Gulangyu Island covers an area of 1.78 square kilometers and stands opposite to Xiamen City across the sea. It is a quiet pedestrian only island where you can walk around and enjoy the food and the old foreign buildings. With beautiful sceneries, Gulangyu Island is accredited as "garden on the sea", "architecture exhibition of ten thousand nations", "hometown of music" and "island of piano".
Gulangyu Island is located just southwest of Xiamen City. Visitors can reach it by steamship from Xiamen City in about 5 minutes. Gulangyu Island is renowned for its delicate natural beauty, its ancient relics, and its varied architecture. The island is on China's list of National Scenic Spots and also ranks at the top of the list of the ten most-scenic areas in Fujian Province.
It is quite small and is across from the ferry terminal on Xiamen Island near Xiamen University. There is a piano museum you can visit. The whole island is full of natural scenic spots and its main scenic spots include the Crag of Sunlight, Garden of Beans (Shuzhuang Huayuan) and Bright Moon Garden (Haoyueyuan).
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the island was called 'Yuanshazhou Island'. It got its present name from the huge reef surrounding it. When the tide comes in, the waves pound the reef and it sounds like the beating of a drum. The island came to be named 'Gulang'. Gu in Chinese means 'drum', and Lang, 'waves'.
During the later Ming Dynasty, the troops of national hero Zheng Chenggong were stationed here. After the Opium War in 1842, 13 countries including Great Britain, France and Japan established consulates, churches, and hospitals, turning the island into a common concession. In 1942, Japan occupied the island until the end of the War of Resistance against Japan.
As a place of residence for Westerners during Xiamen's colonial past, Gulangyu is famous for its architecture and for hosting China's only piano museum, giving it the nickname of "Piano Island" or "The Town of Pianos" ( ) or "The Island of Music" ( ). There are over 200 pianos on this island.
The Chinese name also has musical roots, as gu lang means drum waves so-called because of the sound generated by the ocean waves hitting the reefs. Yu means "islet".
In addition, there is a museum dedicated to Koxinga, Haidi Shijie ( ) Marine World, a subtropical garden containing plants introduced by overseas Chinese, as well as Xiamen Museum, formerly the Eight Diagrams Tower ( ).
The island of Gulangyu is a pedestrian only destination, where the only vehicles on the islands are several fire trucks and electric tourist buggies. The narrow streets on the island, together with the architecture of various styles around the world, give the island a unique appearance.
Transportation
Gulangyu is unique in mainland China as the only Traffic Free Island.
Gulangyu is connected to the main Xiamen island by ferry.
The predominant mode of transport is foot, and it is an island of calm in an otherwise busy, noisy city.
Freight is pulled on wheeled buggies up the often steep lanes by strong teams of men.
All powered vehicles are banned, including bicycles, the only powered transport are the electric tourist buggies, which barge around the island damaging the otherwise tranquil and safe streets. It could be said, as is often the case, that tourists are damaging the very thing that they have come to see.
Admission Fee:CNY 95 (including fees Sunlight Rock and Shuzhuang Garden)
CNY 50 (Electric bus)
Opening Hours: 06:00 to 17:50
Recommended Time for a Visit: All the day