Showing posts with label Xiamen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xiamen. Show all posts

Apr 15, 2014

Hot Springs and Flesh-Eating Fish in China

Tuesday, April 15, 2014
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Last weekend, I went to Riyuegu (日月谷) Hot Springs with some friends. Hot spring resorts are very popular in China, probably because they provide one of the few ways to escape the crowded cities into a more relaxing environment. Of course, popular hot springs can also get pretty crowded (I went to one in Fuzhou that was packed with people), but at least you can avoid much of the noise and never-ending construction prevalent throughout most cities in China.



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Mar 20, 2014

Tibetan Yogurt in Xiamen

Thursday, March 20, 2014
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Since my recent post about pizza in China seemed to be relatively popular, I decided to continue with an informal review of another China culinary experience. One of the things that's difficult to find in China is decent yogurt. There's plenty of Chinese yogurt, but unlike the Western variety, it tends to be watery stuff that you drink from a small bag or bottle. In addition to not being very good, it's also relatively expensive (a bit higher than what you'd pay in the USA for better quality). Consequently, I generally avoid it and instead buy imported brands from the Xiamen Metro Hypermarket, a German chain which sells many imported as well as Chinese food items. As with most imported products, you pay a premium, but if I'm going to overpay for my yogurt, I might as well overpay for the better imported brands.


One day last week, I decided to stop by at a local coffee/tea/yogurt shop in Xiamen (Jimei to be more specific). I had passed by this place many times on the bus, but never tried it until recently after a workout at the nearby gym I've been going to. 

Tibetan Yogurt Shop in Jimei with picture of the Potala Palace
I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about Tibetan yogurt since I've been to Tibet and one thing I learned is that almost all Tibetan food (only a slight exaggeration) comes from yaks - yak meat, yak milk, salty yak tea, and whatever else the Tibetans can extract from a yak. Having sampled some Yak delicacies, I wasn't overly impressed. However, my limited Tibetan culinary experience didn't include yogurt which apparently has a tradition of over 1000 years. 
Some Yaks in Tibet from my 2010 trip
Me, expertly riding a Yak in Tibet
OK, enough of the yaks, back to the yogurt. I managed to decipher enough of the menu (entirely in Chinese) to order yogurt with fruit which turned out to be some banana and strawberry slices. I'm not sure how Tibetan this yogurt really is, but it was quite good although I could have easily eaten another bowl since my workout had seriously worked up my appetite. The price was also reasonable - 8 yuan (U.S. $1.30), about the same as you pay for a small container of the crappy Chinese yogurt (with no real fruit) available in stores here.

My Tibetan yogurt with fruit
In addition to the yogurt and other drinks, this place also has some interesting Tibetan decor, including many photographs of Tibetan sights and some Tibetan artifacts hung on the walls. It's located near the intersection of Yindou lu and Shigu lu and is definitely worth a visit for anyone in the Jimei area.
Inside view of the Tibetan yogurt place
Interesting Wifi password sign

Apr 7, 2013

Xiamen One of Most 'Open' Chinese Cities

Sunday, April 07, 2013
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According to a recent report, Xiamen (厦门) is the third highest ranked city in China in terms of economic, technological and social openness.

View of downtown Xiamen from Gulangyu Island
Shenzhen (深圳) and Guangzhou (广州) are the two cities ranked ahead of China. Both are much bigger than Xiamen in terms of size and population. I'm a bit surprised that Shanghai isn't included in the top cities from this report, but I'm not sure exactly what criteria were used. Anyway, I guess this means for those of us that want a somewhat smaller, less crowded, less polluted, but still "open" environment in China, Xiamen is the place to be.

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  • Author: David Moser

Sep 20, 2012

Chinglish: "FUBO Burns the Fairy Grass"

Thursday, September 20, 2012
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Here's the second in my series of Chinglish photos. This photo graces the front of a small store on the campus of nearby Chengyi College at Jimei University in the city of Xiamen. Being the only foreigner around, I surreptitiously took this photo, wondering whether the Chinese college students inside were scheming to somehow help resurrect Mitt Romney's presidential election campaign after he alienated at least 47% of the American (non-taxpaying) public. 


At least in America, FUBO is an acronym used by people who (to put it kindly) aren't too crazy about President Obama (F*** you Barrack Obama if you need it semi-spelled out). For a more detailed explanation, you can take a look at this FUBO website. Now before any other patriotic Americans get upset about their commander in chief being publicly insulted in China (or other patriotic Americans get too happy about it), I thought I should investigate this matter in the interests of preserving U.S.-Sino relations before some ignorant idiots decide to start a FUBO-related war (or celebration). 

 Here in China, many translations of Chinese into English make absolutely no sense. Its a fact of life that English speakers living in China must simply accept. In addition to signs, I often see Chinese people wearing shirts with English slogans or expressions on them which make no sense at all. On a few occasions I've asked people what the expression means and the invariable answer is "我不知道" or "I don't know"). They also usually looked puzzled that I ask because in China, people wear shirts with English simply because it looks cool or fashionable. It doesn't matter what it says, what it means, or whether it means anything at all (maybe no different from Americans wearing shirts displaying Chinese characters without any idea of their meaning). I've even thought of starting a business making T-Shirts with random and/or made-up English words printed on them - come to think of it, "the fubo burns the fairy grass" could be a good example of this.

Anyway, in an effort to discover the truth behind this mysterious and potentially anti-American slogan, I asked a Chinese friend who was with me when I took this controversial FUBO photo what the sign means. She couldn't really explain it, but did explain that it is a literal translation of the Chinese which simply doesn't make sense in English. As I've found out from my admittedly limited knowledge of Chinese, its a very different language from English and some things just don't translate literally.

 After some research, I think I have a rough idea of what this sign means. The first character 福 (fu) can be used as an abbreviation for Fujian (福建) Province and can also mean luck or happiness. The second character in fubo, 伯 (bo), can mean father's elder brother or be used as a respectful form of address. According to my Chinese friend, in this instance, it seems to be used as a brand name (Fujian/lucky uncle). 

 But whoever this Fubo is, what is he doing burning grass jelly? And what exactly is grass jelly?  Grass jelly is actually another misleading name since its apparently not made of grass. Instead, its a kind of dessert (in America, I think we'd call it jello) which I think is sometimes also mixed into tea or milk-based drinks. 
Here's a grass jelly drink (not sure whether its FUBO or not)
So basically, I think the sign is just advertising a brand of jelly drink called Fubo. Nothing to do with President Obama, no reason for World Trade Organization complaints or to send SEAL Team 6 to China. I hope this information has saved us all from a USA/China trade war or (even more seriously) WWIII over the FUBO incident.

 Disclaimer: This post is intended solely for informational (and potentially humorous) purposes and is not intended as a political message or as an endorsement of FUBO jelly drinks.

Jul 19, 2012

Xiamen Boardwalk Photos

Thursday, July 19, 2012
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A few months ago I took some photos one evening while walking along the boardwalk in Xiamen (厦门).

A shot taken from Xiamen looking toward Gulangyu Island
Gulangyu Island has an interesting history. In 1842, after the First Opium War (in which the then mighty British empire fought for its right to smuggle opium into China), China was forced to open  several ports to foreign trade, one of which was Xiamen. The small island of Gulangyu (which is very close to the coast of Xiamen) then became the home of many of the early European businessmen and their families. Gulangyu still boast some old European style buildings and is now one of Xiamen's main tourist attractions. Here's a few more shots of the boardwalk in a slideshow:

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  • Author: David Moser

Apr 6, 2012

Hulishan's Huge Cannon

Friday, April 06, 2012
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Earlier this week, there was a Chinese holiday (Tomb Sweeping Day; 清明节) and since I have no ancestors' tombs to sweep here, I decided to go and visit Hulishan Fortress here in Xiamen (厦门). Hulishan is located on the coast, near Xiamen University. The fort was originally built beginning in 1891 and finished in 1896. It was built 25 meters above the sea and beach and made of sand, clay and glutinous rice (I looked for the rice since I was a bit hungry, but didn't see any so it seems that the renovated fort is rice-less).
Toward the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), China realized (albeit a bit too late to save the last imperial dynasty) that it had fallen way behind the Western powers in terms of technology and needed to modernize. To protect the southern coast, China bought German-made Krupp cannon, including two that are reportedly the largest coastal cannon in the world. One of these monster cannons remains - 280 mm, 14 meters long and weighing 60 tons.
Here's a slideshow of photos from Hulishan.

Mar 30, 2012

Nanputuo Temple

Friday, March 30, 2012
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Last weekend, I visited Nanputuo Temple (南普陀寺; Nánpǔtuósì), the most famous Buddhist temple in the city of Xiamen. Nanputuo originated in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), but the modern temple has little in common with its ancient ancestor since it has been rebuilt and renovated several times. Although there are still Buddhist monks that live and pray at the temple, it has also become a major tourist attraction with Chinese tourists (as well as a few foreigners) heavily outnumbering the monks on most days.

A few people praying in front of the temple entrance
Nanputuo is very near Xiamen University and the coast of Xiamen Island. After you walk through the temple grounds, you can climb up Wulao Mountain which is located right behind the temple and offers some very nice views of the Xiamen coast.

I took a bunch of photos although they're all from the lake area outside the temple entrance and the mountain in back of the temple. Photos are not permitted inside the temple and I decided to follow this rule even though many of the Chinese tourists are either unaware of it or ignore it.

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  • Author: David Moser

Mar 27, 2012

Xiamen University and Beach

Tuesday, March 27, 2012
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After about 2 months of rainy, gloomy weather, the sun has finally reappeared here in Xiamen. I took advantage of the improved weather to walk around Xiamen University and the nearby beach and take some photos. Xiamen University (厦门大学) is located right on the coast and has a beautiful, scenic campus in addition to being one of the top universities in China. In addition to students and faculty roaming the campus, many tourists also visit as well as local monks from nearby Nanputuo Temple (南普陀寺).

A monk strolling out from the Xiamen University gate
Here's a slideshow with some more photos:

Nov 6, 2011

Texas in Xiamen

Sunday, November 06, 2011
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Last night after going to a boat exhibition in Xiamen (I'll post some photos of the nice yachts I saw later), I visited the JJ Bar and Grill, JJ Bar and Grill is located in the popular Haiwan Park area which, in addition to a park with a nice view of the sea, has a variety of restaurants, bars and nightclubs. In the early evening, you almost feel like you're actually in Texas with the bar's decor, and the menu featuring mostly Western style food with an emphasis on Texas BBQ. I didn't really try the food (other than a small sampling of appetizers), but since I was in the bar area, I could see a lot of it coming out of the kitchen to the restaurant area and it looked quite good.


At night, the place livens up largely due to the band made up of Filipino musicians and singers as well as one Chinese singer. Some of the Texas atmosphere gets lost at this point since the band plays a variety of music, but mostly rock and dance-oriented songs rather than the country music played on the sound system in the earlier hours. The band plays mostly English-language songs (from AC-DC to Lady Gaga and much more), but the female Chinese singer adds some Chinese pop songs to their repertoire as well. They are quite good and keep the mix of Western expat and Chinese customers well entertained.

Texas-style decor on a wall at JJ Bar & Grill
One very unique element of JJ Bar and Grill for China is their mechanical bull, which daring (and/or drunk) customers can try. Last night, the only people adventurous to try the bull were a group of young Chinese men maybe trying to impress the young ladies they were with. Some of them did reasonably well, staying on the bull at least long enough to provide some entertainment for the audience of customers. A friendly Aussie I met did his best to persuade me to give it a try, but I wasn't quite daring or drunk enough.
Road sign for inebriated expats at JJ Bar & Grill


Nov 3, 2011

Xiamen: An Introduction

Thursday, November 03, 2011
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For the past 3 months I've been living in the city of Xiamen 厦门 (teaching at a university in nearby Jimei 集美, but I'll be more specific about that in a future post). As China goes, Xiamen is one of the nicest cities to live in since its right on the coast and much less polluted than most of China's major cities. Its also a very conveniently located city, not too far from Hong Kong 香港 and Shenzhen 深圳 to the south or Hangzhou 杭州 and Shanghai 上海 to the north.


A view of the Xiamen skyline shot from a ferry to nearby Gulangyu Island


Xiamen, formerly known as Amoy, is located in Fujian province on the southeast coast of China. One thing Xiamen is noted for is being the closest PRC neighbor of Taiwan, which Chinese people adamantly insist is a province of China (although Taiwanese people tend to adamently disagree). Fortunately, relations between Taiwan and mainland China have been pretty good in recent years and Xiamen has certainly benefited from Taiwanese business and trade while Taiwan has benefited from a nearby entry point to the lucrative mainland market.


I've circled Xiamen in red on the map


Xiamen has an interesting history, much of which relates to China's contact with the outside (barbarian) world. As a coastal city, Xiamen has long been a trade center and was made one of the five treaty ports after the first Opium War in 1842. While forced to open to foreign trade in the mid 19th century, Xiamen was voluntarily designated as one of the first Special Economic Zones in the 1980s and again opened to foreign investment and trade. Since then, Xiamen has grown dramatically, but has managed to maintain a relatively clean environment and not to become too overpopulated (at least compared to other Chinese cities). I'll post more about Xiamen in the future as I live here a bit longer and learn more about my new Chinese home.




Oct 24, 2011

Dialectic Confusion

Monday, October 24, 2011
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I happened upon a traditional Chinese puppet show yesterday at a senior citizens activity center in Jimei 集美. I couldn't understand it at all, but neither could my Chinese friends since it was in the local Mǐnnánhuà 閩南話 dialect. 

Mǐnnánhuà is sometimes also referred to as the Hokkien dialect and originated in the southern Fujian province. The version of the Min dialect spoken here in Xiamen is also sometimes called the Amoy dialect (Amoy was the name given by Westerners to Xiamen). A version of this dialect is also spoken by some people in nearby Taiwan. Fortunately, most Chinese people of my generation and younger from Xiamen speak Mandarin Chinese or Pǔtōnghuà  普通话 (which I'm trying to learn) rather than any of the local dialects. Even more fortunately for me, most of the younger generation of Chinese have also grown up learning English in school and, although often shy about using it, can speak at least a bit. 

However, many older Xiamen residents only speak Mǐnnánhuà which is basically incomprehensible to Mandarin speakers (not to mention English speakers like myself). Last week, an elderly lady approached me while I was waiting for a bus and seemed very curious about me. She tried to talk to me in Mǐnnánhuà so I politely responded in Mandarin that I couldn't understand, but she couldn't understand that I was trying to tell her I couldn't understand. She then started talking to a Chinese student nearby that I had been talking with, hoping a Chinese person could translate for us. However, the Chinese girl couldn't understand  Mǐnnánhuà much better than I could so the nice, inquisitive old lady's questions for me unfortunately had to go unanswered.

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