For the last stop on our 19th century China tour, we head south still further to more tropical climes, to Xiamen, an ancient coastal city nestled in the mountains of Fujian province. Fujian is one of the more unique provinces in China. It’s ancient, even by China’s standards, with evidence of human habitation going back to 7000 BC. It’s also covered in mountains, which are both scenic and pivotal in Fujian’s history: they’ve acted as a kind of cultural barrier between Fujian and the rest of China. While the Han culture originating in northern China slowly came to define what we think of as modern China, minority groups have long flourished in the isolated mountains and valleys of Fujian. There are hundreds of languages* spoken in Fujian, with locals claiming that if you drive 10 miles in any direction that the locals will speak an entirely different language! A view of lush Fujian province from our train (speeding trains don't make the best venue for pictures, so forgive the blurriness). Melanie would also like to note that the milk tea reflected in the window was yummy! Fujian’s mountains have also made overland travel and communication with the rest of China difficult, with the result being that Fujian’s denizens have long looked to the sea for trade and travel. Fujian has a string of coastal cities unusual for their long history of trade with other cultures and nations,** and Xiamen is the most famous of these coastal cities. As early as the Song Dynasty, (around 1000-1200 AD), Xiamen was the main port for foreign trade in China. As a result, when European ships first started making their way to China in the 1500s, looking for tea and silk, Xiamen was their port of call. Xiamen would end up having a lasting impact on Western views of China. For instance, the English word ‘tea’ actually comes from Xiamen’s local Hokkien dialect (one of Fujian’s many local languages), the word ‘te,’ not the Mandarin word for tea, which is ‘cha’ (茶). As China’s trade with the West grew, Xiamen remained one of the most important trading centers in China for laowai. Xiamen’s semi-tropical climate and warm year-round temperatures made it a particularly appealing place for laowai to settle, and Xiamen was thus one of the biggest hubs of laowai in the 19th century. Europeans, Americans, and Japanese all flocked to Xiamen. Most laowai settled onto an island about 100 yards off-shore from Xiamen: Gulangyu. Initially a deserted rocky outcropping overlooking Xiamen’s bustling harbor, Gulangyu’s 19th century laowai community transformed the island into a warren of mansions, gardens, shops, churches, and consulates. To the left, the entrance to the old U.S. Consulate. The island’s architecture is what you’d expect to find in a picturesque Mediterranean town, with palm trees and narrow cobble-stone streets winding between walled mansions and immaculate gardens. A variety of churches were built to suit the multitude of believers in Xiamen, with Catholic and Protestant churches often sharing a town square. And with Xiamen’s relatively warm and wet climate, Gulangyu’s gardens burst forth with astounding varieties of flowers and trees. One can even find a few art deco buildings lending a slightly modernist twist to Gulangyu! In Gulangyu, Xiamen’s 19th century laowai created a beautiful European-style city with a tropical flare that is unique in Asia. An old Protestant Church now used as a state Church. As with the other sites we’ve visited on our tour though, Xiamen’s cosmopolitan turn ended in the 1940s. Japanese forces occupied the city, and Xiamen’s laowai population fled. Gulangyu’s mansions and gardens were not abandoned for long though. Xiamen’s local populace soon took up residence, with great mansions once home to a single laowai family now home to 6 or 7 Chinese families! Gulangyu’s new residents appreciated the beauty of their surroundings and kept the island’s charms largely intact, while also adding more local flare. Where once Gulangyu’s streets teemed with French cafes and German bakeries, Gulangyu now teems with local street food: sea life of every variety being grilled on demand! Xiamen is famed throughout China for its seafood, and the locals seem undaunted in eating every imaginable creature fished out of the surrounding seas! Yummmm...nothing like eating the insects of the sea! I imagine this was once a mansion home to European elites, with formal dinner parties a common occurrence. The hanging laundry now indicates a more down-to-earth use! I wish Melanie and I were lucky enough to rent one of these apartments! After a few decades of turmoil in the 20th century, Xiamen has again emerged as a hub of trade and commerce. Xiamen is one of China’s wealthiest cities today, and the city’s port continues to be a center of shipping throughout Asia. Xiamen’s Gulangyu is also famed throughout China for its beauty, and the island overflows with tour groups on the weekends! The island has aged gracefully, with its gardens and mansions echoing its past luxury. Melanie and I happily spent a day strolling*** through the island’s winding streets and gardens, luxuriating in its peace and beauty. To the left, a Buddhist monk and his dog relaxing in a cafe. A view of downtown Xiamen from a ferry in the harbor. And so ends our tour of 19th century China. Melanie and I set out to see new places a little off the beaten path along China’s eastern coast. Our travels showed us some of the diversity and beauty of eastern China, and, unexpectedly, the imprint of laowai forerunners from the 19th century. It’s interesting to reminisce on the mixed legacy of these forebears, and also to ponder what impact today’s laowai might leave in China. China’s long history with outsiders is a mixed one, with contact often being fitful and tumultuous. Despite this, the interactions between China and laowai have been important for both parties, yesterday and today. *When Melanie and I first moved to China, we thought everyone in China spoke either Mandarin or Cantonese, but the reality is far more complex. China has hundreds, maybe thousands, of so-called ‘local dialects’, spoken languages specific to cities/regions. While these dialects are nominally related to Mandarin, many are so different as to be entirely different languages. **Because of this outward focus, Fujian is also the source for much of the Chinese diaspora living throughout the world, from southeast Asia to the United States. Next time you’re at a Chinese restaurant in the U.S., ask your server about Fujian. There’s a decent chance that’s where they’re from! ***Of note, Gulangyu does not have any cars or motorbikes, making it the safest place for pedestrians that we’ve ever experienced in China!
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Moganshan: China's Mountain Retreat with a Little European Charm For the second part of our 19th century laowai tour, we head south, half way down China’s eastern coast to the mountains of Zhejiang, not too far from Melanie and I’s environs of Hangzhou and Shanghai. While China has some of the world’s tallest mountains, Zhejiang’s mountains are of a more gentle variety, more like the United States’ Appalachian Mountains. Much of Zhejiang is covered with rolling hills cloaked in bamboo forests (well, the parts not covered with factories), and Moganshan is the region’s most famous mountain retreat. With cool temperatures, idyllic bamboo forests, and terraced tea fields, Moganshan is the perfect escape from the region’s bustling cities and factories. To the left, some tea fields on the slopes of Moganshan. Typical for China, even a quiet rural community like Moganshan has a history going back more than 2,500 years! The region’s name, literally Mount Mogan, comes from a mythical sword maker and his wife who lived in the region during China’s Spring and Autumn period. From these ancient origins, Moganshan remained a quiet mountain community over the centuries, and it was only in the 1800s that the region’s serenity was first noticed by laowai from nearby Shanghai. Then, as now, Shanghai was in a headlong race into the future, growing by leaps and bounds as it became the financial center of Asia, and the era’s laowai were just as desperate as today’s for a retreat from the constant bustle of business. Moganshan’s peace, quiet, and cool bamboo forests seemed the perfect antidote, and the region’s locals soon found 19th century laowai seeking to rent rooms for a few weeks of rest! Yet the 19th century laowai were nothing if not entrepreneurial, and it didn’t take long for a group of English and Americans to recognize the potential of Moganshan to become the region’s resort of choice, the Martha’s Vineyard of Zhejiang so to speak. They bought the entire mountain for $50, and it was soon covered with villas, churches, and public halls catering to Shanghai’s laowai. During Shanghai’s hot summer months, hundreds of laowai flocked to Moganshan to relax in the mountain’s cool temperatures. For the 19th century laowai, Moganshan was synonymous with luxury and relaxation. To the left, a Moganshan church built during this era. Much like Harbin though, Moganshan’s brief cosmopolitan turn was brought to a halt by the turmoil of China’s 20th century. After decades of conflict, most of the region’s laowai had fled by the end of the 1940s. Moganshan would retain its allure for a time. Both Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Zedong vacationed at Moganshan (separately), but the region’s villas would be abandoned during the Cultural Revolution and languish unused for decades thereafter. To the left, remnants of an abandoned villa. Interestingly, it was again laowai who helped to revitalize the retreats and villas of Moganshan in the 1990s. A British citizen, who has lived in China for nearly twenty years, bought one of Moganshan’s abandoned villas and turned it into a hotel and restaurant.* Today’s Shanghai locals, laowai and Chinese alike, are just as desperate for a retreat from Shanghai’s summers as in the 19th century, and his new business was soon booming. Numerous hotels and restaurants have since opened, and Moganshan is now booming as never before. To the left, a renovated villa now serving as a hotel. Moganshan today represents some of the best and worst of contemporary China. On the plus side, Moganshan retains its natural beauty and stands as a reminder that China is so much more than just cities and factories. And though laowai continue to play a prominent role here, Moganshan is no longer a retreat exclusively for laowai. Instead, it’s a place enjoyed by Chinese and laowai alike. Indeed, the lodge Melanie and I stayed at was run in partnership between South Africans and a local village, with all parties sharing in the profits alike. On the negative side, though Moganshan is prospering, tourism can be a blessing and a curse in China, as everywhere. Moganshan’s mountain top is increasingly congested with hotels, restaurants, and tour groups that send a shiver through souls seeking a peaceful escape. Luckily, the many trails and forests on Moganshan’s slopes remain idyllic and peaceful, and Melanie and I felt well-rested after our stay here! *He has written a book about his experiences in China and Moganshan, which you can find at amazon. His story is quite interesting and includes a turn as one of China’s media barons before retreating to Moganshan.
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AuthorTwo free spirits who happen to be a lawyer (Brian), an educator (Melanie), and Americans find themselves in China in the twenty-first century. Archives
February 2016
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