I've noticed that the original pictures can not be uploaded any more, so I post some of pictures again that may be slightly different,but still are worth enjoying. :)
Xiamen university
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F35.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F443B.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F3A.jpg
Xiamen city
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F55.jpg
Yuandang Hunan district
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F63.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F67.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F75.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F80.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F8A.jpg
Around Zhongshan park
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5FAE.jpg
Yuandang Hudong district in 1999
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5FEA.jpg
Hai cang bridge
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F6006.jpg
Highway around island
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F6043.jpg
old district
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F6060.jpg
Beautiful resort
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F607E.jpg

If I'm not mistaken, Xiamen is the closest major seaport in Mainland China to Taiwan. Did I guess it right?

:cheers:
http://forum.xinhuanet.com/transfile?id=008A0694.002C
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yeah, i know xiamen. a friend of mine who currently lives in philadelphia immigrated to the u.s. years ago from that city. her dad is a college professor at an university in the city.

xiamen reportedly has the best landscaping of any mainland chinese city. the city definitely has one of the best skylines in the country. in fact that tall box in the 2nd to last photo is one of my fave in china.

xiamen is indeed the closest port to taiwan. in fact, from a show i watched, i saw that it has a very similar feel to the cities in taiwan. the island of jinmen (quemoy), which is controlled by the ROC, is only miles away from the city's waterfront.

Xiamen was one of the first Special Economcal Zones, I think.

Xiamen is my ancestral city. I was just there in April. It is a very refined, beautiful city.

If u go to Xiamen, you will see ROC soldiers stationed in jinmen, and they will wave hands at you :)

These pictures don't work for me, but Xiamen is really a gorgeous city in my opinion. It is very well planned. It has great, beautiful open spaces. Today it has a very fast growing economy. It is similar in a lot of ways to cities in Taiwan because Taiwan businessmen pour billions of dollars worth of investment into the city every year.

Xiamen is the jump off point for a lot of ethnic chinese south east asians. Here in the Philippines there are substantial ties to this city with many businesses owned by filipino chinese in Xiamen. In fact most native filipinos equate the fookien dialect with chinese here.

i am looking to take a weekend trip to xiamen and chaozhou in the near future. as a current resident of shenzhen, i am anxious to compare my own city with another SEZ. i have heard the reports of xiamen as a really charming place, and wish to see it first hand. i cannot see the pictures for some reason. does anybody here live in xiamen and would like to meet up when i travel there? i really dont know a thing about it, cept for what the lonely planet tells me in 1 or 2 pages.

Is it more common to hear Min Nan Chinese spoken in Xiamen, or is Mandarin pretty much standard?

Yes, Xiamen, i will visit this really soon. Take some picture as well. :D

yes of coarse i have heard of this city.

Is it more common to hear Min Nan Chinese spoken in Xiamen, or is Mandarin pretty much standard?
Mandarin is the major spoken language in this city, while Minnan dialect(which is almost the same as Taiwanese) can still be heard.
I lived in this city, and it was really a fantastic place to LIVE. Fresh air, clean street, lots of greenary, and nice people, AND...fantastic subtropical weather!!!
And it is very similar in many ways to Taiwanese cities, not just because of Taiwanese business investments, but also it has a very similar culture to Taiwan.

My wife and I will be going to Xiamen this coming weekend. I hope to take some photos of the building and the architecture of the city as it is very interesting. I will be posting the photos later. :)

Mandarin is the major spoken language in this city, while Minnan dialect(which is almost the same as Taiwanese) can still be heard.
I lived in this city, and it was really a fantastic place to LIVE. Fresh air, clean street, lots of greenary, and nice people, AND...fantastic subtropical weather!!!
And it is very similar in many ways to Taiwanese cities, not just because of Taiwanese business investments, but also it has a very similar culture to Taiwan.
Ah, being from Taiwan, that makes me really want to visit Xiamen :) Unfortunately, it remains one of the few main cities I've yet to visit in mainland China :(

A really beautiful city, quite unknown as well but i knew it before this thread yes. Btw, what landmark is this (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/muchbetter/xiamen/001F5F63.jpg)? A ancient theatre place?

yeah of coarse i have im Chinese so i would know that city.

i'm not chinese, and i only visited HK and Shenzhen yet, but of course i heard of Xiamen...
in fact i know this place since long and i bet i knew that it is a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) even at times when other forumers/ppl will say: "Xiamen? is it s.th. to eat?" :D

some elderly ppl will maybe remember this city as "Amoy"

one day i will visit this Beauty

.

some elderly ppl will maybe remember this city as "Amoy"
.

yeah... I just discovered this last week... I've been hearing of Xiamen for a long time and Amoy as well... but just last week when I was googling did I learned that Amoy was the old name of Xiamen... very nice...

anyways.. the reason I googled for it is because.. I'm looking for the main plant facility of Dell Inc. (our client) in China... coz.. I might be sent there in the last quarter of this year... and google pointed me to Xiamen.... what makes me more interested of it is... my grandfather hailed from this city.. he ran from the communist rule in China way back then... and came here in Manila where he settled.... and I think there are many other Chinese Filipino who did the same before.... I'd love to visit this city where my roots came from... :D

yeah... I just discovered this last week... I've been hearing of Xiamen for a long time and Amoy as well... but just last week when I was googling did I learned that Amoy was the old name of Xiamen... very nice...

anyways.. the reason I googled for it is because.. I'm looking for the main plant facility of Dell Inc. (our client) in China... coz.. I might be sent there in the last quarter of this year... and google pointed me to Xiamen.... what makes me more interested of it is... my grandfather hailed from this city.. he ran from the communist rule in China way back then... and came here in Manila where he settled.... and I think there are many other Chinese Filipino who did the same before.... I'd love to visit this city where my roots came from... :D
welcome~
feel sorry to heard the story of your grandfather.Best wishes to him健康长寿。 :)

hehehe.. he's dead... :D

hehehe.. he's dead... :D
:runaway:
hehehehe

i am Chinese, i am live in xiamen . It is a clean and beautiful city , i love the city.

If u go to Xiamen, you will see ROC soldiers stationed in jinmen, and they will wave hands at you :)

Really? the distance like you said is so close that can see the people who stand on jinmen?! that is interesting. :runaway:

I once had a conversation with someone from Xiamen. He was very proud of the city, especially its cleanliness, because it won the title of "Cleanest City in China". Also, he told me Xiamen is the major gateway to China for the Taiwanese, which brings me to this question: How many Taiwanese live in Xiamen?

Wao!!!
a nice city !!!

There are many Taiwanese and Singaporeans in Xiamen. This is due to the common ancestry and blood links with South East Asian Chinese and Taiwanese.

Most locals in Xiamen will use Minnanhua (Hokkien) among themselves. But all of them are fluent in Mandarin which is the common Chinese language and it is used officially.

Just like Shenzhen where the locals used Cantonese but Mandarin is used in business and the official communications channel because there are alot of foreigners and people from other provinces.

wah I will definitely come to this city!! Both of my ancestor are from this particular area and I'll see how close my hokkian to theirs hahahaha ^^

Hi fellow forumers!:banana:

Xiamen is a very refined, beautiful city. :)