Down Fujian Way

Just back from Xiamen (sometimes known as Amoy) just across the Taiwan Strait from Taiwan. This seaside city in Fujian Province is actually an island just off the Chinese mainland. A small island called Gulangyu, just a 10-minute ferry ride from Xiamen, used to be the foreigner enclave and location of many foreign consulates. Today, Gulangyu is a tourist attraction because the old European-style archetecture has been preserved and bicycles and cars banned from the island. Tree-lined lanes crisscross the island and lead from one historic building or site to another. I hope to get back to Xiamen on a leisure trip because Gulangyu would be worth a stay of 2-3 days.

My 36-hour impression of Xiamen:

Police at the airport actually stop taxis and make passengers that skipped the taxi queue get out of the taxi and get in the back of the line! I've never seen that happen in Shanghai.

While it's hotter than Shanghai there is an ocean breeze.

There are beaches - I saw them from the taxi as I whizzed between appointments.

The old downtown has been preserved rather than destroyed. The coastline is beautiful and well-organized. The area around the train station is an ugly mess. The Wal-Mart is a mess.

Not counting the trade show I went to, I only saw two other Westerners during my time in the city.

Car horn honking is banned in the city - and almost universally obeyed!

There was a big demonstration in the city back in June over a chemical plant a Taiwanese company had started to build near the city. The construction has been halted temporarily but people in the city are still abuzz about it. The story is off limits to the media in China.