Xiamen

Introduction

Xiamen

© All Rights Reserved JohnVosler

Xiamen is a city in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian and has about 2.5 million inhabitants. The city is often overlooked by many travellers, but it is actually one of the most liveable cities throughout the countries and has its fair share of attractions. The climate is just one of them, although this area can be hit severe by typhoons.

Neighbourhoods

There are 6 districts:

• Huli-qu
• Siming-qu
• Haicang-qu
• Jimei-qu
• Tong'an-qu
• Xiang'an-qu

Sights and Activities

• Gulangyu island
• Xiamen Botanical Garden
• Buddhist Nanputuo Temple
• View of Kinmen island, Taiwanese territory
• Yuandang Lak
• Bailuzhou Park
• Jiageng Park
• Night markets
• Zengcuoan Village
• Kaihe road wet market (one of the biggest open air markets in China)

Events and Festivals

Weather

Xiamen has a subtropical climate with generally warm and humid conditions. Summers last from June to September when average daytime temperatures are mostly between 30 and 32 °C, while nights are balmy at 23-25 °C. The absolute record is 39 °C, which combined with the high humidity can feel very oppressive. From December to March it is between 17 and 20 °C during the day and 10-12 °C at night. This is also the driest time of year, although from March onwards rains starts to increase. April to September is the wettest time of the year with almost 200mm a month on average. This is also the season when typhoons can hit the city and an average of 4 to 5 a year have their influence.

Getting There

By Plane

Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN) serves the city and is the base of Xiamen Airlines which serves most Chinese cities, along with over a dozen of other Chinese airlines. The main cities all have direct connections, including Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Guilin, Hangzhou, Kunming, Nanjing, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Zhuhai, Wuhan, Shenyang and Nanning.
International connections include Jakarta, Macau, Hong Kong, Osaka, Tokyo, Manila, Penang, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Singapore and Bangkok, mostly with the respective international airlines of those countries.

Gulangyu Island

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By Train

There are direct passenger services available between Xiamen and Shanghai, Nanjing, Hefei, Fuzhou, Nanchang and Yingtan. This link gives free access to a quick reference timetable of Chinese trains. For a map of Chinese railroads, click here. Shanghai is 27 hours by train, Beijing 34 hours.

By Car

By Bus

Buses connect Xiamen with many regional cities and towns, as well as some cities further away. Trains are a better options for long-distance travel though. Express buses go to Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou (9-12 hours).

By Boat

A ferry service links Xiamen Island and Gulangyu Island. Since 2008, there are also ferries between Xiamen and the Taiwanese island of Kinmen.

Getting Around

By Car

Driving yourself is not possible, but there are hundreds of taxis available and fares are cheap.

By Public Transport

The Xiamen Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is the main form of public transport. The system uses buses along a 115 kilometres lon system of bus lanes.

By Foot

By Bike

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Xiamen university

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Work

Learn

• Xiamen University

Keep Connected

Internet

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

Post

China Post (中国邮政) is the official postal service of the People's Republic of China, operated by the State Postal Bureau of the People's Republic of China (website in Chinese only), and has more details about price to send letters, postcards and parcels, both domestically as well as internationally. The Chinese postal service is very good. Remember that in more remote places usually only one post office in a city can handle sending international boxes or letters. Also many times it might be worth having the name of the country you are trying to send to in Chinese characters. Post offices have a striking green logo and can easily be found everywhere in the cities. They are mostly open every day (including weekends!) from 8:00am to 6:00pm, though small offices might have shorter opening times, while the bigger ones in central and touristic areas are sometimes open during evenings as well.