Susan Marie Brown, Amoy Magic
*Amoy--Xiamen's old name

AmoyMagic--Guide to Xiamen & Fujian
Copyright 2004-15 by Sue & Bill
Welcome to beautiful Xiamen (Amoy*) & Xiamen Univ, our family's home since 1988. We hope you enjoy our site--and learn more about Xiamen from my husband Bill's books, including Amazon eBooks Discover Xiamen (200 more pages than print version) & Fujian Adventure, etc.

And thanks
to our partners Master Translation Svcs , Barrington Handicrafts (see below for 20% discount) & Xiamen Int'l Christian Fellowship (XICF).   

Enjoy Amoy!    Gulangyu Islet Kulangsoo Koolongsoo

    Sue Brown

*****Menu*****

Google Xiamen search 
Best Xiamen Hotels Guide to Best Xiamen Hotel
XIAMEN HOTELS  
Famous or colorful people, historical and contemporary , in Xiamen and Fukien
Amoy's Magical People
Amoy Tigers -- Meihua mountain in West Fujian has  about 8 South Fujian Tigers (I think--they keep multiplying) South China Tiger
Amoy Tigers! Amoy Tigers -- Meihua mountain in West Fujian has  about 8 South Fujian Tigers (I think--they keep multiplying) South China Tiger Amoy Vampires!(true!)
Need help finding housing,-- either house or apartment?  These real estate guides will help
Apartment Rental Agent
Need help finding housing,-- either house or apartment?  These real estate guides will helpArticles by Bill (misc. about China)
Xiamen and Fujian Beaches--miles of good beaches, especially in Hui'anBeaches 
Xiamen Boardwalk -- the most beautiful boardwalk on the planetBoardwalk  Xiamen  bookstores and coffee shops that have booksBookstores
Xiamen Bus Routes
Bus Routes
    Rent a car with driverCar Rental
  
The first Protestant Church in China was built in Xiamen, former Amoy, in 1948.Churches & Christian History
  Xiamen International Christian Fellowship*XICF Fellowship Official XICF Site
The Amoy Mission 1841 to 1951 Amoy Mission

Common Talk--Xiamen Daily's 8-page English supplement, comes out every WednesdayConvergent SourcingNew!
Home School in China -- various suggfestions from someone who did it for almost 20 years.
Education (XIS; Home Schooling)
China Studies Program  Study Chinese language politics culture economics history etc in a 3 month crash course in Xiamen University China Studies Program (CSP)
Study Mandarin Chinese Putonghua Minnan Dialect written, spoke, oral Language Study (Mad Mandarin)  Share your humorous Chinese stories and funny tales of life in China Minnan Proverbs! Tips on studying Chinese ( Mandarin or Minnan Dialect) in Xiamen -- whether classroom or with a tutorMandarin Study  Learn or improve your Mandarin Chinese at the TMCA Chinese Corner!  Conversation, music, etc.Chinese Corner!  
Improve your English at English corners at Xiamen churches, YMCA, Xiamen University, SM Mall etc.
English Corners
*
Entertainment/Recreation
AXE-- Association for Xiamen ExpatriatesExpat Club
(AXE)

Our favorite fukienese travel sitesFavorite Fujian Sites: Ancient Fuzhou, also spelled Fuh-chau, Fuhchau, Foochow etc.Fujian Adventure!Our favorite fukienese travel sitesQuanzhou Our favorite fukienese travel sitesWuyi Mtn. Musical events on the isle of musicTong'an Our favorite fukienese travel sitesZhangzhouOur favorite fukienese travel sitesPutian   Our favorite fukienese travel sitesNingde Our favorite fukienese travel sitesLongyan Our favorite fukienese travel sitesZhouning   Our favorite fukienese travel sitesJimei  Musical events on the isle of musicSanming Our favorite fukienese travel sitesFuian Foto Album  Ancient Fuzhou, also spelled Fuh-chau, Fuhchau, Foochow etc.Fuzhou 
Minnan (South Fujian) festivals and culture, including unique Minnan traditionsFestivals and Culture
A list of foreign enterprises and companies engaged in investment or joint enterprises in Xiamen, or with representative officesForeign Companies in Xiamen   Our favorite fukienese travel sitesFirefighters
Kulangsoo (or Kulangsu or Koolangsu) islet--isle of music
Gulangyu Island. Mr. Bai Hua has shared his Kulangyu postcards, available in major shops and bookstoresGulangyu Postcards
The newly rediscovered artist Teng Hiok Chiu went to school on Kulangsu
Teng Hiok Chiu! *Gulangyu Poems (from 1904!)
Brief background of Xiamen, including opium wars,  Koxinga (or Coxinga ) , Lin Yutang Lin Yu Tang Tan Kah Kee etc.History of Xiamen

Xiamen Hotels guesthouses hostels  Sheraton Sofitel Holiday Inn Shangrila Best Western MandarinHotels in Xiamen 
Xiamen Millennium Harbourview Hotel is the best Xiamen Hotel -- best service, best accomodations, best food; it was Xiamen's first international hotel and many of the management have been there 15  years or more.Xiamen Millennium Best Fuzhou Hotels GuideFuzhou Hotels Best Quanzhou Hotels Guide  hostels  Sheraton Sofitel Holiday Inn Shangrila Best Western MandarinQuanzhou Hotels
Share your humorous Chinese stories and funny tales of life in China
Humor    Share your humorous Chinese stories and funny tales of life in China Funny Fotos
Teach in China Xiamen Fujian Jobs English Chinese Dutch German French Job Connections
(Teach / Work!)  
Latest news Xiamen Investment Promotion AgencyLibraries        Latest news Xiamen Investment Promotion AgencyHot Links

Nations in Bloom, now Awards for Livable Communities*NIB (Livcom) Xiamen Gold in Stuttgart
Hire a Chinese Maid Baomu Amah housekeeperMaid Service
Xiamen international marathon, held each year in March on the Island Ring RoadMarathon
*Maps
  *Massage --Get Rubbed the Right Way!
Xiamen Medical and Dental CareMedical & Dental Care
Muslim Islamic Mosques Ashab Mosque Quanzhou Damascus Xiamen Fuzhou Mohammed disciples
Mosques    Xiamen Museums China's first anthropology museum Quanzhou maritime museum Piano museum organ museumMuseums
  Opium Wars in Amoy Xiamen Fujian China
Opium Wars

Musical events on the isle of musicMusic Events ..Musical events on the isle of musicIsle of Music!
Directory for many Xiamen Parks, including Zhongshan Park, Botanical Garden  Board Walk etc.Parks    Our favorite fukienese travel sitesKite Flying
Pet Shops and Veterinarians Animal HospitalsPet Shops & Vets.

Quanzhou Known by Arabs as Zayton Zaytun Zaitun Origina of English word for silk  Home of Chinese puppets marionettes dehua porcelain and pottery anxi tea, silk Quanzhou Quanzhou Puppets
Xiamen restaurant directory -- where to wine and dine in Amoy
Restaurants   Xiamen restaurant directory -- where to wine and dine in AmoyTeahouses
Share your favorite foreign, Chinese or minnan recipesShared recipes
Where to buy just about everything in Xiamen, from electronics to Anxi oolong teaShopping--A - Z!!!
Sports Health Physical Fitness centers in Xiamen includes Golf Bowling Badminton Water Sports Sports & Fitness
Important telephone numbers in XiamenPhone Directory & Services
Xiamen Fujian Temples Buddhist Confucian Taoism  Taoist Jain Hindu Tibetan Buddhism Manichean Temples
China International Fair for Investment and Trade--the  only one of its kindTour & Travel Guides
Xiamen travel agents and ticketing for trains, planes and automobiles Airlines, Tickets, Travel Agents
Major Xiamen tourism sites and travel suggestions for FujianMajor Xiamen Tour Sites .
Important telephone numbers in XiamenTrain Schedule

Translation Services check Master Translation ServicesTranslation Services (MTS)

Requirements for Chinese work tourist student visas (usually have to leave China to change from tourist to work visa ZVisas, PR for Aliens   
Xiamen Weather LinksXiamen Weather
Teach at Xiamen University Also Called Amoy University, founded by Tan Kah KeeXiamen Univ.
Xiamen International SchoolXiamen International School
Xiamen YMCA and YWCAYMCA/YWCA Volunteer!
Musical events on the isle of musicXiamen Success StoriesNew!

Discover Xiamen and Fujian Adventure eBooks

Xiamen Hotel Guide -- a Local''s Guide to the Best Hotel in Xiamen50 OF THE BEST
Xiamen Hotels


First and Finest International Xiamen HotelThe First & Finest International Xiamen Hotel:
Millennium Harbourview
     

CLICK HERE to see why

Xiamen Millennium Harbourview Hotel  Xiamen's first and still finest international hotel

Last Updated June 2014

 

Gulangyu Kulangyu Kolongsoo Kolongsu Kulongsu
Gulangyu

Guide to Xiamen University Historic and modern, including departments -- Arts Science computers mathematics accounting management law department etc.
Xiamen Univ

Mystic Quanzhou -- the fabled port of Zayton ( or Zaytun Zaitun Zaiton ) from which Marco Polo sailed,  Sinbad the Arab visited.  Chinchew
Quanzhou


XiamenGuide


Fujian Adv

Guide to Fukien Fuhken  Bilingual Chinese English Parallel with MP3 CD
Fujian Guide

 A Valentine Poem for Amoysue from Amoybill (as Dr. Seuss would have written it had he lived in China and known Sue!  Would you, could you please be mine? Books have illustrations and photos from half a dozen famous Chinese photographers and historians: Zhu Qingfu,Wu GuangminHu Xiaogang,Hong Bu Ren.etc.  
Tan Kah Kee Founder of Xiamen University and Jimei Schools Valentine for Amoysue     Tan Kah Kee Founder of Xiamen University and Jimei Schools"Letters from Readers    South China Tiger Back to Top 
Reedley CaliforniaReedley California  (Our U.S. home--the "biggest little town in America")

Please visit our sponsor, Barrington Handicrafts Co. Ltd. A company with heart,their creed is "Valuable Products Made by Valuable People." Even the U.S.President uses their Xiamen-made bags. Click the image below to visit them (Click here for a case I wrote on them in Asia Case Research Journal).
Barrington Quality Handicrafts made in Xiamen

TRAVEL LINKS Hakka Earthen architecture Favorite Fujian Sites Photographs of Fuhken places like Zhangzhou, Longyan, Ningde, Sanming, Wuyi MountainFujian Foto Album AmoyMagic-- Travel , Resident and Business Guide to Xiamen and FujianXiamen Gulangyu Kulangyu Kolongsoo Kolongsu KulongsuGulangyu Guide to Fukien Fuhken Fujian Guides Mystic Quanzhou -- the fabled port of Zayton ( or Zaytun Zaitun Zaiton ) from which Marco Polo sailed,  Sinbad the Arab visited.  ChinchewQuanzhou Zhangzhou  changchow Zhangzhou Longyan Yongding Liancheng Changting Amoy Tigers LianchengLongyan Wuyi Mountain Guide Zhuxi  tea Wuyi Mtn Ningde Taimu Mountain ZhouningNingde Putian Fujian Xianyou Mazu TemplePutian Sanming Scenic Wonderland Mingxi Gem bed rubies Sanming Zhouning Carp VillageZhouning Ningde's Taimu MountainTaimu Mtn. Hakka Earthen architecture Roundhouses Fujian covered wooden bridgesBridges Hakka Earthen architecture Jiangxi Hakka Earthen architecture Guilin Help Build an online  community for foreigners.  Join the Xiamen Guide forumOrder Books Letters from AmoyMagic ReadersReaders' Letters    Click to e-mail Dr. Bill Brown or Susan BrownAmoy Vampires!     Letters from AmoyMagic ReadersReaders'Letters    
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Hint: narrow search results with parenthesis, such asMain Menu for Amoy Magic Guide to Xiamen and Fujian Province "Xiamen tourism"
Return to top of pageBack to Top  E-mail Sue or Bill Brown Xiamen University   

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Overview of 5,026 Years of Fujian History.
History of Amoy (adapted from "Fujian Adventure", "Magic Xiamen," "Discover Quanzhou", etc.

Our province of Fujian (Fukien, Fuhkien, etc.) has a history extending back before the dawn of Chinese civilization 5,026 years ago.  [I was told China has 5,000 years of history, but that was 26 years ago].   Fujianese also claim that scientific records prove that cave relics in Sanming's Wuyishan [三明万寿岩] are 180,000 years old.

Leave it to the Chinese to keep scientific records for 180,000 years.

Little is known of ancient Fujian inhabitants like the Mín (闽) because they left no written records, other than some Shāng Dynasty (商代16th-11th century B.C.) pictographs carved into a rock in a Huì‘ān (惠安) village.

Eventually, some ancient Chinese wit discovered writing, or at least how to draw better (Chinese
characters are pictographs), and began recording Fújiàn’s history back around the Warring States Period (475 – 221 BC). That was when the State of Chu (Húběi and Húnán Provinces) chewed up the Yuè3 (越) in present-day Jiāngsū (江苏) and Zhèjiāng (浙江) Provinces. The Yuè fled to Guǎngdōng (广东), Guǎngxī (广西), Vietnam, and Fújiàn, where they were called the Mǐnyuè (闽越).

Ancient Fujianese left us some pretty strange relics, such as the 4,026 year old boat-shaped tombs hundreds of feet up the vertical cliffs of Wǔyí Mountain (Wǔyíshān, 武夷山). I’ve been dying to know why and how they made such tombs. Had von Danaken, author of “Chariots of the Gods”, seen them, he’d have claimed ancient extraterrestrials made frequent stopovers in Fújiàn, probably for Chinese take-out. NASA may think so too.
South China Tiger Back to Top     Google Xiamen searchIlluminusTheo Secret Archives

Ancient Fújiàn’s Mǐnyuè were joined by such tribes as the Shē clan (Shēzú,畲族) and the Miáo tribe (Miáozú, 苗族). Originally from the Yangtze River Valley, the Shē claim descent from a legendary emperor—hence their unique ‘phoenix clothing’ and ‘phoenix hairstyles’ (Chinese associate phoenix with royalty).

We also have the Dan Tribe (Dànzú但族), whose Mongol ancestors made the long trek to Fújiàn about 700 years ago. They are not related to the Israelite tribe of Dàn, though China does have so many Chinese Jews scattered about that some experts claim they are remnants of Israel’s Lost Tribes.  And given the state of some of our maps, I can see how they got lost.

Whether China really had lost Jews or not is debatable, but we did have lots of Lost Arabs, with at least 40,000 in ancient Quánzhōu, the ancient start of the Maritime Silk Route (where Marco Polo sailed from--just 70 miles north of Xiamen).   Their descendants today include the Dīng (丁) and Guō (郭) clans, some of whom look more Lǎowài than Lǎonèi, with curly hair and hooked noses.
South China Tiger Back to Top     Google Xiamen search
Hakka roundhouse earthen house mistaken by NASA and CIA for missile silo in Fujian China
The Guest People Over 1,000 years ago, entire villages of “Guest People” (Kèjiā 客家) migrated from the Central Plains to remote areas of Fújiàn. They have so faithfully preserved their ancient language and customs that many people mistake them for a minority, but they are Han and proud of it.

Even after 1,000 years they still call themselves “Guest People”.    To avoid being shown the door, these gutsy “guests” built the giant earthen fortresses that have fascinated architects the world over (UNESCO dubbed them “The World’s 8th Wonder”; see p. 148).  They also got the C.I.A.'s attention...

Hakka Silos? I told some Hakka friends that their homes were round so their wives couldn’t corner them, and some agreed with me! But back in 1985, President Reagan and the CIA had a different explanation. An intelligence report warned,

"We are not joking here to use 'group'. The group nuclear base is likely to be a fact. According to our report through the KH22 satellite hovering, there a
Bill and Shannon Brown at Nanjing Hakka earthen roundhouses in Fujian Chinare over 1, 500 unidentified huge mushroom-like buildings in Fujian Province of China, which are extremely similar to nuclear equipment. New penetrative satellite can observe through high buildings, but failed in front of the 1, 500 high-rises, in which China's sophistication of nuclear research can be seen. Therefore, it is necessary to grasp the nature of the buildings." People’s Daily, April 7, 2004

In December, 1985, a couple from the New York Institute of Photography visited China to take photos—supposedly of scenery and culture, but their real goal was to photograph the “silos.” Zhāngzhōu’s Federation of Literature and Art warmly received the “photographers” and proudly gave them a tour. The couple reported to the CIA that the “sophisticated” silos were earthen fortresses, some of them centuries old.

NASA, meanwhile, is probably wondering if the saucer-shaped dwellings aren’t proof that the ancient Min really did come from space.
  ....continued in "Magic Xiamen-Guide to Xiamen"
South China Tiger Back to Top     Google Xiamen search

Bill Brown's BlogsBill's Blogs:
"Off the Wall"
"Old China Photos & Text"
"Our Daily Noodles"

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