Visiting Gulangyu and old Amoy
Posted: February 4th, 2016 | No Comments »Noting a new guide to Xiamen (Amoy as was) from Robert Barge and Camphor Press as it contains a lot of good historical information on the city and former treaty port. Not least, its section on Gulangyu, which I visited in an age, but think fondly of the place often. Apparently, a lot has happened recently, including raising the entry price and the length of the boat trip to reduce visitor numbers, while some houses (which when I last viisted were often rather run down and you could walk through what felt like old Antebellum mansions that had been deserted) have been restored. Anyway, Mr. Barge has the low down and the details of how, when and where…..
Vibrant, modern, and drenched in history from centuries as a gateway to China, this garden city of two million is a hidden gem. When the author, Robert Barge, arrived in Xiamen to take up an engineering position, he was expecting a typical gray Chinese city; instead, what he found left such an impression that he was inspired to write this book, the first guide dedicated exclusively to Xiamen.
Explore Xiamen’s temples, markets, and old alleyways; stroll through gardens and traverse waterfront boardwalks; hike hills of subtropical forest for sweeping island views, and as night falls sample the street food around Zhongshan Road or watch the sunset over the mainland from seaside Haiwan Park; take a short ferry ride to Xiamen’s crown jewel, the car-free island of Gulangyu, with its beautiful colonial buildings and eccentric museums, and step back in time to the treaty port days when Xiamen was known to the world as Amoy.
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