Gulangyu Island

Gulangyu
View from the peak on Gulangyu
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Hokkien POJ	Kó͘-lōng-sū
Postal	Kulangsu
Literal meaning	Drum Wave Islet
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin gǔlàngyǔ Wu Romanization ku2 laon3 yu2 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gu2 long6 zeoi6 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Kó͘-lōng-sū

Gulangyu is the third largest island off the coast of Xiamen, a city in Fujian Province in southern China. It is about 2 km² (0.77 sq mi) in area. It is home to about 20,000 people and is a domestic tourist destination. The only vehicles permitted are small electric buggies and electric government service vehicles.

Visitors can reach it by ferry from the ferry terminal in Xiamen. Local residents are allowed to use a shorter 5 minute ferry to/from Heping Ferry Terminal. Tourists and non-locals must now take a longer 20 minute ferry ride from Dongdu International Terminal, as of October 20, 2014 with a fare increase from 8 yuan to 35 yuan. This has been in order to reduce tourist numbers accessing the island in an effort to conserve it. In addition to the ferry tickets, you can book a scenic entrance fees package for 100 yuan to 5 places of attraction, named as A, B, C, D and E (these are attraction locations and not optional routes). Note that at the Dongdu International Terminal you can only book to travel on the day and your passport is required for foreigners.

Gulangyu Island is renowned for its beaches and winding lanes 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 the province.

Administratively, the island presently forms Gulangyu Subdistrict of Xiamen's Siming District.

For a time, Gulangyu had the peculiarity of having constituted the only international settlement on Chinese soil apart from the more celebrated International Settlement at Shanghai.

Soon after Xiamen became a treaty port resulting from China's loss in the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, foreign residents on the island established an informal organization that became formally organized several decades later when its Land Regulations were approved by the government of China in May 1902. Eventually 13 countries, including Great Britain, France, The Netherlands and Japan, were to enjoy extraterritorial privileges there and take part in the Kulangsu Municipal Council that administered the settlement. As with the Shanghai International Settlement, the British played a predominant role in the administration and Sikh policemen from British India were charged with the policing of the Settlement. The consulates, churches, hospitals, schools, police stations, etc. built by those foreign communities explain the predominantly Victorian-era style architecture that can still be seen throughout Gulangyu. Japanese occupation of the island began in 1942, and lasted until the end of World War II. The Hokkien dialect is spoken on the island, as it is in Xiamen.