Kulangsu: FINDING THE AMOY-MANILA CONNECTION

Amoy: a city with close links to the annals of Manila's history. Today known as Xiamen, this vibrant, mid-sized coastal city in Fujian province has an enviable reputation as one of China's most livable cities.

- By IVAN MAN DY

As historic Chinese cities go, Xiamen is far less known than former imperial capitals such as Xian, Beijing or Nanjing. The city only entered modern consciousness when it became one of the five original treaty ports in 1843 forced upon by British colonialists to the declining Qing imperial dynasty. This resulted in Xiamen becoming a major commercial port and point of exit for Chinese emigration to Nanyang—today's Southeast Asia.

A legacy from this era is the island of Gulangyu (or Kulangsu in Hokkien), a smooth 20-minute ferry ride across Lujiang strait from the mainland. This UNESCO World Heritage site is undoubtedly Xiamen's hottest attraction.

In 1903, the island was designated an international settlement by Chinese emperor Guang Xu, which meant that it would be transformed into an extraterritorial enclave that would be co-governed by 13 Western nations, a system that was to last until the Japanese surrender in 1945. In time, Gulangyu developed and became a choice address among Amoy's Western expatriate community who built schools, churches, hospitals, consulates, clubs, recreational facilities, hotels and residences in this patch of approximately two square kilometers.

In the 1920s, overseas Chinese from Southeast Asia, many becoming successful taipans in the region, also began constructing family homes, often displaying their wealth and stature, further raising the profile of Gulangyu as an island of gentility and refinement.

As someone who studies Chinese diasporic history, Gulangyu is a fascinating destination, made more so when you understand its historic Philippine links. It was not my first time to this poetically named "Drum Wave Island," but our most recent trip turned out to be the most memorable one.