Xiamen City Guide
Introduction
China Theme Tours
China Tour 2012
Muslim Travel
Total Eclipse Tour
China Tours
China Highlight Tour
Silk Road Exploration
Historic & Cultural Tours
Tibet Lhasa Travel
Lijiang Shangri-La Tour
Yangtze River Cruise
Popular City Tours
China Top City
beijing tours
Beijing
from $259
Shanghai Tours
Shanghai
from $96
Xian Tours
Xian
from $75
Lhasa Tours
Lhasa
from $289
Urumqi Tours
Urumqi
from $249
chongqing tours
Chongqing
from $189
Guilin Tours
Guilin
from $195
Guiyang Tours
Guiyang
from $219
Kunming Tours
Kunming
from $219

Tailor-made Tour

Home >> China Attractions >> Xiamen Attractions >> Gulangyu Island

Gulangyu Island

Gulangyu Islet, to the southwest of Xiamen Island, covers an area of 1.87 square kilometers. Its rugged Gulangyu Islandrocks, winding seacoast, undulating green hills and unique workings of Mother Nature create the beautiful and intriguing scenery. The islet's major scenic spots of Sunlight Rock, Shuzhuang Garden, and Haoyue Park are the most prominent tourist attractions. Gulangyu Islet lies in a subtropical marine monsoon climate zone, with plenty of precipitation, four warm seasons, and more than 90 families of over 4,000 varieties of evergreen plants as well as the Piptadenia macrocarpa Benth rarely seen in China, the largest Indian red sandalwood, and many varieties of rare and precious fruit trees transplanted from New Zealand. The is let's vegetation has become the top plant community because of its subtropical oceanic monsoon climate. Gulangyu Islet faces Jinmen (Quemoy) Island across the sea. The area of Xiamen Bay encircling Gulangyu Islet neighbors the Chinese White Dolphins Protected Area, Lancelet Protected Area , and the Dayu Islet Egrets Protected Area.

Prior to the Song Dynasty, Gulangyu was called "Round Sandy Islet"  and was overgrown with vegetation and without a trace of human habitation until the end of the Song and early in the Yuan Dynasties when a fishing family surnamed Li settled on opposite Songyu Islet. By the end of the Ming Dynasty the national hero Zheng Chenggong(known abroad as Koxinga) stationed his troops and trained his naval forces on the islet. In 1662, Zheng Chenggong led his troops eastward and recovered Taiwan, which had been occupied by the Dutch for 38 years. After the Opium War, Xiamen was opened as one of the five treaty ports for foreign trade. In 1902, a Municipal Council was elected on Gulangyu, and the islet became an International Settlement and thirteen countries set up consular residences there. During this particular period of time, foreigners and overseas Chinese made unprecedented heavy investments in the construction industry on Gulangyu Islet, resulting in a great variety of Gulangyu Islandarchitectural styles and a blending of Chinese and Western cultures, which transformed the densely constructed islet into a  "World Architectural Cocktail".

In the mid-19th century, with the dissemination of Christianity in China, Western musical culture became a part of Gulangyu Islet's elegant residential environment and created the fine musical tradition that Gulangyu Islet possesses today which has produced a great number of accomplished musicians such as Zhou Shu'an, Lin Junqing, Yin Chengzong, Chen Zuohuang and Xu Feiping. Today, Gulangyu Islet has more pianos per capita than any other places in China, and is home to over 100 families past and present who have been engaged in music, hence the China Musicians' Association decision to nickname Gulangyu as "Music Island".

The islet's relics commemorating historical personages include the unparalleled memorial to the national hero Zheng Chenggong. In spite of weathering over the years, a lot of precious historic stone carvings are still wellpreserved. The islet also has more than 60 personages'  residences and mausoleums such as Lin Qiaozhi, founder of China's obstetrics and gynecology; Lu Yizhang, forerunner of Chinese language modernization; Ma Yuehan, China's modern physical culture enlightenment educator, etc. With its graceful natural scenery and rich culture, the islet has become an important national historic interest and tourist attraction, and one of the top 35 scenic areas in China as well as one of the top 10 scenic areas in Fujian Province.
 

Xiamen Attractions
South Putuo Temple Jimei Gulangyu Island
Related Tours

 

 
Home | China Attractions | China Hotels | About Us | Contact Us | Site Maps
China Highlight Tour | Historic & Cultural Tour | Silk Road Exploration | Tibet Lhasa Travel | Lijiang-Shangrila Tour | Yangtze River Cruise
Beijing Tours | Chongqing Tours | Guilin Tours | Guiyang Tours | Kunming Tours | Lhasa Tours | Shanghai Tours | Urumqi Tours | Xian Tours
Copyright 1992-2018 Xian-Tours.cn. All Rights Reserved