Text / photos by David Harrison Horton

Xiamen

Xiamen is a microcosm of the rest of China. There is rich Xiamen, and not so rich. There are old parts and new construction everywhere. There are quaint little alley restaurants and MacDonald's. They are rapidly developing while preserving remnants of their colonial past. In short, Xiamen is the embodiment of all the promise and contradictions facing modern Chinese cities.

James Rong from China Daily tells me Xiamen reminds him of his hometown, Bei Hai in Guangxi. "The coastal cities in China are all well developed. You can tell the economy here is good." I see his point, but if I had to compare Xiamen to another Chinese city – which always seems a dangerous and somewhat useless exercise – I might say it reminds me of Haikou on Hainan Island.

Shangguan Jun of the Xiamen Information Office says it is more like Shenzhen or Juhai, which are other "special economic zones" with special relationships with other "outside" areas of China. As Shenzhen is to Hong Kong, Xiamen is to Taiwan. The fact is omnipresent. Even at the beach, there's a huge lighted sign – think the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles – that simply states "One Country Two Systems One China," as if anyone around these parts would be likely to forget the Party line on this point.

Gulangyu Island

Ask any Chinese person about this island and they will immediately start talking about the many great Chinese musicians who have hailed from here. The island is one of the must-dos of any visit to Xiamen.

It's a 3 yuan ferry to get to the island. The bottom deck was packed, hot and relatively viewless. The top deck had seats and tables but were filled almost instantly. It was a short jaunt, but just long enough to start a conversation with an island resident. According to her, the population of the island has been officially capped by the government at 20,000 as a measure to fend off overdevelopment.

The first you'll notice when you step off the ferry is the army of tour groups. You will know them by their matching baseball caps and megaphone wielding leaders.

The buildings are mostly from the colonial era, a remnant of the concession era in Xiamen. The oldest building I saw was built in 1896, with most being built in the 1920s and 30s. Some are nicely preserved, while others stand in various stages of disrepair. These are after all people's real homes and not a sanitized historical museum. Ficus microcarpa trees line the alley ways, giving the area an even older feel to it.

Good signage points you towards points of interest. There's the former Japanese consulate, the legendary Xiamen music school . . . As you walk around, you'll find the island's concert hall. Its modern architecture looks like an old idea of what the future would look like and is at odds with its surroundings. The nearby building with a gold cross isn't a church but rather a nursing home for the elderly.

Of course, tourist shops line the streets selling more or less the same fare you'd find in any other southern coastal city.