Amoinese

Professor Yi Zhongtian has a very vivid description of xiamen:

China is a big family, all the cities are kids of this big family. Beijing is the oldest son, who always represents the family at all the big events. Shanghai is the second older son, who works very hard in making money for this big family. Guangzhou is the third older son, who is always naughty but with all the energe of venturing.

These are all reflect the real charaters for the above three cities. And always the same situation at a real chinese family. But how about xiamen?

Xiamen is the youngest daughter, everyone in the family loves her and take good care of her. She seldom suffers for any family burdens, she enjoyed all the good things during the past years.  She was always well-dressed-up, bueatiful and lovely.

Yes, that’s right. Xiamen met with all the good things in the history. Xiamen is one of the first five special economic zones (SEZ) in China. Which means Xiamen was among those cities that benefited from open policy.

Here are some facts about all the historical evolutions:

     Xiamen is one of the first five special economic zones (SEZ) in China administrating 6 districts: Siming, Huli, Jimei, Haicang, Tong’an and Xiang’an. South Fujian Dialect is the language which is predominantly spoken in Xiamen. It is said it was once egret inhabited place, so it is also called “Egret Island”.

　　The history of Xiamen dates back to the ancient times. It was part of Tong’an County, which was established in the 3rd year of Emperor Taikang’s reign in the Jin Dynasty (282 A.D.). The County was first under Jin’an Prefecture but was later merged into Nan’an County. In the 19th year of Emperor Zhengyuan’s reign in the Tang Dynasty (803 A.D), Datong Square was set up in Southwest Nan’an County and later became Tong’an County under Quanzhou in the 4th year of Emperor Changxing’s reign in the Late Tang Dynasty (933 A.D). During the Song Dynasty, the place was under the rule of Qingyuan Army and Pinghai Army of Quanzhou. Then it was under the government of Quanzhou Province in the Yuan Dynasty and later Quanzhou Borough in the Ming Dynasty. It was not until the 20th year of Emperor Hongwu’s reign in the Ming Dynasty (1387) that Xiamen Town was built. Later in the Qing Dynasty in the 7th year of Emperor Sunzhi’s reign (1650), Xiamen was the place where Zheng Chenggong, the national hero, stationed his troops. In the 12th year (1655) the Siming Prefecture was established but was abolished in the 19th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign (1680). In the 23rd year (1684) the Tai-Xia Dao (Taiwan-Xiamen Defense Region) was established, with the Chief Magistrate ruling from Taiwan. (In the 6th year of Emperor Yongzheng’s reign, namely 1728, Taiwan Borough was changed into Taiwan Region.) In the 25th year (1686) departments were set up in Quanzhou Prefecture to rule over the area. In the 5th year of Emperor Yongzheng’s reign (1727) the Xingquan Region, (which was changed into Xingquanyong Region). was established in Xiamen to instead of in Quanzhou, its original settlement. In the 29th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1903), Gulangyu Islet fell into the hands of foreign invaders and became an International Settlement. In the first year of the Republic of China (1912), Siming County was established in April, encompassing Jiahe Neighbourhood of Tong’an County (namely Xiamen), Jinmen Islet and the Dadeng/Xiaodeng Islets. The same year in September saw the establishment of Siming Borough. Later in 1915, Jinmen Islet and the Dadeng/Xiaodeng Islets were separated from the Siming County to form Jinmen County themselves. In the same year Nanlu Region, (which was changed to the name of Xiamen Region in 1914 but was abolished in 1925) was set up.

　　In 1933 Xiamen was established as a special municipality by the “People’s Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China” (namely “Fujian People’s Government”). In 1934, both Tong’an County and Siming County belonged to the Fifth Administrative Region (with Tong’an as the capital). In April 1935 the Xiamen Municipality was set up, encompassing seven islets including Xiamen and Gulangyu. The original Siming County was abolished and the Heshan Special Zone was set up instead. The Xiamen Municipality and the Heshan Special Zone together with Tong’an County were subject to the government of the Fourth Administrative Region (with Tong’an as the capital). During the period from May 1938 to September 1945, Xiamen was in the hands of Japanese invaders. In October 1945 Xiamen was re-established as a city, which comprised four districts: Zhongxin (later renamed as Siming), Kaiyuan, Gulangyu and Heshan. September and October of 1949 witnessed the liberation of Tong’an County and Xiamen City in succession. Tong’an became part of the Fifth Prefecture (later changed to the name of the Prefecture of Quanzhou and the Prefecture of Jinjiang) while Xiamen became a municipality under the government of the province. In October 1950 five districts were set up in Xiamen: Kaiyuan, Siming, Gulangyu, Xiagang (abolished later) and Heshan. In 1953, Jimei Town of Tong’an County came to be under the administration of Xiamen. In January 1958 Heshan District was changed into suburbs. In August of the same year Tong’an County was separated from the Jinjiang Prefecture to become an administrative district under Xiamen. In August 1966, Kaiyuan District and Siming District were renamed Dongfeng and Xiangyang respectively (but the original names were restored in October 1979). In February 1970, Tong’an County was again divided from Xiamen to be under the administration of Jinjiang Prefecture but was later returned back to Xiamen in June 1973. In September 1978 Xinglin District was established, and a new district, the Huli District, was further set up in 1987. In the same year, the suburbs of Xiamen became Jimei District. In 1997, Tong’an became a district attached to Xiamen instead of a county.Till then, Under the jurisdiction of the municipality are seven districts Gulangyu Island, Siming, Kaiyuan, Xinglin, Huli, Jimei and Tong’an .

Koxinga
Chinese: 国姓爷; Traditional Chinese: 國姓爺; Pinyin: Gúoxìngyé; Minnan Dialect: Go Seng Ya.

Koxinga is Zheng Chenggong, but most of the people worship him as koxinga.
“Ko” means country or kingdom, “xing” means one’s surname of family name, “a” at the end just like the “sir” before a knight’s name at western culture.

Zheng Chenggong was given the emperor’s surname “Zhu” by the emperor of Ming Dynasty. The emperor relied on him for the renaissance of Ming Dynasty, and sure wanted him to fight Manchu Army.

Yes, here we are, Koxinga means the knight who was given a emperor’s family name. And Zheng Chenggong is the only Koxinga in the history. So Koxinga is Zheng Chenggong.

Zheng Chenggong  (1624 - 1662)
Chinese: 郑成功; Traditional Chinese: 鄭成功; Pinyin: Zhèng Chénggōng; Minnan Dialect: Din Seng Gong.

He was born at Aug. 28, 1624, Hirado, Japan, died June 23, 1662, Taiwan, China.
He was the “Chinese military leader of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. After the Ming dynasty fell to the Manchu, Zheng refused Manchu offers of rank and power and launched a military campaign against the new dynasty in 1659, taking a large force from his base in Fujian province up the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). Initial success turned into failure, but, undaunted, Zheng took Taiwan from the Dutch in 1662 to use as a secure rear base area. Further glory was cut short by his death later that year. He became a popular deity and cultural hero to the Chinese on Taiwan, and even the Qing court honoured him as a paragon of loyalty. In Japan the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon celebrated him on the stage (Zheng had a Japanese mother)”. In the 20th century all the Chinese embraced him as a national hero.

When you arrive at xiamen by ship, the first one and city symbol to welcome you is the hugh stone statuary of Koxinga. Xiamen was once his base, when fighting with Manchu Army. Gulangyu was the place he trained his army and took off to Taiwan.

His stay at xiamen really brought lots of diversity culture to this town. From food to technical.

I will blog more about his influence to xiamen later.

PS: I source and quote some words from Wikipedia and Britannica Concise. But the Wikipedia source misslist the Minnan Dialect as Taiwanese. I dont like it. They should repect the truth and history.