Fujian's Smallest City: Despite Lacking Historical Depth Like Quanzhou, It Leads the Province in Tourism
Fujian is a very special province, although it is coastal, but within the province there are many mountains, and the city with the strongest overall strength is not the capital Fuzhou, but the economic special zone – Xiamen.
When it comes to historical depth, Xiamen is far behind Quanzhou across the border. Quanzhou is one of China's first batch of historical and cultural cities, and it is the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. There are many humanistic scenic spots in the urban and suburban areas that can be traced back to over a thousand years ago. You can even find the Al-Amin Mosque, built by Persians, in the city center, which shows the long-standing trade and external cultural exchanges.
Nowadays, Quanzhou's per capita GDP is very high, but its overall strength is slightly weaker than Xiamen. Quanzhou has a larger land area, which provides a wider development space, while Xiamen is the smallest city in Fujian, and there is not much land available for development.
If you carefully calculate the scenic spots and tourist areas within its administrative jurisdiction, Quanzhou has far more than Xiamen. However, these scenic spots are far less well-known than Xiamen's, and many tourists to Fujian directly head to Xiamen, mainly because Xiamen's tourism industry has been developed earlier and has invested more effort in creating a tourism atmosphere and tourism supporting facilities. Compared to this, Quanzhou appears very low-key.
Xiamen's history is also very long, but besides the Putuo Temple, most of the buildings were built in the modern era. Xiamen's greatest advantage is that it absorbed a lot of foreign cultures after absorbing them in the late Qing and early Republican eras and integrated them, making the whole city feel more modern and have a metropolitan, fashionable atmosphere.
Xiamen's Gulangyu Island is affectionately known as 'Fujian's version of the Expo Museum.'
Climbing to the highest point of Gulangyu Island's Sunlight Rock Scenic Area, you can look out over the island, and everywhere you see is European-style landscape of red tile roofs and green trees, which makes you feel like you are traveling abroad. This is also one of the things that makes Xiamen's tourism unique.
Compared to this atmosphere is the city of Qingdao in Shandong Province. In Qingdao's Little Fish Mountain and Signal Mountain Park, the scenery and Xiamen's Gulangyu Island are very similar.
Xiamen is not full of European-style scenery everywhere. Returning from Gulangyu Island to Xiamen Island, you can find many traditional Chinese scenic spots, such as Putuo Temple.
Putuo Temple is located next to Xiamen University, not far from the sea.
Putuo Temple was built in the late Tang Dynasty and has a history of over a thousand years. Although it is not as ancient as Quanzhou's Da Kuan Tian Temple, it has its own characteristics.
