UNESCO World Heritage SiteNational 5A Scenic AreaEast China
Gulangyu Island, Xiamen
鼓浪屿 · Fujian, Xiamen
A car-free island of Victorian villas, banyan trees and piano music off the coast of Xiamen.
Gulangyu is a small, car-free island in Xiamen's harbour, packed with restored colonial-era villas, consulates and churches shaded by giant banyan trees. Known as 'Piano Island' for its many musicians and instruments, it offers quiet lanes, small beaches and views of the modern Xiamen skyline across the water.
After Xiamen became a treaty port in 1842, Gulangyu developed as an international settlement where Chinese and foreign merchants built eclectic villas. Its unique fusion of Minnan and Western architecture was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017 as Kulangsu, a historic international settlement.
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