中国范儿 54 鼓浪屿：中西文化的交融地

Formerly known as Yuan Shazhou, Gulangyu Island got its current name in the Ming Dynasty. Gulang means drum waves so-called because of the sound generated by the ocean waves hitting the reefs. With a total area of around 1.9 square km, Gulangyu Island is the largest island in Xiamen. Gulangyu Island is dubbed as a Maritime Garden since it has a pleasant weather year round.

On July 8, 2017, “Gulangyu: a Historic International Settlement” was included on the UNESCO World Heritage list, becoming the 52nd world heritage site in China. One year after its successful bid, this beautiful island is showing the world its vitality and charm.

Before the First Opium War, fishery and agriculture were the major economies on Gulangyu Island, which hosted numerous shabby residential houses. Xiamen became a treaty port after China's loss in the First Opium War. Gulangyu Island soon became the priority destination for foreigners in Xiamen to build offices and residential buildings, thanks to its superior natural conditions. Since 1844, 13 countries established their consulates on Gulangyu Island. The British, Americans and French erected churches, schools, hospitals, and trade companies here, among other things. As a result, the island hosts a large number of western-style buildings, both public ones and civil ones.

In the first half of the 20th Century, many overseas Chinese built factories and houses on Gulangyu Island. As a result, private residences, often with a mixture of eastern and western architectural styles, mushroomed on the island, which ushered in the peak of construction in its history. Meanwhile, people steadily put such public facilities like telephone, telegram, waterworks, and dorks in place on the island. Gulangyu Island witnessed the birth of China's first Kindergarten and China's first football field. Such development transformed Gulangyu Island from a south Fujian cultural community in Southeast China into China’s first modern international settlement.

闽南文化具有开放包容的基因，1913年西方人士为鼓浪屿带来第一架钢琴，正与闽南居民喜欢音乐的天性相合，鼓浪屿人通过音乐认识了世界。鼓浪屿钢琴拥有密度居全国之冠，又得美名“钢琴之岛”。直到今天，钟声、琴声、读书声依然浸润着鼓浪屿人的生活。

The south Fujian culture is open and inclusive by nature. In 1913, the westerners brought the first piano on the island. Since then, the local Chinese residents, with their natural taste for music, started to know the outside world through music. Gulangyu Island ranks first in China in the density of pianos, so it gets the nickname of Island of Pianos. Even today, the island usually immerses itself in the sounds of bells and instruments and reading voice.

Today’s Gulangyu Island is a famous tourist attraction in China, thanks to its splendid sceneries. Meanwhile, the island also keeps its deep cultural heritage and historical and humanistic values. Around 1000 buildings, constructed between late 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century and with different styles, still stand on the island today. Thus, Gulangyu Island is renowned for its varied foreign-style architecture, which records the history and transformation of the island in the past 100 years.

Gulangyu Island witnesses the history of cultural fusion between China and the west. It is a testament to the fact that encounters between the indigenous culture and foreign cultures at a rapid-changing historical juncture will not necessarily lead to subjugation and extinction. As it turned out, Gulangyu Island became the convergence of different cultures, which integrated with each other under a friendly circumstance. "Gulangyu: a Historic International Settlement" is a shared legacy for the humankind and it attests to the openness, indigenousness, and inclusiveness of the South Fujian Immigration Culture.

来源：中国网

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