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Xiamen
City in Fujian, China

Xiamen

Xiamen, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait.

Plan a trip to Xiamen→From Quanzhou

It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, Haicang, and Xiang'an. All together, these cover an area of 1,700.61 square kilometers (656.61 sq mi) with a population of 5,163,970 as of 2020 and estimated at 5.365 million as of 31 December 2025. The urbanized area of the city has spread from its original island to include most parts of all six of its districts, as well as 4 Zhangzhou districts, which form a built-up area of 7,284,148 inhabitants. This area also connects with Quanzhou in the north, making up a metropolis of nearly ten million people. The Kinmen Islands (Quemoy) administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan) lie less than 6 kilometers (4 mi) away separated by Xiamen Bay. As part of the Opening Up Policy under Deng Xiaoping, Xiamen became one of China's original four special economic zones opened to foreign investment and trade in the early 1980s.

Get in

Getting to Xiamen

Xiamen has a major airport and good road and rail connections; it is easily reached from anywhere in China and many places beyond. If you are a citizen of Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia,…

  1. 01
    Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport

    The airport is on Xiamen island and close to downtown, ¥30-40 and 20 minutes by taxi.

  2. 02
    Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport

    New airport under construction on the mainland about 15 km north of Xiamen Island.

  3. 03
    Xiamen Station

    Xiamen Railway Station is located downtown, in Siming District.

  4. 04
    Xiamen North

    Serves high-speed trains along the busy Hangzhou-Fuzhou-Shenzhen corridor that do not terminate at Xiamen station.

Do

Things to do

Xiamen is host to many influential trade shows. A majority of the Xiamen exhibitions are located at the Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center (XICEC). The China Xiamen Machinery and Electronics Exhibition (CXMEE), also called the Straits Fair since it is run as a joint venture with a Taiwanese organisation, is downtown (on Hubin Bei Lu) in the Spring.

Eat

Where to eat

For restaurant listings, see the district articles. Here we list some local specialties that may be worth looking for. Shacha noodles (沙茶面 shāchá miàn) — Likely the most famous dish in Xiamen, the Minnan reading sa-te mi hints at their origin: the peanutty broth originates from the Malay satay.

How locals move

Getting around Xiamen the local way

  • Get inHowever, these take a circuitous routing and can be rather expensive; consider flying into Kinmen and taking a ferry to Xiamen instead.
  • Get inFrom Shenzhen, one can cross to Hong Kong, change trains for Guangzhou, or take a ferry to Zhuhai.
  • Get inA boat service operates from Xiamen's Wutong ferry terminal (五通客运码头) to and from Kinmen's Shuitou port, which is under Taiwanese control, hourly 08:30-19:00 every day.
  • Get aroundThere is a frequent ferry service to/from Gulangyu.
  • Get aroundNon-Xiamen residents have to take the ferry from Dongdu Wharf, accessible via taxi or bus #51.
  • Get aroundTickets are ¥35 for the trip to Gulangyu, and ¥18 for the trip back to Xiamen; the ferry ride takes about 20 minutes.

From Wikivoyage: Xiamen, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.