Culture and history of Xiamen on a day tour

Bashi, the Eighth Seafood Market, is the largest and most popular fresh seafood market in the coastal city of Xiamen. Every day, the market features hundreds of vendors and stalls selling seafood, most of which is just caught from the sea. As Bashi is the closest market to the harbor, many fishermen send their harvest to sell in the market right away. For seafood lovers, there are crabs, fish, abalones, prawns, shrimp, lobsters and more, fresh and available at reasonable prices.

Hulishan Fortress is a key national historical and cultural site. One of the fortress's cannons was listed in the Guinness World Records. It's on the south of Xiamen Island at the top of Huli Hill, overlooking the sea. This fortress was built to protect the island from invasion. The fortress and artillery will be particularly interesting to history buffs.

Island Ring Road or Huandao Road is a city thoroughfare making a loop around Xiamen Island, Xiamen, Fujian, China. It passes through the districts of Siming District and Huli District. It is 43 kilometers long, and its number is County Route 401. Island Ring Road is 43 kilometers long. Construction of the road began in 1991 at a cost of 3.8 billion RMB, lasting for three weeks. Throughout its length, the road is either a four-lane divided highway or a six-lane divided highway.

Jimei is located in the north of Xiamen Special Economic Zone, 17 kilometers (about 11 miles) from the city center. It is opposite to Xiamen Island and is at the foot of Tianma Mountain facing the sea on three sides. Jimei is the hometown of Mr. Tan Kah Kee (Chen Jiageng) (1874-1961), a renowned educator and leader of overseas Chinese. Nowadays, Jimei is one of the four most popular tourist sites of Xiamen City, especially for its academic atmosphere as well as pretty natural and social sights. The most remarkable feature is without doubt the Jimei Study Village founded by Mr. Tan Kah Kee in 1913. It is the only one in China. It occupies an area of over 10 hectares (about 25 acres) on a variety of various levels and schools ranging from primary to higher education and from traditional to vocational schools. The magnificent scale of this project has no equal elsewhere in China.

South Putuo or Nanputuo is a famous Buddhist temple founded in the Tang dynasty in the Chinese city of Xiamen. It is so named because it is south of the Buddhist holy site Mount Putuo in Zhejiang Province. The South Putuo Temple is located on the southeast of Xiamen Island. It is surrounded by the graceful sea and the Wulao Peaks behind the temple. The Wulao peaks is a small mountain range that rises on the island. It enjoys a picturesque view of Xiamen and the surrounding district of Haicang, Gulangyu and Zhangzhou City. South Putuo Temple has many deep caves and verdant woods. It is adjacent to Xiamen University and Lu River.

Located at the southeast coast of China, Xiamen is a tourist city of Fujian Province famous for its attractive seascape. As one of the major seaports since ancient times, it boasts a wide gulf with deep water but without freezing and silting. The name was consequently given, which means 'the gate of China'. As one of the forerunners of the special economic zones of China, the city mainly consisting of Xiamen Island, Gulangyu Island, the north bank area of the Jiulong River and Tong'an County, is connected with the mainland by the Gaoji Seawall, Xiamen Bridge, etc. The city has been called the Egret Island because of the hundreds of thousands of egrets inhabiting there. This is due to the beautiful natural scenery, the fresh air and the clean environment of the city.

Zhongshan street is the nerve centre of Xiamen tourism. All tourists, travellers, visitors, how you may prefer to call them, they all come here at some point of their visit. It is said that more than a billion people pass here every year. More than a billion! Zhongshan Lu is the oldest commercial street in Xiamen dating back to 1925. It is a kilometre long walking street filled with pretty retail shops, big department stores, lots of cute cafes and contemporary and traditional cuisine restaurants, food courts and more retail shops. It is closed to any vehicular traffic and smoking is not allowed on the streets.