AN AMERICAN IN CHINA: 1936-39 A Memoir

China National Tourist Office

Amoy (now Xiamen)

Amoy, now called Xiamen, consists of two islands, Amoy City and Kulangsu. Amoy was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing (signed in 1842) at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China.

Today, as before, Kulangsu, (now Gulangyu) in color panorama above, is only reached by ferry, and no cars or bicycles are allowed.

Much of the Western architecture in Kulangsu, where the foreigners lived, survives, if in a slightly worn state, adding to the allure of this tiny tropical island cooled by trade winds.

Amoy was the port of trade first used by Europeans in 1541 and was China's main port in the 19th century for exporting tea.

The Japanese captured Amoy in May 1938. Two months prior, the author, en route from Shanghai to Hong Kong on a Dutch steamer, writes:

There seems to be some trouble at Amoy, our stop on the way to Hong Kong, and just after sailing from Shanghai, our ship received advice from the Japanese by wireless not to put into Amoy harbor until Saturday morning. As a result we are running very slowly not to reach there ahead of time.

The weather was perfect and the sea was a fine bright blue. On our right we could see the coastal mountains on the mainland, and as we lazed along toward Amoy in an ever-increasing warmth and balminess, life seemed perfect. Picturesque fishing junks were all about, and every now and then we sighted a coast ship and twice, large Japanese destroyers.

 

 

 

Because the numerous churches, missions and religious centers that existed when Kulangsu was under foreign control had pianos, that instrument became an important part of social life. This tradition is still alive today and Kulangsu is called the Island of Music: it has the highest number of pianos per capita in China: one in every five homes has one. So the chief sound that the visitor hears walking around the island is the tinkering of budding pianists.

For pictures of this sensational coastal city today, surely one of the world's most orderly, judging from
the photos, visit Skyscraper City Web site