Parks and Gardens in gulangyu
3 min readOur“Garden Island”has hundreds of city，district and community gardens.My favorites include the Botanical Garden，Yundang Lake（the city’s cultural center）the 3lkm.Island Ring Road with its Music Square，Boardwalk，and beach attractions，and the new“Railroad Park”-a beautiful landscaped 4 km.garden path along the old train track from harbor to train station.
The 5，000+ mango trees lining many Xidmen streets not only provide shade but helpfinance the maintenance of our parks.（Locals claim mango strips dipped in soybean oil taste like crab）
Bailuzhou Park
This 59，000 m2 park on Yudndang Lake consists of Western Park and Central Park，which has Xiamen’s landmark，the 13.6m Egret goddess（Bailu Nishen）.The goddess is often accompanied by many of the 400 doves imported from Holland（so why not a dove goddess？）.The doves are fed twice daily，but are happy to receive handouts from tourists as well.
The 10，000m2 square Western Park is known for its astrological columns，1200m2 dancing fountain，and kids pestering you to buy flowers for your girl.
Bailuzhou also has one of Xiamen’s best antique markets，as well as a great supplier of cats，dogs and other creatures on one of the roofs（no，it’s not a Cantonese restaurant；it’s a pet supply）.
Night Cruise
Take a romantic cruise along the bay at night and enjoy the lights of Gulangyu on one side and the Bund（Lujiang Rd）on the other.Some ships offer dinner，or traditional art performances-puppets，opera，etc.
“Flowing Sea Dragon”
Nothing else in China（or back on earth either）is like our 31km.Island Ring Rd.Dubbed“Flowing Sea Dragon，”it begins near Gulangyu Ferry as an elegant elevated expanse arching over the sea for several kilometers before descending to the beach by Xidmen Univ.It offers a stunning view of Gulangyu and the sea by day，and by night the bridge itself is a beauty to behold，aglow with subtle indirect lighting，like an army of fireflies on parade along the coast.
From Xiamen Univ.，the six-lane road to the airport varies from 44 to 60 meters wide and is bordered by miles of beaches，parks，gardens，green belts and tracks for hikers，bikers and roller bladers.
Song of Guldngyi
Ring Road sites include Huli Hill Fort，the Music Square，parks gardens and sculptures，and the International Exhibition Center.
The Ring Road has at least 200 works of art，by my count.One of the most note worthy is right outside XMU-the 247 m sculpture of musical notes depicting the “Song of Gulangyi”.It was created in 1998，and in 2001 Guinness recognized it as the world’s longest music sculpture.I can’t imagine keeping the grass trimmed.
China’s Southern Doorstep-Huli Hill Fort，on the beach by XMU，has long been called Xiamen’s gateway.Given that Xiamen is“China’s Southern Gateway，”this makes the fort S.China’s doorstep.
Huli Fort was started in 1891 on a bluff 25 meters above sea level.It took five years to construct the 70，000 m2 fort of sand，clay，camphor tree juice，lime andglutinous rice.So not only was it virtually impregnable but during a prolonged siege defenders could eat their fort.
World’s Largest Cannon（in Guinness）is Huli Fort’s claim to fame.The German 280mm Krupp coastal defense gun，installed by some big shot back in 1896，weighs 60 tons，is 13.96 meters long，and cost 60，000 taels of silver.Two 120 mm auxiliary cannons and 12 smaller steel cannons were also made in Germany.
The Fort once had two Krupp cannon，but one was destroyed in the 1950s.The Krupp had a range of 16，000 meters，and it was recorded that it was so loud that nearby houses collapsed and frightened cows jumped one meter high（probably the origin of milk shakes）.
The cannon did see some action，most notably on September 3rd，1937，when three Japanese warships entered Xiamen port and shelled Baishi Fortress and Huli Fort.The cannon sunk the Japanese destroyer”Wakatake Maru，”and two others beat a hasty retreat under the cover of Japanese bombers.
