investment environment and high returns has made the zone into a hot spot for foreign investment. Bourns Inc. of the United States concluded the zone the most ideal target for foreign investors in China. Some of the world's top 500 companies such as Dell, ABB Switch, ABB Low-Voltage, ABB High-Voltage, Panasonic, FDK, Xiamen Tungaloy, and Fujitsu are rapidly expanding their operations in Xiamen. The zone is oriented towards information technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, oceanology, advanced manufacturing, and environment technology. Most of its exports go to countries and areas such as the US, Japan, Southeast Asia, West Europe, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Hi-tech exports include computers, color monitors, microscopes, power supply units, integrated circuits, stepping motors, wireless telephones, switching equipment, tungsten carbide micro-drills, and similar products.

Key industries

Panel display industry

Xiamen is one of China's regions with rapid development of the TFT liquid crystal display (LCD) industry. Its industrial scale ranks sixth in the country and is the only pilot city with a national optoelectronic display industrial cluster. The city also has the largest R&D and production base of touch screen modules in the world. Xiamen's panel display industry reached an output value of 131.5 billion yuan in 2018, forming a complete industrial chain layout. Industrial parks include Xiamen Tongan Xiang'an Hi-tech Industrial Base and Xiamen Torch Hi-Tech Industrial Zone (Xiang'an).

Computer and communication equipment industry

Xiamen has gathered integrated manufacturing enterprises in such fields as complete computers, mobile phones, mobile phone lenses, micro motors, flexible circuit boards, bluetooth and wireless access equipment, and positioning and navigation sensors, as well assupporting enterprises of basic components, accessories, external equipment and IT services. The complete machine brand has global influence. The industry reached an output value of 120.4 billion yuan ($17.68 billion) in 2018. Industrial parks include Xiamen Tongan Xiang'an Hi-tech Industrial Base and Xiamen Torch Hi-Tech Industrial Zone (Xiang'an).

Semiconductor and integrated circuits industry

Xiamen is home to more than 200 integrated circuit (IC) enterprises which form an industrial chain covering IC design, manufacturing, testing, equipment and materials as well as applications. Xiamen's IC industry reached an output value of 41.7 billion yuan ($6.11 billion) in 2018. Industrial parks include Xiamen Tongan Xiang'an Hi-tech Industrial Base, Xiamen Science and Technology Innovation Park, Xiamen Haicang Information Industrial Park, and Xiamen IC Strait Free Trade Zone Industrial Base.

Software and information services industry

The software and information services industry in Xiamen covers various fields including the platform economy, industrial application software, animation and games and cloud computing and information security. The city has won the title of "China's Characteristic City in Software". The industrial output value of Xiamen's software and information services industry in 2018 reached 149.3 billion yuan ($21.78 billion), with Xiamen Software Park accounting for 67 percent of that figure.

Machinery and equipment industry

Xiamen's machinery and equipment industry covers five industrial sectors – large and medium-sized passenger cars, power transmission and distribution equipment, aviation maintenance, engineering machinery and shipbuilding, with an output value of 103.7 billion yuan ($15.13 billion) in 2018. Industrial parks include Xiamen Machinery industry concentration area, Xiamen Torch Power Transmission and Distribution Industry Base, Xiamen Haicang Ship Industrial Zone, Xiamen Aviation Industrial Zone, and Xiamen Airport Industrial Zone.

New materials industry

Xiamen's new materials industry is dominated by special metal materials and advanced polymer materials, including photoelectric information materials, new energy, energy saving and environmental protection materials, and advanced carbon nanomaterials. The industry reached an output value of 88.9 billion yuan ($12.95 billion) in 2018. Industrial parks include Xiamen Tongan Xiang'an Hi-tech Industrial Base and Xiamen Torch Hi-Tech Industrial Zone (Xiang'an).

Tourism industry

Xiamen has been honored as the Top Tourist City in China, a Demonstration City of Tourism and Leisure in China and one of China's most romantic leisure cities. The holiday tourism popularity and tourist satisfaction in Xiamen has long been at the forefront in China, and its inbound tourism and foreign exchange earnings have been ranked in China's top 10. The number of people going to Taiwan via Xiamen Port ranks first in China.

Exhibition industry

In 2018, Xiamen held a total of 229 exhibitions, with a total exhibition area of 2.38 million square meters, up 8.6 percent year-on-year. The hotels and conference centers in the city hosted 9,262 commercial meetings with more than 50 people attending, up 12.1 percent year-on-year. The total number of participants from home and abroad to Xiamen reached 1.88 million, with a year-on-year increase of 12.1 percent. The total revenue of the exhibition industry in Xiamen reached 40.3 billion yuan ($5.86 billion). Industrial parks include Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center, Xiamen International Conference Center, Xiamen Fliport Conference & Exhibition Center, and Xiamen east sports exhibition area (under construction).

Culture and creativity industry

Xiamen has seen rapid development in creative design, the film industry and high-end artworks in recent years. The city was listed among the first National Culture Export Bases and is home to the world's third Red Dot Design Museum. Also, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, one of the top events in China's film industry, is to be presented in Xiamen once every two years for the 10 years following 2019. The total revenue of Xiamen's culture and creativity industry reached 104 billion yuan ($15.13 billion) in 2018. Industrial parks include National demonstration base for the integration of culture and science and technology, National Fujian and Taiwan cultural industry experimental park, Longshan cultural and creative industrial park, Huli creative industrial park, Jimeiji film and television industrial park, Tongan cultural industrial park, and Cross-Straits architectural design cultural and creative park.

Modern logistics industry

Xiamen has been approved as a national modern logistics innovation and development city, a national cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone, a smart logistics city and a logistics standardization pilot zone, and a demonstration city for the standardization of cold chain circulation of agricultural products. In 2018, the modern logistics industry in Xiamen achieved an output value of 118 billion yuan ($17.17 billion). And Xiamen port ranked 7th in China and 14th in the world in terms of container throughput. Xiamen has formed a freight hub integrating the southeast coastal area highways and railroads. There are five logistics industry agglomeration areas in Xiamen: Haicang and Dongdu port-surrounding areas, Qianchang, Tongan and Xiang'an.

Financial services industry

In 2018, Xiamen's total revenue of financial services reached 152.9 billion yuan ($22.24 billion), and added value accumulated to 52.4 billion yuan. Industrial parks include Xiamen cross-Straits financial center and Xiamen Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

Bio-medicine and health industry

Xiamen is a pilot city for the regional agglomeration of emerging industries in bio-medicine, with a total output value of 58.9 billion yuan ($8.56 billion) in 2018. A total of 241 State-level high-tech enterprises have settled in the city. Xiamen Biobay is the incubation center for local bio-medicine achievements.

Urban modern agriculture industry

Urban modern agriculture in Xiamen covers the planting industry, animal husbandry, agricultural and sideline products, the food processing industry, rural tourism and ecological leisure agriculture. In 2018, Xiamen's agricultural product processing developed steadily, with 44 leading agricultural industrialization enterprises generating sales revenue of 55.3 billion yuan ($8.05 billion). Industrial parks include Xiamen cross-Straits agricultural high-tech park, Xiamen Tongan National Agricultural Science and Technology Park, Xiamen Tongan light industry food industrial park, Agricultural and sideline products logistics center of southern Fujian, and Leisure agriculture areas including Xiangshan, Damaoshan and Zhubawuxian.

Automotive

Sanyang Motor's subsidiary Xiamen Xiashing Motorcycle Company, Limited operates an ODM/Original equipment manufacturer motorcycle parts manufacturing plant in Xiamen. The products are manufactured to support French-based Peugeot Motocycles and Korean-based S&T.

Transportation

Local transportation

The Gaoji Causeway, five main road bridges (the Jimei, Xiamen, Xiang'an, Xinglin, and Haicang Bridges), and two undersea tunnels (Xiang'an Tunnel and Haicang Tunnel) link Xiamen Island with the mainland.

The main forms of public transportation in Xiamen are buses, bus rapid transit (BRT), and the subway. Local people now can use Alipay, a mobile payment application by Alibaba, to pay for the city's bus, subway, and BRT.

Taxis can be easily hailed in most areas of the city. Bicycles are commonly used by residents, especially on Xiamen Island. Unlike many Chinese cities, motorcycles, mopeds, tricycles, and wooden handcarts are not permitted in Xiamen Island (Siming and Huli). The city has upheld a ban on these vehicles since the 1990s. Electric bikes are permitted with proper licensing and obedience of traffic laws. On the small island of Gulangyu off Xiamen Island, automobiles are also banned.

Railway

Xiamen is a railway hub city in southeast coast of China and has two stations, Xiamen Railway Station and Xiamen North Railway Station. Passengers can buy the tickets on www.12306.cn.

Xiamen is served by the Yingtan–Xiamen railway, Fuzhou–Xiamen railway, Longyan–Xiamen railway and the Xiamen–Shenzhen railway, which are connected to China's national railway network and make it possible for passengers to arrive in Shanghai in five hours, Shenzhen in three-hour, and Fuzhou in two hours. Currently, the Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway between Fuzhou and Xiamen and an intercity rail transit connecting Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou are under plan.

The Xiamen Railway Station on the island of Xiamen is connected to the mainland by a railway bridge. It is 10 km from Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport, 23 km from Xiamen North railway station and 7 km from Nanputuo Temple. First opened in 1957, it underwent major reconstruction and expansion in March 2014 and was put into service again on 4 February 2015.

The Xiamen North Railway Station is located in Jimei District. In operation since April 2010, the station is 13 kilometers from Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport and 23 km from Xiamen Railway Station. The station operates bullet trains only. At present, its trains run to Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Nanjing, Shenzhen and other cities.

Road

The expressway networks of Xiamen and the mid-west area of Chinese mainland are connected seamlessly by Shenyang-Haikou Highway, Xiamen-Chengdu Highway, Xiamen-Shaxian Highway, and urban expressways.

Bridge

Xiamen Bridge, the first road bridge in China that crossed the straits, opened to public in 1991. Eight years later, Haicang Bridge was opened to traffic, which made it Asia's first and world's second suspension bridge with floating rebar at the time. In 2008, Xiamen built Jimei Bridge and Xinglin Bridge. Meanwhile, 14 roads for entry and exit at the north gate of Xiamen were added to the map. Moreover, there is the Xiang'an Bridge, scheduled to be opened to traffic in 2023, under construction. At present, Xiamen is working on a road system containing two inner and outer ring roads as well as eight supplementary roads.

Submarine tunnel

In addition to bridges, tunnels also help Xiamen connect the inside and outside parts of the island. Xiang'an Tunnel is China's first submarine tunnel with large cross-section and is also the sixth route to access Xiamen Island. It was opened to traffic on 26 April 2010, with a total length of 8.695 km, of which the tunnel part covering 6.05 km connecting Xiaman Island and Xiang'an district. Moreover, there is the Haicang Tunnel, was opened to traffic on 17 June 2021. It has a total length of 7.102 km, of which the tunnel part covering 6.28 km. It set three interchange to connect Haicang and Huli districts.

Subway

Xiamen subway initiated construction on 1 April 2014 and was put into experimental operation on 31 December 2017. According to Xiamen's rail traffic planning approved by the central government, the city has three metro lines by 25 June 2021 and will also accelerate the construction of Metro Line 4 and 6, with a total length of 233 kilometers. The city will witness the rapid development of its subway traffic network. The Metro Line 1, 2 and 3 has currently started operation.

BRT

Xiamen BRT was put into operation on 31 August 2008. Its BRT system features a dedicated bus-only closed road system with stations and ticketing system similar to light rail. Most of the 115-kilometer (71 mi) BRT network consists of bus lanes along expressways and elevated BRT viaducts on Xiamen Island. BRT routes have no traffic lights and travel speed is limited by design to 60 kilometers per hour (37 mph). Nine BRT routes are currently in service, including 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 busses. 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. Fare discount is available when pre-paid e-card is used.

Cycle-way

As early as 2013, Haicang built a 13.4-kilometer-long green cycle-way outside Xiamen Island, making it the first district in the city to fulfill a public bicycle system. At the beginning of 2017, Xiamen built the country's first and the world's longest aerial cycle-way. The white hollow guardrails with 1.5 meters high on both sides won't make people "fear of height" or cause any impact on the vision.

Air

The Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (IATA: XMN; ICAO: ZSAM) in northeastern Xiamen Island is a main air hub in East China with flights to over 90 domestic and international destinations. Among airports in China, Xiamen ranked the top 14th in 2020. It handled 27.413363 million passengers in 2019, up 3.2% year-on-year. Total cargo and mail traffic reached 330,511.6 tons, and air traffic exceeded 192,929, year-on-year growth of -4.35% and -0.24%, respectively. The airport is the headquarters hub of XiamenAir, and hub of Shandong Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.

Xiamen has now launched 187 routes to 128 cities, and is developing into an international air transit hub covering Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania. It has direct flights to most cities in China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and major cities in East Asia like Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Seoul. Intercontinental flights to Amsterdam, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, Seattle(stopover Shenzhen), Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris started from 2011. Xiamen also holds a strong network to Southeast Asian cities like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Cebu, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Phuket Island, Bali, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, and Sabah, to serve the large communities of southern Fujian's overseas diaspora and the increasing tourism flows.

There are also coach bus services connecting Xiamen with Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). Australasia's mass-transit provider SkyBus is deepening its ties in Asia by partnering with Xiamen Airlines.

Xiamen began offering 144-hour visa-free transit services to foreign travelers from 53 countries on 1 January 2019.

Sea

Ferries

Xiamen has passenger ferry services to cities along the coast of China as well as the neighbouring island of Kinmen (Quemoy) to the east, which is administered by the Republic of China on Taiwan. These ferries are all served from the Wutong Ferry Terminal to Shuitou Pier, Kinmen on the north-east side of the Xiamen Island (quite distant from downtown Xiamen), ferries to Kinmen take 60 minutes. There are facilities in both directions allowing for quick transfers between Xiamen Gaoqi Airport (for Mainland destinations) and Kinmen Airport (for Taiwanese destinations), which are very popular especially among large tour groups.

While the Heping Wharf Ferry Terminal on the south-west side of Xiamen Island offers short 5-minute boat rides to the island of Gulangyu, this ferry is only accessible by Xiamen residents. Tourists and non-locals must now take a longer 20-minute ferry ride from the main International Ferry Terminal, also called the Dongdu International Terminal, on the south-west side of Xiamen Island, as of 20 October 2014 with a fare increase from 8RMB to 35RMB. The purpose was to reduce the number of tourists accessing the island in an effort to conserve it. This terminal used to have ferries, taking 90 minutes, to Kinmen Island but were ceased in 2014.

Port

The historic port of Xiamen in Yundang Bay on the southwest side of Xiamen Island has been converted into a lake by land reclamation projects.

The present-day Port of Xiamen lies on the northwestern shore of Xiamen Island, opposite its airport, and at eleven other sites around Xiamen Bay and along the Jiulong estuary, including the neighboring jurisdiction of Zhangzhou. The port facilities are interconnected by ship, road, and rail. The port has been one of the busiest in China since the early 1980s and is serviced by all of the 20 largest shipping lines in the world. In 2021, Xiamen ranked among the top 13 ports in the world for container freight.

The natural coastline in the port area is while the water is over in depth. There are 81 berths, including 16 deep-water berths, of which 6 operate containers of over 10,000 tonnes. Among other cargoes handled, Xiamen is the world's largest supply base for raw tungsten materials and sunglasses, exporting 120 million pairs each year.

Xiamen is also an important base in Fujian province for making

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases