Gulangyu

Gulangyu

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement
Location	People's Republic of China
Coordinates	24°26′51″N 118°03′43″E / 24.4475°N 118.0619°E / 24.4475; 118.0619
Criteria	Cultural: (ii), (iv)
Reference	1541
Inscription	2017 (41st Session)
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Hokkien POJ	Kó͘-lōng-sū
Postal	Kulangsu
Literal meaning	Drum Wave Islet
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin gǔlàngyǔ Wu Romanization ku2 laon3 yu2 Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gu2 long6 zeoi6 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Kó͘-lōng-sū
Location of Gulangyu
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The Gulangyu, Gulang Island or Kulangsu is a pedestrian-only island off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian Province in southerneastern China. A UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, the island is about 2 km² (0.77 sq mi) in area, and is reached by a 5-minute ferry ride from downtown Xiamen. Although only about 20,000 people live on the island, Gulangyu is a major domestic tourist destination, attracting more than 10 million visitors per year, and making it one of China's most visited tourist attractions. Gulangyu not only bans cars, but also bicycles. The only vehicles permitted are small electric buggies and electric government service vehicles.

Visitors can reach Gulangyu by ferry from the ferry terminal in Xiamen. Local residents are allowed to use a shorter 5-minute ferry to/from the Lun Du Ferry Terminal. During the day (every 20 minutes, 7:10am–5:50pm), tourists and non-locals must take a 20-minute ferry ride from the Dongdu International Cruise Terminal to either Nei Cuo Ao or Kulangsu Town, which costs 35 yuan. After 6pm, tourists and non-locals can now take a more convenient ferry from Lundu Terminal 2, which drops off at San Qiu Tian Terminal in Kulangsu Town. That service runs all night, and costs 35 yuan between 6pm and midnight (every 20 minutes) and 5 yuan between midnight and 7am (every hour).

Gulangyu Island is renowned for its beaches and winding lanes and its varied architecture. The island is on China's list of National Scenic Spots, is classified as a 5A tourist attraction by the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), and ranks at the top of the list of the ten most-scenic areas in the province.

Administratively, the island presently forms Gulangyu Subdistrict of Xiamen's Siming District.

For a time, Gulangyu had the peculiarity of having constituted the only international settlement on Chinese soil apart from the more celebrated International Settlement at Shanghai.

Soon after Xiamen became a treaty port resulting from China's loss in the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, foreign residents on the island established an informal organization that became formally organized several decades later when its Land Regulations were approved by the government of China in May 1902. Eventually 13 countries, including Great Britain, France, The Netherlands and Japan, were to enjoy extraterritorial privileges there and take part in the Kulangsu Municipal Council that administered the settlement. As with the Shanghai International Settlement, the British played a predominant role in the administration and Sikh policemen from British India were charged with the policing of the Settlement. The consulates, churches, hospitals, schools, police stations, etc. built by those foreign communities explain the predominantly Victorian-era style architecture that can still be seen throughout Gulangyu. Japanese occupation of the island began in 1942, and lasted until the end of World War II. The Hokkien dialect is spoken on the island, as it is in Xiamen.