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Xiamen is a coastal sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It looks out to the Taiwan Strait and borders Quanzhou to the north and Zhangzhou to the south.
Xiamen and the surrounding countryside are famous for being an ancestral home to overseas Chinese and one of China's earliest Special Economic Zones in the 1980s. It covers an area of 1 565 km2 with a local population of 5 million. It was recently named China's 2nd most livable city.
Administration
The subprovincial city of Xiamen administers 6 districts.
* Haicang District
* Huli District
* Jimei District
* Siming District
* Tong'an District
* Xiang'an District
The districts of Siming and Huli form the Special Economic Zone.
In May 2003, Gulangyu Island and Kaiyuan District 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
Since Xiamen Special Economic Zone was established, it has opened up to foreign direct investment and created many jobs, factories, export opportunities for local companies and multinational corporations. Xiamen benefits particularly from investment capital from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Xiamen's primary economic activities include fishing, shipbuilding, food processing, tanning, textiles, machine tool manufacturing, chemical industries, telecommunications, and financial services.
Xiamen is a favourite destination for foreign investors. By the end of 2000, a total of 4,991 projects with foreign direct investment had been approved in the city, with a contractual foreign investment amount of US$17.527 billion and an actual foreign investment amount of US$11.452 billion.
In 1992, Xiamen was ranked among the top 10 Chinese cities in relation to comprehensive strengths with its GDP increasing by an average of over 20% annually. In 2006, Xiamen's GDP amounted to 116.2 billion Yuan, an increase of 16.7% over the previous year; and the per-capita GDP was about US$6,546. Further economic reforms were introduced and this brought about a total volume of imports and exports in 2006 of US$32.8 billion, while that of exports totalled US$20.5 billion.
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.
Financial services
By Chinese standards, Xiamen has highly developed banking services. The biggest bank is the state-owned commercial bank, Sino-foreign joint venture Xiamen International Bank, and solely foreign-funded Xiamen City Commercial Bank.
Foreign banks that have established representative offices in Xiamen include:
* Hong Kong: Jiyou Bank, East Asia Bank, HSBC (China), Hang Seng Bank
* Singapore: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, United Overseas Bank
* US: Bank of the Orient, Citibank, Hartford Financial Services
* Europe: Standard Chartered Bank, Crédit Lyonnais
* Japan: Mizuho Bank
* Philippines: Commercial Bank, Allied Bank
* Thailand: Bangkok Bank
There are more than 600 financial institutions in operation in Xiamen. Retail and corporate customers in Xiamen have access to a wide variety of financial services and various financial services firm.
Geography
Xiamen comprises Xiamen Island (longitude 118° 04'04"E, latitude 24° 26'46" N.), Gulangyu Island, and a larger region along the mouth of the Jiulong River on the mainland. Huli District and most of Siming District (except Gulangyu) are on Xiamen Island, while the other four districts lie on the mainland. The Gaoji (Gaoqi-Jimei) Causeway built in 1955 has transformed Xiamen Island into a peninsula by linking it with the mainland.
Xiamen Island is located very close to the island of Quemoy (Kinmen), which is governed by the Republic of China (based on Taiwan).
Downtown Xiamen as seen from Gulangyu Island
Climate
Xiamen has a monsoonal Humid subtropical climate, a zone characterized by hot, humid summers and chilly to mild winters. The maximum temperature is 38.4c°and the minimum is 2c°. The annual rainfall averages 1 100 mm, and strong northeastern winds prevail.
Culture
The local vernacular is Amoy, a dialect of Southern Min, also called Hokkien. Amoy is widely used and understood across the southern region of Fujian province as well as overseas. While it is widely spoken in and around Xiamen, the Amoy dialect has no official status, and the official language of all government business is Mandarin.
Transportation
* Xiamen is served by the Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport, the base of Xiamen Airlines.
Currently, there are nine Asian cities that have direct flights to Xiamen. They are Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and Bangkok. Cities outside China's mainland that have direct flights to Xiamen are Hong Kong and Macau which are situated on Guangdong province's southern border.
* Taxi rides are available from the airport to the city. The taxi fare is around 30-40 RMB.
* A ferry service links Xiamen Island and Gulangyu Island.
* There are two major bridges linking Xiamen Island to the mainland.
There is also a bus service for 1 or 2 RMB. This is the main form of mass transit. Taxis are also common and can be easily hailed in most areas of the city.
Many people in the city also ride bicycles to get from place to place. Unlike in most Chinese cities, where motorcycles and mopeds are the major form of transportation, such vehicles are not allowed in Xiamen. Using car horns is also banned. These two laws make Xiamen's streets especially pleasant.
Tourism
Xiamen was recently voted China's cleanest city, and has many attractions for the tourist. Xiamen and its surrounding countryside provides spectacular scenery and pleasant tree-lined beaches. Gulangyu, also known as Piano Island, is a popular, peaceful weekend getaway with amazing views of the city. Xiamen's Botanical Garden is a nature lover's paradise. The Buddhist Nanputuo Temple, dating back to the Tang Dynasty, is a national treasure. Xiamen is also famous for its history as a frontline during the war with Kinmen (Quemoy) 50 years ago. One attraction for tourist is to view Jingmen island, a few kilometers away and under Taiwanese control, from Xiamen island.
Shopping
Xiamen has a wide variety of department stores. There are also supermarkets run by Metro and Wal-Mart and the SM Shopping Mall. There are also supermarkets on university campuses and they have delivery service for many goods. In the university campus, there are many bookstores. Both the supermarkets and bookstores open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. In Xiamen, there are also night markets.
