Xiamen Arts & Culture
Xiamen has over a hundred traditional and modern sculptures
scattered about the city in downtown areas, open amphitheatres,
along the beach, in picnic areas and parks. Favorites include
"Egret Fairy," "Koxinga," and "3 Generations of Helping Hands".Xiamen also has about 140 cultural, historical preservation
sites, as well as 533 protected ancient or famous trees.
Additionally, Xiamen citizens are never more than a 15 minute
walk from a park.For other arts and culture experiences, check
out the local Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra or head to one of
the many theaters or museums in Xiamen.
Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra is a professional orchestra
currently supported by the Xiamen municipal government and the
Fujian and Xiamen Electrical Power Bureaus, with contributions
from Xiamen-Hong Kong Solidarity.
It made its debut on September 9, 1998, on the beautiful Egret
Island, Xiamen, under the leadership of Professor Zheng Xiaoying,
the most prominent female conductor in China, who remains the
orchestra's artistic director and principal conductor. Since
that time, the weekend symphony concerts have brought to audiences
more than 600 well-received concerts that have included more
than 150 different programs from Haydn to Schostakovitch, domestic
and from abroad. During performances, the "Zheng Xiaoying
System" of explaining while performing, helps people become
familiar with the symphony and become more receptive, and to
understand more about the music.
The Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra have also made short tours
to more than 30 cities in ten provinces and actively advocate
composition of symphonies concern to China or Fujian for promotion
to a Chinese symphonic career.
In 2002, the orchestra successfully toured three cities in Japan,
and got identical high praise from world-class juries and got
an Award for their Outstanding Contribution from Xiamen Government
for the excellent cooperation in the Fourth International Tchaikovsky
Competition for Young Musicians held in Xiamen.And it also
performed a concert with Fujian subjects in Beijing and was warmly
welcomed by the audience in the Capital.
The orchestra got an award from the Xiamen Culture Bureau because
of the outstanding achievement. In 2003 the orchestra went to
Hong Kong and then joined in the Shanghai (China) International
Art Festival. The orchestra twice took part in the ceremony
concerts of The Gulangyu Piano Festival. Many orchestra musicians
coached hundreds students from Jinmen, it promote the understanding
and friendship of the compatriots of the two sides of the Strait.
At the end of 2005 year, the orchestra performed a great new
choral poem "Echo of the Three Gorges" and in May it had a tour
in Jinmen. These brilliant achievements under the new system
of the orchestra have been reported by newspapers and magazines
thousand times. Supported by the leader of Xiamen municipal
government and some corporations, more than 70 artists in the
orchestra have come from across China to devote their efforts
toward building Xiamen into "Music Islands of the Orient" which
can live up to this name.
Address:No. 67 Wenyuan Road, Xiamen
The Gulangyu Odium
The Gulangyu Odium on the Gulangyu Island is a good place for
music fans to enjoy the excellent musical instrument performances
held there sometimes.
Address: No. 1 Huangyan Road, Gulangyu Island, Xiamen
There are a lot of theaters in Xiamen debuting performances
of all kinds. They form a very important part of entertainment
of Xiamen. One recognized theater in Xiamen is listed below.
People's Theater
Address:No. 217 Zhongshan Road, Xiamen
There are a lot of cinemas in Xiamen showing many updated movies
everyday. One popular cinema in Xiamen is
listed below.
Siming Cinema
Address:No. 2 - 14 North Siming Road, Siming District, Xiamen
The British Museum
The BritishMuseum was
home to a million antiquities. Most
of these items have made their eventual way to the ever-expanding
collections of the British Museum where they were set out on
display with clear labels in many languages so that foreign
tourists could come and see their lost valuables with minimum
inconvenience.
Overseas ChineseMuseum
The Overseas Chinese Museum is about 2 kilometers south of Zhongshan
Road, on South Siming Road (just over the hill from Xiamen University)
in Xiamen. Built in 1956, it opened to the public in May of
1959. The 30,000 square feet have over 7,000 items in displays
documenting the lives of overseas Chinese through different historical
periods.
The museum is divided into six sections, from relics of old China
to photographic and pictorial evidence of Huaqiao (overseas Chinese)
exploration. The ground floor's three halls contain paintings,
photos and documentation of the Fujianese life abroad. Some
of the pottery and bronzes found in the museum date back to the
Shang Dynasty (1615 - 1115BC).
Address: Zhongshan Road, South Siming Road, Xiamen
The Xiamen Museum
The Xiamen Museum, on Gulangyu Islet, is Xiamen's largest, and
housed within the Eight Trigrams Tower. The museum has over
10,000 artifacts, including jade and porcelain, and ancient weapons.
Piano Museum
Asia's Largest Piano Museum is on Gulangyu Islet, within Shuzhuang
Garden. Thirty of the 70 plus historic pianos were provided
by Mr. Hu Youyi, a piano collector from Australia whose hometown
is Gulangyu Islet. There are old player pianos, as well as barrel
organs that organ grinders used to play as their monkeys scampered
around the crowds collecting donations.
The pianos have come from Britain, France, Germany, America,
Austria and Australia. The museum also has over 100 piano lamps.
The displays are in two separate buildings, so be sure to catch
the exhibits in the rear building.
Address: No. 45 Huang Yan Rd., Gulangyu, Xiamen
Jinguan Coin Museum
The former British Consulate is now a coin museum! The beautiful
colonial building which was built in 1870 was transformed into
Fujian's largest coin museum. The Jinquan Coin Museum house
over 5200 exhibits dating from the New Stone Age to New China
(1949). It also includes a fine selection of Fujian coins.
This fine museum, opened September 28, 1991, must be right on
the money because it has attracted coin experts, dignitaries
and tourists from throughout Asia.
Address: No. 5 Zhongshan Rd., Gulangyu Islet, Xiamen
Xiamen Bridge Museum
The Xiamen Bride Museum bridges are fascinating because they
show us the routes people used for travel and trade. And Xiamen
is a great place for the Bridge Museum because the province has
some of the finest bridges on the planet¡ªboth old and new.
Quanzhou's Luoyang Bridge was built 1,000 years ago of massive
granite slabs of which some were ten meters long. This bridge
is one of the first examples of biological engineering where
the builders used the secretions of live oysters to cement the
granite blocks together. Anping Bridge, just south of Quanzhou,
was the world's longest bridge during the middle ages.
The Xiamen Bridge Museum, located right beneath the Haicang
Bridge, has attracted both tourists and experts with its introduction
of famous Chinese and foreign bridges. About one-third of the
indoor area is devoted to fascinating exhibits about the construction
of Xiamen's beautiful Haicang Bridge.
Address: Haicang Bridge, Xiamen
Cafes and teahouses here and there in the city are all good
places for you to avoid the noisy crowd, or you can have a talk
with your friends at a quiet piano bar.
U.B.C. Coffee
General Restaurant:No. 66 Haitian Road, Huli District, Xiamen
Siming Branch:No. 390 South Siming Road, Siming District, Xiamen
Hexiang Branch:No. 39 West Hexiang Road, Siming District, Xiamen
Zuo An Coffee
Address:No. 109 - 6 Luling Road, Huli District, Xiamen
Gudao Teahouse
Lianyue Road Branch:No. 41 Lianyue Road, Siming District, Xiamen
Jiahe Road Branch:3/F, Tianbao Mansion, No. 335 Jiahe Road,
Huli District, Xiamen
NOTE: Although
this information is correct at the time of our web publication,
it is still advised that you call the phone number and confirm
the address before going to the venue because some venues may
have changed their telephone numbers or address locations.
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