"Amoy Magic -- Xiamen and Fujian Travel" Amoybill's Profile

Back in 1988 my wife, two sons, and I took the slow boat to Xiamen--and have been here ever since!
In 1992, we became Fujian's 1st foreign permanent residents, and have fallen in love with Amoy, Fujian, and China.
To learn more about Xiamen and Fujian, visit my wife's website at AMOYMAGIC.COM! It covers things like Fujian Cuisine, and such Xiamen sites as Xiamen University, Gulangyu Island, Koxinga museum, Jimei tourist spots--as well asa little about our favorite Fujian haunts, Sue's still working on the site, but our favorites include: Ningde (Taimu Mountain, Zhouning Carp Village, Nine Dragon Falls), Wuyi Mountain, Sanming (great food, scenery, Hakka culture, and large ruby and sapphire mines), Yongding earthen Hakka roundhouses, Longyan's Changting (Little Red Shanghai), and Liancheng Mountain, Quanzhou (Marco Polo's ancient Zayton), Anxi (famed for tea), Chongwu (walled city and Hui'an Maidens), Zhangzhou (flower city), Longhai volcano (great beach!), deng deng.

Taken on 1994 40,000 km drive in "Toy Ota"

In 1994, my wife, two small sons and I drove our van, TOY 'OTA, over 40,000 Km around China, from Xiamen up the coast to Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao, Beijing, Mongolia, through the Gobi Desert to Xi'an, down the Silk Road (not all that silky) to Xining in Qinghai, then Lhasa in Tibet, and back to Xiamen via Chengdu, Kunming, Guiyang, Guilin, and Guangdong.

The Fujian Adventure!

One could spend a lifetime traveling China, but the best place has to be Fujian--China's biggest province. (Well, it would be if someone flattened it!).

Fujianese say Fujian is 8 parts mountain, 1 part water, 1 part land. Our vertical province's tortuous topography made travel a bear up until the 20th century--but it also created a province rich in varied cultures and more dialects than any other province--including the Minnan Dialect (same as that in Taiwan), which scholars say is closer than Mandarin (Putonghua) in pronunciation to the language 2000 years ago. I believe it. It will take me 2000 more years to learn it.

Quanzhou Sites

Fujian was the birthplace of China's seafaring ships over 2,000 years ago, so it was fitting the Silk Road of the Sea began here in Quanzhou (ancient Zayton, rivaling Alexandria, Egypt as the largest port in the world). One ship could carry as much as 700 camels (and camels did not spit in your eye). Zhenghe visited Fuzhou and Quanzhou.

UNESCO has called Quanzhou a "World Museum of Religions." This "Jerusalem of Asia" had every religion, from Islam, Nestorianism and Catholicism to Tibetan Buddhism and Jainism. It is also a home to Chinese puppetry, S. Shaolin Kung Fu, deng deng (Chinese for "etcetera").

Favorite Fujian Bridges

Fujian was the bridge between China and the rest of the world. And... Fujian has some of the most unique bridges, including beautiful wooden covered bridges, and the longest ancient stone bridges in the world. Luoyang Bridge use biological engineering 900 years ago! Live oysters' secretions helped cement the granite blocks together. My favorite bridges, in order, are Luoyang Bridge, Anping Bridge, and the awesome covered bridges in Ningde, Wuyi Mountain, Sanming, and Longyan.
The photo in the lower left was taken by Babushka (Hu Xiaogang) in Changting.

Americans say "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach," and that's true (mostly). That's another reason I love China.
When asked by a reporter why I became Permanent Resident in China, I said, "Because Chinese food is too expensive in America." And Fujian, fortunately, has a rich variety of foods. In addition to Fujian Cuisine, we have Hakka cuisine, Shaxian snacks, Xiamen seafood, and Fuzhou's famous "Monk climbs the wall" soup. (I hope it doesn't have monk in it).

Our Home--Xiamen University

My favorite place in China is Fujian, and the best place in Fujian is Xiamen (Amoy)--winner of the Gold Medal in the 2002 "Nations in Bloom" competition in Stuttgart, Germany.
Xiamen is truly a beautiful place to visit, or work. (especially if you work at Xiamen University, which has to be the prettiest campus in China).
Drop by for a visit--and visit Xiamen MBA Center, where I've taught since 1989 (we gave out the first MBA degrees in China--beat Nankai University by one week!).
Enjoy Amoy!

Sue, Matthew, Shannon, Bill

Feel Free to visit Susan Marie's website, AMOYMAGIC.COM. Any questions? Write Sue at amoysue@yahoo.com, or Bill at chinabrown1@yahoo.com