Xiamen
Discover Xiamen
Xiamen (厦门; Ē-mn̂g in Minnan, Xiàmén in Mandarin, former English name: Amoy) is a coastal city in Fujian Province in China. It is a very vibrant, affluent and modern place, though by Chinese standards it is a small city — only 5.1 million counting suburbs (2020). It has many non-Chinese residents and a range of restaurants, bars and stores that cater to them. The city also has several universities and some areas popular for tourism. The most important tourist area is Gulangyu, a small island close to downtown which contains some beautiful colonial buildings and is car free. It is now listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name Xiamen means "door to the house", referring to the city's centuries-old role as a gateway to China. Xiamen has been an important port for centuries, going back at least to the days of the Maritime Silk Road. It became one of China's earliest Special Economic Zones in 1980 and, like all those zones, has developed rapidly since then.
What to Experience in Xiamen
Taste of Xiamen...
For restaurant listings, see the district articles. Here we list some local specialties that may be worth looking for.
A Rich Past
Explore the historical roots that shaped Xiamen into what it is today.
The region has been inhabited since prehistoric times and Xiamen Island is mentioned in Han Dynasty records around the time of Christ. There has been a town in the area at least since the Song Dynasty, a thousand years ago. For most of that time, it was administratively a district of Quanzhou, which was historically the richest and most important city in Fujian. In the past couple of centuries, however, Xiamen has grown a great deal; now it is administered separately and is much more than just an appendage of Quanzhou. Until 1842, the Chinese Empire allowed Western "barbarians" to trade only in Guangzhou (then known as Canton), and only under strict controls. After China lost the First Opium War, Britain took Hong Kong and China was forced to open five Treaty Ports — Canton, Xiamen (then known as Amoy), Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai — to foreign trade, and to eliminate some of their restrictions. Trade boomed and these port cities developed very quickly. In Xiamen, the island Gulangyu became a foreign enclave with consulates and luxurious homes. Today it is a quiet area (no cars or motorcycles), five minutes by ferry from downtown, and remarkably scenic. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Fujian was a focus of missionary activity and there are many historic churches in the region. China's oldest Protestant church, the Xinjie Church, is in downtown Xiamen near the Ximing Road & Zhongshan Road intersection....
Climate
Xiamen is just one degree north of the Tropic of Cancer. The climate is subtropical, warm year round; even in the coldest winter months (January and February), the average nightly low is 10 °C (50 °F). Frost is extremely rare and the last time it snowed was a freak storm in 1893. It does get hot in summer; in July and August, average daily high and low are 32 and 25 °C (~ 90 and 77 °F), and it is often humid as well. There is a fair bit of rain; average is 1350 mm (~ 53 inches) a year. October to January are the driest months. Xiamen has cleaner air than many Chinese cities; it is right on the sea, there is not much heavy industry and almost no domestic heating with coal, and the city government is generally strict about pollution since it might drive away investment. Xiamen got an international award in a contest for most livable and environmentally aware cities in 2002; neighboring Quanzhou won the following year.
Essential Information
Getting There
Multiple OptionsXiamen has a major airport and good road and rail connections; it is easily reached from anywhere in China and many places beyond. If you are a citizen of Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, Russia, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, or the United States, you may be eligible to obtain a visa exemption to visit Xiamen only for up to 144 hours (6 days) if you are in transit to a third country (Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan count as separate countries with regard to this scheme)....
Getting Around & Staying
Getting Around
Local public transit is easiest to pay for with the Xiamen public transit mini-app on Alipay or WeChat. If you are planning on staying in Xiamen for a significant amount of time, you can also get an eKatong (e卡通) stored value card. It can be used in different forms of public transport not only in Xiamen, but also in the neighbouring cities of Quanzhou and Zhangzhou. The local bus system is very good, but the normal bus routes are listed in Chinese and do not have English on the signs. Signs in the BRT and Metro are bilingual in Chinese and English, while announcements are trilingual in Mandarin, Minnan and English. Taxis are cheap, starting at ¥8 (plus ¥3 fuel tax – so ¥11) for the first 3 km. After the first 3 km, the meter charge will go up based on distance. Although the meter may read with a decimal, most taxi drivers will round up. On the other hand, as anywhere in China, tipping is not expected.
Language & Talk
The main local language is called Minnan Hua (Southern Min speech) in Chinese, and in China usually just Minnan in English. It is also widespread in Southeast Asia, where it is known as Hokkien, and in Taiwan where it is called Taiwanese. All these variants are mutually intelligible and the Xiamen version is the standard, so Xiamen is an excellent place to learn Minnan. Minnan is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, Cantonese or even with other Min (Fujian) dialects, though it is partially mutually intelligible with Teochew, which is spoken across the border in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong province.
Safety Information
Nearby Destinations
Glimpses of Xiamen
shot on iPhone Xs
a view of a city and a body of water
a view of a city and a body of water
white and blue boat on water near city buildings during daytime
A view of a city and a body of water
a couple of tall buildings sitting in the middle of a body of water
a view of a city from a hill
China's Tulou House
a large body of water with a city in the background
a large body of water with a city in the background
shot on iPhone Xs
a view of a city and a body of water
a view of a city and a body of water