No. 48 Xiamen Vignets
These vignettes of Xiamen, China, is, in many ways, the story of China today. From a relatively sleepy backwater port, Xiamen is risen to become one of the major port cities in the world. The Port of Xiamen is an important deep-water port located on Xiamen Island, the adjacent mainland coast, and along the estuary of the Jiulongjiang River in southern Fujian, China. It is one of the main world trade ports (“trunk line port”) in the Asia-Pacific region. It is ranked the 8th-largest container port in China and ranks 17th in the world. It is the 4th port in China with the capacity to handle 6th-generation large container vessels. Naturally, as its commercial role has increased so has its importance as a Naval center. A modern suspension bridge connects the island to the city itself on the mainland.
The growth of the city has exploded in recent years as its importance to the world marketplace has grown. High rise apartment buildings, modern hotels, a large downtown pedestrian mall, and green spaces make it a bustling modern city. The pedestrian mall attracts hundreds, if not thousands, of young people with money to spend nightly. A subway line with 24 stations opened in 2017; four more lines are under construction. The city is situated over tough bedrock, so only recently has the technology become available to carve underground rail tunnels. Vehicular traffic is quite congested. Interestingly, vast beds of flowers line the high-speed highways. Among the highlights of the city are White Ibis (Bailuzhou) Park and the Putuo Buddhist Temple.
