About the City
Geography
Xiamencomprises Xiamen Island (longitude 118° 04' 04" E, latitude 24° 26'46" N), Gulangyu Island, and part of the rugged mainland coastal regionfrom the left bank of the Jiulong River in the west to the islands of Xiang'anin the northeast. The city centers on Xiamen Island, which is divided betweenHuli District and Siming District (which also encompasses Gulangyu). The city'sfour other districts, Haicang, Jimei, Tong'an and Xiang'an, are all located onthe mainland.
The Gaoji (Gaoqi-Jimei) Causeway built in 1955–1957 transformed Xiamen Island intoa peninsula (半岛), and so it wastermed in the heady propaganda of the time.
Justeast of Xiamen Island are the Jinmen Islands, also spelled "Kinmen"and known as "Quemoy". At their nearest points, Greater Jinmen isabout 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Xiamen Island and Lesser Jinmen, also knownas Lieyu, is about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) away. The Republic of China based inTaiwan govern the Jinmen Islands.
Climate
Xiamenhas a monsoonal humid subtropical climate (K?ppen Cfa), characterised by long,hot and humid summers and short, mild and dry winters. The warmest month isJuly, at 27.8 °C (82.0 °F), and oddly, the coolest month is February, at 12.4°C (54.3 °F). Spring, both by humidity and percentage of sunshine, is thedampest season but typhoons in late summer and early autumn can make the latterperiod wetter overall. Summer and autumn are marked by comparatively sunnyconditions, while autumn is warm and dry. The annual rainfall is 1,350millimetres (53 in). Frost occurs very rarely, and the last snowfall in thecity took place in January 1893, when snow also fell at Guangzhou, Macau, inthe inland parts of Hong Kong and in the hills of Taipei.
Transportation
Gao-Jiseawall, Four main road bridges, the Jimei, Xiamen, Xinglin and HaicangBridges, and one undersea tunnel, Xiangan Tunnel, link Xiamen Island with themainland.
Themain forms of public transportation in Xiamen are bus and Bus Rapid Transit(BRT). Xiamen's Bus Rapid Transit system features a dedicated bus-only closedroad system with stations and ticketing system similar to light rail. Most ofthe 115 kilometres (71 mi) BRT network consist of bus lanes along expresswaysand elevated BRT viaducts on Xiamen Island. BRT routes have no traffic lightsand travel speed is limited by design to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph). FiveBRT routes are currently in service: BRT-1 Route, BRT-2 Route, Huandao AvenueBRT Route, Chenggong Avenue BRT Route and Connecting BRT Route. The fare is 0.6RMB per km for the air-conditioned buses. The BRT is supplemented by 20 shuttlebus services that connect nearby places to the BRT stations. The shuttle busservice has a flat rate of 0.5 RMB. Fare discount is available when pre-paide-card is used.
Taxiscan be easily hailed in most areas of the city. Bicycles are commonly used byresidents, especially on Xiamen Island. Unlike most Chinese cities, motorcyclesand mopeds are not permitted in Xiamen.. On the small island of Gulangyu offXiamen Island, automobiles are also banned.
Road
TheFuzhou-Xiamen and Zhangzhou-Xiamen Express Highways link Xiamen with thehighway network of Fujian province and neighboring provinces Guangdong, Jiangxiand Zhejiang. There are also container freight services available betweenXiamen and Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Railways
Xiamenis served by the Yingtan-Xiamen Railway and the Fuzhou-Xiamen High-SpeedRailway, which are connected to China's national railway network. Directpassenger trains are available from Xiamen to Shanghai, Nanjing, Hefei, Fuzhou,Nanchang and Yingtan. The completion of the Longyan-Xiamen Railway and theXiamen-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway by 2012 will expand train service todestinations to the west and southwest.
TheXiamen Railway Station on the island of Xiamen is connected to the mainland bya railway bridge.
TheXiamen North Railway Station is located in Jimei District.
TheXiamen Gaoqi Railway Station is located in Huli District.
Air
TheXiamen Gaoqi International Airport on the island of Xiamen is a main air hub inEast China with flights to over 60 domestic and international destinations.Among airports in China, Gaoqi ranked among the top 11 for passenger traffic,top 9 for cargo traffic and top 10 for air traffic. It can handle 27 millionpassengers and 666,666 tons of cargo annually. The airport is the headquarterhub of Xiamen Airlines.
Xiamenhas direct flights to most major cities in China and the Chinese specialadministrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao. Flights to Amsterdam, Bangkok,Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, and Singapore, connect Xiamen with largecommunities of southern Fujian's overseas diaspora. The city also directflights to international commercial hubs Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, Seoul andAmsterdam, which commenced on 29 March 2011. Xiamen also has direct flights toTaipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung on Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait. SomeTaiwanese travelers will fly to nearby Jinmen and take the ferry to Xiamen.
Gaoqi Airport is located on the northern coast of Xiamen Island. A cab ride fromdowntown to the airport can take as little as ten minutes.
Sea
Passenger Ferry
Xiamenhas passenger ferry service to cities along the coast of China as well as theneighboring island of Jinmen (Kinmen) to the east, which is administered by theRepublic of China on Taiwan. From the main International Ferry Terminal, alsocalled the Dongdu Terminal, on the southwest side of Xiamen Island, ferries toJinmen take 90 minutes. From the Wutong Ferry Terminal on the northeast side ofthe Xiamen Island, ferries to Jinmen take 60 minutes. Both terminals offernumerous ferries per day. The Heping Wharf Ferry Terminal on the southwest sideof Xiamen Island offers short boat rides to the island of Gulangyu.
Xiamen Port
ThePort of Xiamen is a large deepwater port situated on the northern part ofXiamen Island. It has an excellent natural harbour and well connected to themainland by road and rail. The Port of Xiamen has since the early 1980s beenone of the busiest in China. In 2011, the Port of Xiamen ranked among the top18 ports in the world for container freight.
Thenatural coastline in the port area is 64.5 kilometres (40.1 mi) while the wateris over 12 m in depth. There are 81 berths for vessels of large, medium orsmall tonnage, including 16 deep-water berths, of which 6 operate containers ofover 10,000 tonnes. Among other cargoes handled, Xiamen is the world's largestsupply base for raw tungsten materials. It is the world's largest sunglassesmanufacturing base, exporting 120 million pairs each year.
Xiamenis also an important base in Fujian province for making medium-sized and largemodern container vessels and yachts
Culture
The local vernacular is Amoy, a dialect of Southern Min (閩南), also calledHokkien. Amoy is widely used and understood across the southern region ofFujian province as well as overseas. While it is widely spoken in and aroundXiamen, the Amoy dialect has no official status, and the official language ofall government business is Mandarin. Xiamen is famous for South Music, XiamenPhilharmonic Orchestra, puppet show, Gezi Opera and temple celebration events.
At a glance
Xiamen University
TCity Tree: Flame Tree
City Flower: Bougainvillea
City Bird: Egret
Awards:
"The Habitat Scroll of Honour Award"
"International Garden City"
"National Excellent City for Tourism"
"National Model City for Environmental Protection"
"National Sanitary City"
"National Garden City"