Xiamen University Xiang'an Campus

This year I am studying at Xiamen University's Xiang'an campus, a brand new campus in the Xiang'an district of Xiamen to the northeast of the main Xiamen island. It is connected to the city by the 751 bus which runs regularly throughout the day, last buses leaving at 9:30pm from Xiang'an and 10:20pm from XiaDa (the main university campus). Buses in Xiamen cost 1元 on the island and 2元 between island/mainland.

Alex and I went up a hill just outside campus to get a good view. In the first picture, the big building is the library, to the left are the Chinese dormitories, the building next to the library on the left is the Overseas Education College where we have our lessons. The second picture is a more zoomed in look at the library and teaching buildings, again the one to the left of the library is ours. On the far left of the photo, with the flat roof, is the swimming pool building. 

Xiang'an Campus

Pool, teaching buildings and library

Everything on campus is new and huge with parts still to be built in the future. Things to be completed/started include the library/main university building, whose outside is more or less complete but needs to be finished off inside, a golf course, a student union, a gym within the stadium, more basketball courts and another sports ground. So far there are several teaching buildings, student dormitories, two canteens, a health centre, two swimming pools (in one building), a sports stadium, basketball and tennis courts, football pitches, a supermarket and various shops. Due to the campus' size it is almost necessary to own a bike to get around. These can be bought on campus as there is a guy who sells them near the main canteen and maintains them either for free or for very cheap. Here's a picture of my bike:

My bike!

Overseas Education College

Building 2 is the Overseas Education College 海外教育学院 where most Chinese classes take place. The teaching buildings are pretty much the same consisting of sections A, B and C and 5 floors high. There is a lift from floor 1 (ground floor) and a car/bicycle park in the basement. The corridors are all open with courtyards in the middle of each section meaning that it's nice in summer but can be quite cold in the winter! 

Overseas Education College

View of one of the lakes, Chinese dorms in the distance, student union under construction and a teaching building on the left taken from the 4th floor of the OEC

The open corridors and a courtyard inside building 2

International Dormitories

All international students are entitled to a dorm on campus. The buildings are split up into staircases of six floors with a flat on each side per floor. Boys and girls live in separate buildings so therefore there are no mixed flats. People from different countries are put together in a flat though so, for example, in my flat there is a mix of American, Russian, Thai, German and English (me!). Each building has space to store bikes on the first floor and a laundry room containing 4 washing machines.

A flat contains four bedrooms (2 people max. per room), a bathroom consisting of two cubicles containing a toilet (not a squat one) and a shower each and a wash basin and a living area with a wooden coffee table and wooden sofa. Each room has two beds, two desks, two chairs, a wardrobe (roommates have half each), two safes and a balcony where there is a sink, a mirror and a rail where you can hang clothes to dry. As mentioned in a previous post, it is possible to get internet/WiFi in rooms but it's quite a complicated process! Cleaning needs to be organised as a flat so some people choose to pay cleaners for the bathroom and communal area while others, like my flat, have a cleaning rota to ensure that the cleaning is spread evenly amongst flatmates.

Scholarship students live in dorms for free with a 1,000元 deposit but non-scholarship students pay 2,000元/semester or 4,000元/year, also with the 1,000元 deposit, which is still really cheap. Some students do still choose to live off campus but due to the campus' location, it's more convenient to live on campus, at least during the week.

Our dorms

The building on the left of the photo is my building. The one on the right is for boys. There is a gate with a security guard at the entrance to dorms checking that people swipe their student card to get in.

Inside the gate

Courtyard inside dormitory buidlings

 Canteens

There are two student canteens on campus and I regularly go to both of them. One of them is near our dormitories so is useful for breakfast and if you don't fancy going too far away from your room for lunch/dinner. This canteen only has one floor that serves food and restricted opening hours. It is open all morning until 1pm serving breakfast until about 11 then lunch. It then opens again at 4:30pm until 8:30pm. At breakfast there is congee, vegetables, various dumplings, vegetables and some meat. You can have fried chicken for breakfast if you want to! Lunch is when there is the biggest selection as they serve boiled and fried rice which you get first before choosing whichever meat/vegetables you want with it. There are also dumplings, cups of fruit and occasionally cake. The other main option is to go for noodle soup. For this you choose the noodles you want and the meat and vegetables you want with it before they make it for you while you wait. At dinner time there is the option of boiled rice (not fried) with meat/veg of choice up until 7pm and the noodle soup from opening until close. There is also a small shop open when the canteen is open selling drinks and snacks. This canteen also has a room with ATMs at the back including one where you can pay money into your Bank of China account which is very useful.

The canteen near our dormitories

Inside the canteen. You get food from the left.

The other canteen is the main one. It is situated near the Chinese dormitories and is closer to the teaching buildings. We tend to go there for lunch as we can study on the second floor afterwards (you know you're in China when you study in the canteen!). This canteen is bigger with three floors serving food. The first floor is similar to the canteen near the dormitories, serving rice, meat, veg and noodle soup. This canteen also closes at 7pm in the evening. The second floor is divided into two sections. The largest section only serves at lunch as the rest of the time it is used for studying. The small section is the Halal restaurant which is always quite busy but also finishes early. The third floor tends to be where we go. This canteen is different from all the others as it consists of small private businesses with menus above each stall. The shop owners do their best to try to tempt you to buy from them as they are all in competition. The food on this floor is made while you wait so is fresh. You can get noodles (fried or in a soup and lots of different types), dumplings (包子，饺子，蒸饺,...), vegetables and meat dishes. There is also a place called HKC (a bit like KFC) and an Indian place.  

The main canteen with lots of bikes outside

First floor

Second floor

Halal restaurant

Third floor

Swimming pools

I was happy to find out that there were two 50m swimming pools free for students to use on campus. In order to be allowed to use the pool, students have to do a health check which means a visit to the health practice on campus or to the university hospital on the island so that they can check the soles of your feet and eyes. You are then given a card with your photo, name and faculty on it which allows you to go swimming. When you enter the pool building you hand over this pass in exchange for a locker key, after your swim your pass is returned to you once you've handed the locker key back. It is compulsory to wear swim hats when swimming in the pool and goggles are also advisable. Although there are two 50m pools, there is only one in use at the moment. It doesn't tend to get too busy though so you can get a good swim done. Unfortunately I've injured my knee so haven't been able to swim as much as I'd hoped. The pool is not heated even though it is inside meaning that in colder weather it can be very cold! The pool is open until 10pm every day. I've heard that there are also ping pong tables on the second floor although I've never been up there.

The swimming pool building

Other sports facilities

I can't tell you too much about the other facilities as I don't use them but here are some photos:

The stadium

Football pitches and exercise park

Basketball courts and tennis courts as seen from the coffee shop

Supermarket, other shops and services

There is a supermarket on campus near the main canteen selling the main essentials - drinks, snacks, fruit, bedding and towels (these are not included with dorms), toiletries, cleaning supplies, stationery etc.

Other shops near the canteen include a pharmacy, optician, printing/photocopying/photographs, barbers, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom and a coffee shop (which is another one of our study spots!). 

Shops/services at main canteen

Supermarket (超市)

Outside terrace of the coffee shop

Main building/library

As already mentioned, the main building is still not complete inside but is impressive all the same. The library is 10 storeys tall, towering over the other buildings on campus. In front of the building is a statue of the university's founder, Tan Kah Kee. He was a overseas Chinese who made a lot of money in Singapore and used it to found lots of schools and universities, in Jimei (mainland Xiamen) in particular. I'm sure there will be a post about my visits there at some point!

The characters on the pillars in front of the building make up the university motto.

The e-card system

Xiamen University has a system where every student is issued a card connected to their Chinese bank account. You load money onto this card and use it to pay for most things on campus including food in the canteen, shopping in the supermarket, hot water for showers and getting in and out of dorms. This card makes life a bit simpler and can also be used on the other university campuses. 

More photos

A selection of some of the other more general photos I've taken of campus

View from the coffee shop

Teaching buildings

Teaching buildings

Roundabout (not sure why it's needed?)

Outside the West Gate

Outside the canteen, Chinese student dorms and truck taking away a stage. There are quite often events on outside the canteen with singing and dancing

The lake and teaching buildings

Sunny Xiang'an

Pathway from the OEC

I've tried to make this post detailed as it is long overdue, a couple of people have asked me to write it. However, if you feel like you would like to know more information on something or feel that I've missed something then please let me know in the comments section and I'll add it to the post.

I am now in  Dubai for Christmas followed by Hong Kong for new year so the next few posts won't be about Xiamen!

妈妈咪呀！中文版 Mamma Mia! Chinese Version

The weekend before last, six of us went to watch Mamma Mia! in Chinese at the brand new Banlam (Minnan) Grand Theatre 闽南大戏院 in Xiamen. We'd all seen the English version of the musical before, either the film or the production, so were looking forward to see how the Chinese would do it, how much they would translate etc. This was a good way of practising our Chinese listening as we all knew the story so could follow what the actors on stage were saying.

The tickets cost 380元 (about £38) each so were quite expensive. This means that a lot of Chinese people probably wouldn't be able to afford it which explains why there were so many empty seats. The show was scheduled to start at 7:30pm and Alex and I rushed to get there having got lost up a mountain on the main university campus that afternoon! For some reason taxis weren't picking up from outside of the university gate, just parking their cars, getting out and socialising with other taxi drivers. Our guess is that as it was near 7pm, they were changing shifts then and didn't want to pick anybody up. When a taxi driver finally stopped for us he didn't know the address as the theatre and general area around it is so new. Luckily the next guy knew and got us to the right place with 5 minutes to spare!

It turned out we needn't have worried as the theatre didn't seem to work in the same way they do in Europe. Normally the time on the ticket is when the curtain goes up and doors close, some theatres not allowing latecomers in until after the interval. However, when we arrived no one seemed to be in much of a rush to get in. Our seats were on the second floor but we were told to take the lift up to the third rather than take the stairs. Confused, we went up to the third floor and found our seats fairly easily. I still don't understand why the system works that way! We sat down expecting the show to start straight away but had a 15 minute wait until music suddenly blasted out and the show began. We've realised that the Chinese don't seem to do quiet music. In bars, clubs and theatres as well apparently, the music is so loud that you can't hope to have much of a conversation! I think it made us all jump when it suddenly came on at the start of Mamma Mia!

Slightly blurred shot of inside the theatre (I forgot to bring my camera so this was taken with my iPod)

The production was very well done - the singing, dancing and acting was all to a very high standard. Alex saw the English version on West End this summer and said that everything was the same including set, costumes and dance moves. The only difference was the language. It turned out that almost everything, including the songs, was translated into Chinese. Most of the time they kept the English title within the song e.g. "Dancing Queen! 十七岁(17 years old)" but not all the time as "Gimme Gimme Gimme" became "给我给我为我 (Give me Give me Give me)". I think the translation was quite well done in that it wasn't literal translation. I managed to understand about 50% of the dialogue, helped by knowing the story, so could follow what was going on. Every so often there would be a joke and all the Chinese members of the audience would burst out laughing while we were looking around a bit lost though!

There was a short interval in the middle but we decided to remain in our seats and discuss what we all thought of the first half. Everyone seemed to be glad we'd came. The second half began with another blast of music and was again very enjoyable. The star of the show had to be the mother, Donna. The actress who played her had a great voice and all the audience seemed to love her. There was a bit of an awkward moment at the end when the cast took their bows as Donna went up to the front of the stage first with a huge round of applause followed by Sophie (the daughter and arguably the main/one of the main characters) getting a much quieter polite clap. Throughout the performance I had wondered whether they would do any of the songs in English and they finished with Waterloo, finally giving us a song to sing along to! After the performance I went to buy a programme as a souvenir from the show. The lady was also selling CDs of the soundtrack which I was very tempted to buy until I found out it was in English, not Chinese, and they cost 100元 (£10) each. I settled for just getting a programme costing 80元 (£8) which is something nice to have and does have quite a lot of Chinese in it that I can go through to practise reading.

2-part Mamma Mia! programme

It was a really nice evening and we'll keep checking to see if they put on something similar. They will be showing Chicago in January but I think we'll unfortunately miss it as we'll be away for new year. Hopefully we'll get to go another time this year though!

鼓浪屿 Gulangyu

Xiamen is known for being a tourist city, its main sights being Gulangyu, Nanputuo Temple and Xiamen University's main campus (not the one I'm on). I was lucky enough to visit all of these places when I was here in March but have already been to them all again.

The weekend before last, Alex and I decided to go to Gulangyu for the afternoon as a change from normal weekends spent going out at night and recovering the next day! Gulangyu is a small island off the main Xiamen island. It is famous for there being no cars, colonial architecture and lots of pianos! It can be reached by ferry from Xiamen which is how we got there but once there the only vehicles are electric tourist buggies and emergency services, even bicycles are banned! Xiamen became a treaty port when China lost the First Opium war so 13 countries set up consulates on Gulangyu as well as churches and other buildings or built in a colonial style. The architecture makes the island very popular with Chinese tourists who often do not leave the country, as it is a chance for them to see something foreign. The foreigners also brought pianos and organs with them giving the island nicknames "music island" and "piano island". Gulangyu has both a piano and an organ museum adding to its list of attractions.

Getting there and back: The best and easiest way to get to Gulangyu is by ferry. We accidentally went to the wrong bus stop so got the ferry there from 第一码头 (number 1 pier) for 8元 (about 80p) but most people go from 厦门轮渡广场 (Lundu Ferry Square) at a cost of 4元. We went that way back to Xiamen island. Although we paid more from 第一码头, it did mean that the boat wasn't as crowded with tourists as the other one. The extra price was because it's a longer crossing. We decided both times to sit upstairs and pay an extra 1元 to get a better view.

Leaving 第一码头

Gulangyu ferry

Arriving at Gulangyu

Seats on the upper deck of the ferry

The "holding area" where people have to wait before being allowed onto the boat

Once we got there, we wandered along the coastal path as there didn't seem to be that much in the area around the ferry pier we'd arrived at. We could see the main Xiamen island as we walked past the beach to get to the busier part of the island. After a while we decided to go further into the centre and wander around the little streets. It seemed that everywhere we went we saw couples having their wedding photos taken in front of seemingly meaningless things to us like walls and gates, but I suppose as it's foreign architecture it's seen as attractive to the Chinese. I'd seen this before when I went in March but at least then they were posing in front of churches and on the beach, this time there were more couples who just seemed to be choosing any spot they could get!

View of Xiamen island from one of Gulangyu's beaches

Lots of steps to get up the hill!

Couples getting their pictures taken in March, I didn't get any photos of them this time.

Alex's room mate on the main campus had recommended we go up Sunlight Rock, the highest point on the island, to see the view and I hadn't been there when I'd gone before so we decided we'd go up for a look. It normally costs 60元 (about £6) to go up there but it was half price for us as we got student tickets. It seems that this only works for students studying in China though as when I enquired about it they asked if we had Chinese student ID. The area covered by the ticket price also included a statue of the moon cake gambling game, a canon, statues of horses and a Chinese man (not sure who he was supposed to be) and Gulangyu temple. The board next to the moon cake gambling sculpture was interesting as it explained the rules and history of the game, I didn't know that it was only a tradition in this part of China! The temple seemed like a smaller version of Nanputuo Temple on Xiamen island but was still impressive, particularly for Alex as he'd never visited a temple before.

Me playing the moon cake gambling game

Gulangyu temple

Gulangyu temple

We climbed the steps up to the rock and knew that Alex's room mate had been right, the view was definitely worth it! Unfortunately we got there just as it was going dark so not great for photos but we could see the whole of Gulangyu as well as part of Xiamen island and the bridge across to Jimei. 

Xiamen island in the distance

Alex and I at the top of the rock

Bridge to Jimei (mainland) in the top left corner

After our descent from the rock we meandered around the streets past the shops, restaurants and bars in the general direction of the ferry. There seemed to be lots of fresh fish available with restaurants allowing you to choose what you wanted to eat while it was still alive (as fresh as possible!) and an outdoor fish/seafood market. There were lots of people giving it quite a lively atmosphere. This was a side to Gulangyu which I hadn't seen on my previous trip as we'd gone on a tour during the day time, sticking to a strict schedule. I think it might be worth staying the night on the island just to explore the streets some more. Maybe another time. By the time we reached the ferry we were tired from walking around all afternoon but I'm sure we'll be back there at some point!

Choosing their dinner

Streets at night

Fish market

The crabs are still alive, they're tied up so that they don't pinch!