Nanyang & Beyond

Gulangyu Island

鼓浪屿

Gulangyu was designated a treaty port concession in 1903, and for four decades 13 nations operated consulates on this small island just 600 metres offshore from Xiamen. The resulting architecture — German consulate, British American Tobacco headquarters, Hokkien clan temples, and traditional courtyard houses all within walking distance — is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. No motorized vehicles are permitted on the island. It is also known as Piano Island: at its peak, Gulangyu had more pianos per capita than anywhere else in China.

South Putuo Temple

南普陀寺

South Putuo Temple was originally built during the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) and rebuilt in its current form during the Qing Dynasty. The temple is dedicated to Guanyin, the Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy, and takes its name from the sacred Mount Putuo in Zhejiang Province — the earthly home of Guanyin. The complex climbs the granite face of Wulao Mountain directly behind Xiamen University, its pavilions stepping upward through incense smoke and stone carvings. It remains an active place of worship visited by tens of thousands of pilgrims annually.

Xiamen University

厦门大学

Xiamen University was founded in 1921 by Tan Kah Kee, a rubber and pineapple magnate from Singapore whose family had emigrated from Fujian Province. It was one of the first modern universities in China to be established entirely by private, overseas-Chinese funding. The campus design — white neoclassical buildings arranged around a cove, with a sea wall looking out toward Taiwan — reflects both the Western education model Tan admired and the coastal Fujian identity he never abandoned. The university is consistently voted the most beautiful campus in China.

Guangji Bridge

广济桥

Guangji Bridge spans the Han River in Chaozhou and was first completed in 1170 AD during the Southern Song Dynasty. It is one of China's four great ancient bridges. Its most distinctive feature is a central section of 18 pontoon boats that can be untethered and floated aside to allow river traffic to pass — a functional engineering solution that has been in operation, in various forms, for over 850 years. The bridge has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times by floods and wars; significant restoration work was completed in 2007.

Kaiyuan Temple

开元寺

Kaiyuan Temple was founded in 738 AD during the Tang Dynasty by imperial decree — Emperor Xuanzong ordered a Kaiyuan Temple built in every prefecture of the empire. The Chaozhou version survived where many others were destroyed, and its current structure preserves Tang and Song dynasty architectural elements within a Qing-period renovation. The temple complex includes a central hall, two flanking pagodas, and a courtyard of ancient banyan trees that are estimated to be several hundred years old.

Shantou Old Bund

汕头老埠头

Shantou was forced open as a treaty port in 1860 under the Convention of Peking following the Second Opium War. At its peak in the early 20th century, it was one of the busiest ports in southern China, processing the emigration of millions of Teochew-speaking Fujianese to Southeast Asia. The Old Bund waterfront along the Han River estuary preserves the 1920s-era customs house, merchant warehouses, and qilou (covered arcade) commercial streets that defined the treaty port era. The city declined as Hong Kong absorbed regional trade after 1949.

Dafen Oil Painting Village

大芬油画村

In 1989, a Hong Kong art dealer named Huang Jiang relocated his reproduction painting operation to the Dafen neighbourhood of Shenzhen, hiring local painters to produce oil painting copies at scale. The industry grew rapidly: at its peak, Dafen employed over 8,000 painters and produced an estimated 60% of the world's commercially reproduced oil paintings. Works range from Van Gogh and Monet reproductions to custom portraits and hotel lobby art. The village has since developed a parallel original art scene, with painters who settled here for the reproduction trade and stayed to develop their own practice.

Shenzhen Bay Park

深圳湾公园

Shenzhen Bay Park is a 15-kilometre coastal greenway built on reclaimed land along the bay that separates Shenzhen from Hong Kong's New Territories. On a clear day, the hills of Hong Kong's Lantau Island are visible across the water. The bay is a major stopover point for migratory birds on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, and the park includes wetland areas that attract flocks of egrets, black-faced spoonbills, and dunlins during migration season. The Deep Bay rail-road crossing visible from the park is one of the border checkpoints between mainland China and Hong Kong.

Victoria Peak

太平山顶

Victoria Peak is the highest point on Hong Kong Island at 552 metres. During the British colonial period, residence on the Peak was legally restricted to Europeans — a racial zoning policy that persisted until 1947 and shaped the social geography of the city in ways still visible today. The Peak Tram, opened in 1888, is one of the world's oldest funicular railways still in continuous operation. The view from the Peak Galleria encompasses both sides of Victoria Harbour — the full skyline of Hong Kong Island on one side and the Kowloon Peninsula stretching to the northern hills on the other.

Star Ferry

天星小轮

The Star Ferry has crossed Victoria Harbour since 1888, connecting Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. The fare for the lower deck costs less than USD $0.30 — making it one of the world's great cheap urban experiences. The green-and-white double-deck ferries, built in the 1950s through 1970s, remain largely unchanged in design. In 2006, the demolition of the original Star Ferry Pier on the Hong Kong Island side — replaced by reclaimed land — triggered some of the largest heritage protests in the city's post-colonial history. The crossing takes approximately 10 minutes.