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Kung Fu

AmoyMagic--Guide to Xiamen & Fujian
Copyright 2001-7 by Sue Brown & Dr. Bill Order Books Xiamenguide Forum
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When East Minces West (Minimizing Culture Shock
(best to read this before coming to Xiamen!)
Click for "Yellow Peril!" Click for Korean Supply!

WARNING: Phone Ahead!!!.  Shops open and shut seemingly overnight.  If you phone and no answer--try somewhere else!!!

Note: Now that we have several Trust-Marts, 2 Wal-Mart Supercenters, a Metro and Carrefour, and malls galore, you can find almost anything you'll need--but this guideline may help. (Just a decade ago, we had to lug from overseas everything from peanut butter to raisins!)
This is roughly alphabetical (scroll down or click links)

Shopping A-Z Menu Links
East Minces West (Minimizing Culture Shock) Bring from Home Nobel Pizza Prize
Buy China! Shopping AtoZ Antiques Appliances Art Auto Rental Auto Repair
Bread & Bakeries Barbers & Beauty Bicycles Books Business Cards Carpentry
Carpets Cheese Christian Gifts Clothes Condiments Cooking Oil Crystals
Dentists Eggs Eggxpress Mail Home Electronics Flour Flowers Foam Rubber
Forklifts Furniture Honey Housekeeper Ice Cream Internet Cafe Jewelry Korean Supply Malls Maps Margarine Massage Meat Metro Milk Music Pets Pharmacy Piano Tune or Repair Plastics Plumbing Real Estate Rice 2nd Hand Market Spices Sports Subscriptions Theaters Translation Services. Utensils Water (Bottled)
Food Markets Olive Oil Store Chinese Supermarkets Beatrice Foreign Chains Xiuxi-China's Siesta! Downtown Shopping

I hope that some of you are so enchanted by our magical Amoy that you’ll make yourself at home here. And the best way to make yourself at home is to bring a little home with you: photos of family and homeland, some wall hangings, your favorite music CDs or videotapes, a SW radio, and perhaps a board game or two. Such niceties will help you keep your sanity—and help your Chinese hosts learn more about you and your own homeland.

Good English reading material (Click Here for Bookstores) is scarce, so subscribe to your favorite magazines: Newsweek and National Geographic for you, Sesame Street and Discover for the kids. And bring a good travel guide. [If you lack reading material, you can always camp out in the business center of the Holiday Inn and read their magazines!].

Some Laowai have boasted, “I’m tough. I’ll go native.” And they’ve headed home, disillusioned, tail tucked between their legs. While I love my Chinese home, I know I’m Laowai, not Chinese. When pressure mounts, it helps to retreat to familiarity. Otherwise, I take it out on family, or myself—or my bewildered Chinese hosts and friends. So make yourself at home by lugging a little bit of home in your luggage.

Bring from Home Xiamen still lacks a few Laowai staples, so give your palate and psyche an occasional break by bringing things like cheese. (Xiamen now has cheese, but it is costly; try the great Beijing Cheese if you travel up north).

Metro has most spices, but not always in stock, so in addition to such spices as oregano, basil, cinnamon, and nutmeg, you might want to bring some packages of spaghetti seasoning or chili seasoning. Mexican food goes over big with Laowai and Laonei alike, and pizza is a cinch, especially if you use Muslim flat breads as a ready-made crust, and give it a dash of Parmesan (from the Olive Oil Store; see p. 352 of Amoy Magic).

Pizza Tip: use spaghetti sauce mix with tomato paste and tomatoes to make pizza sauce. Take a simple dough, ground pork or beef, fresh mushrooms and green peppers, and some cheese, and you’re in heaven. Share that heaven with your Chinese hosts and you might very well land the Nobel Pizza Prize.

Through the years we’ve compiled a sample Wish List:

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Medicines to Bring From Home Xiamen has many good hospitals (try Zhongshan Hospital’s Laowai Ward, and the Lifeline Clinic for Laowai), as well as a very advanced eye hospital and a great dental clinic behind Zhongshan Park, on Douxi Rd. But pack a medicine bag for basic first aid and health care. It should include: thermometer, aspirin or tylenol for fever, a good medicine for diarrheaa (like Lomitil), a box of rehydration salts, vitamins, a good cold medicine (Xiamen now sells Contact), a Bee Sting Kit, Pepto Bismol tablets, deng deng. It might also help to bone up on basic first aid. The main steps in most ailments—colds, flus, food poisoning—are stop fever, stop diarrhea, and drink plenty of water with rehydration salts.
Bring a CD-ROM Family Medical Guide, and the excellent book, “Where There Is No Doctor.”
Also beware that Xiamen has poisonous snakes (cobras, bamboo vipers). One American lady was bit by one right outside our apartment, though no foreigner has died from one yet. Locals have antivenoms and experience, and should that fail, Gulangyu Island’s Catholic Church gives last rites.

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Buy China! Years ago, Wal-Mart got a lot of fanfare with its campaign to save American jobs by buying American products. Nowadays, China could use a similar strategy. It seems everyone is bent on buying imported products or services—even when local products of equal quality cost much less. That’s especially ironic when you consider that just about everything in America is stamped “Made in China.”
But increasingly, we can buy quality Chinese products right here in China as well—like Ma Ling Ketchup, whole milk powder from Mongolia, Chinese corn flakes, boxed fruit juices from Beijing, and fruit jams from Shanghai—made not with chemicals and preservatives but with real fruit (in America they’d be labeled “All Natural!” and go for thrice the price!).

In the same vein… Wal-Mart and Metro aren’t the only stores in town—or always the cheapest. Many local shops, like the small shop on campus at the foot of the hill we live on, offer good selection, low price, and friendly service. Give them a try.

One Size Fits All! My wife dug through a pile of sweaters displayed in a street side stall in Longyan city. She found one she liked, but it was too small. “Bu yao jin!” [No problem!] the lady said. “It stretches when you wear it!”
“I don’t know,” Sue said. She eventually found another sweater she liked, but it was far too large. “Bu yao jin!” the same lady said. “It shrinks when you wash it!”
But Chinese are, by far, the best shoppers--as we learn from Ms.Averil Mackenzie-Grieve, who lived in Xiamen in the 20s and 30s, and wrote:

Xiamen Shopping A to Z

Xiamen shops offer almost everything a Laowai could long for, but the place changes daily, so as always, Caviar Empty! Or Caveat Emptor . Or something to that effect. Please e-mail me your updates, corrections, or suggestions.
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Antiques The best place to find antiques may be the shops in the Bailu Zhou shopping area on Yundang lake. If you bargain, you may cut the price by one half to two thirds. Also try Gulangyu Island, and the small shops on Siming Rd. near the Holiday Inn.
Beware that some antiques, particularly the old coins, are fakes fresh from antique factories. One American bought 50 old silver coins. Every one turned out to be fake (they turn green when you rub them with detergent).

Personally, I prefer the “new” antiques, like the new foot-pumped black Singer sewing machines sold in department stores. They look like something out of a 1910 Sears Catalog—and they work great. But you can also find local tailors using 100 year old Min River sewing machines.

Appliances (Jiayong Dianqi). It’s hard to believe that a decade ago not a shop in Xiamen sold microwaves and coffee pots. Nowadays you can find almost anything you need (except for frost-free upright freezers).
Most department stores (Hualian, # 1 Department Store, Friendship Store), offer everything from programmable rice cookers to electric ersatz fireplaces (and all stores that sell appliances can arrange delivery and installation).

For the largest selection, try these:
#1 Department Store’s Appliance Division, on Zhongshan Rd. roughly across from the McDonalds.
Si Wen Appliance City, on Siming Rd. between Zhongshan Rd. and Xiahe Rd.
Li Min Appliances on Douxi Rd. #38-46

Art
In the Oil Business! Xiamen is one of the world's largest producers of quality original and reproduction oil paintings, with over 6500 artists and craftsmen accounting for 18% of the global output! Visit www.amoypaintings.com

Xiamen has many excellent art shops offering classical and modern Chinese paintings. I’m perfectly happy with 10 Yuan poster reproductions, but you can also pay thousands for quality reproductions (as well as tens of thousands for ‘originals’ that are sometimes churned out by poorly paid university art students).

In Taiwan, a friend paid a Chinese artist to produce awesome copies of Van Geoghs. You too can have local artists give you hand painted copies of Western and Eastern classics—or even order them from the internet’s Great China Art Supermarket, at http://www.art-china.com/indexa.htm. How about Renoir’s “La Colazione Del Canottieri? A machine made copy runs $108 U.S., and hand painted will set you back $363. Or get a hand painted copy of Van Geogh’s “Sunflowers” for only $198.”
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Auto Rental For auto rentals (sedan, vans…), 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, contact http://usecar.com.cn Phone: (0592)239-8459. Address: Xiamen, #146 Xiaoxue Rd. Suite 202 Postcode: 361004

Auto RepairAUTO REPAIR Sh¨´nl¨®ng Auto Center (Sh¨´nl¨®ng Q¨¬ch¨¥ W¨¦ixi¨± Zh¨­ngx¨©n˳ÁúÆû³µÎ¬ÐÞÖÐÐÄ) not only keeps our beloved Toy Ota in top shape but also handles the bureaucracy¡ªfrom insurance and traffic fines to taxes and annual inspections (remember, we call this place Red China because of Red Tape). Address: #172 D¨¤xu¨¦ L¨´, beside XMU Hospital (´óѧ·172ºÅ; ÏÃÃÅ´óѧҽԺ¸ô±Ú). Tel: 208-5533, 219-1393, or 13906040676

Bread (Mianbao) Chinese say all breads are either “sweet” or salty. You’ll probably prefer so-called ‘salty,’ which is not salty at all; it’s just not sweet. For a morning treat, try sliced and toasted Chinese steamed breads (mantous). They are very similar to English muffins. And Chinese strawberry and apricot jams are cheap and tasty (and unlike imported Western jams, are made of real fruit, not chemicals and flavoring).

Bakeries
The first Western-style sliced bread in Xiamen is still on the shelves. It’s a long loaf in a clear bag with blue lettering that says “Bai Mian Bao” (white bread). It has a slightly unWestern flavor, but the small slices are great for tuna or egg salad sandwiches. The best bread, at present, is at the chain of French bakeries scattered about town. Also try Beatrice stores, Trust-Mart, or Andersen.

Andersen has a broad selection of breads, cakes, cookies, ersatz croissants, deng deng, good whole wheat breads, as well as a variety of sliced white with green and purple streaks. (No, it’s not mold). And check out their late-night ½ price specials. Andersen will also make a wide variety of cakes (chocolate, pudding, coffee, fruit, peach) to order for you for any occasion.
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Use Mind Food Someone was really using their head when they came up with that name. But they have cakes and cookies, mooncakes and Chinese pastries, and breads. Branches are throughout Xiamen.

Barbers and Beauty Parlors – everywhere. But Ms. Coco (no, not the singer!) runs a chain of fine quality beauty salons that include those at the Yiyuan Hotel, Marco Polo Hotel, Mandarin Hotel, and the Marco Polo Hotel. Her prices, at present, are shampoo and blow dry: 18 Yuan; haircut: 28 Yuan; facial: 50-120 Yuan; manicure: 38 Yuan. Phone: 251-9888 x3107
You’ll also find plenty of old fashioned barber shops with chairs that would be nice museum displays. By the way… do you know why barber poles have red stripes? It’s because barbers used to moonlight as surgeons, and the red hid the blood. But Chinese barbers have green stripes. Gangrene, perhaps?
Xiada barbers cut hair for only 5 Yuan, and the schools of Cosmetology do it for free. Of course, you get what you pay for, and it can be a hair-razing experience.

Bicycles (Zixingche). Engineering studies of both animals and people have found that the most efficient means of transportation on earth is the bicycle. They’re also good exercise and nonpolluting. “Forever” brand bikes are good (I’ve ridden the same one for 11 years), but Xiamen brands are cheaper (the quality is poorer, but adequate). And don’t skimp on buying a strong chain and good lock (motorcycle lock and chains are 90 Yuan). The S. Hubin Rd./E. Hubin Rd. intersection has several large shops.
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Books Click Here for Xiamen Bookstores (Shu) Xiamen Book City, at SM Mart, 3/F,--is closed! It was Fujian’s biggest bookstore! A vast selection included imported English novels and classics, romances, and Westerns, Sci-Fi novels—even Chicken Soup for the Soul and Joy of Cooking! But now gone, and no forwarding address. R.I.P.

MUST BUY! Oxford’s Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary Informed Laowai lug this little red volume around with more zeal than Red Guards wielded Mao’s little red book. It is the best dictionary available for daily use—small, so it’s easy to whip out and wield on Laonei.

Oxford’s Dictionary is usually available in the Foreign Language bookstore, but all of the above books are available in Hong Kong bookstores, the two biggest being Swindon’s and Page One. Alternatively, order them from Amazon.com, though be aware that surface shipping takes 12 weeks (only 4 weeks to get here, but 8 more weeks to clear customs). If you can afford an extra $30 per order (on top of the normal $5.95 per book charge), Amazon will get them to you via DHL in about 5 days or so.
Chinese history buffs should read “The Soong Dynasty,” about the Soong family which virtually owned China before Liberation). I also thoroughly enjoyed “The Stilwell Years,” about America’s General Stilwell in China. And read “The Hobbit,” to better appreciate Shaanxi’s cave-dwellers.

Business Cards (Mingpian) Many photo developing shops make business cards, and the quality is fairly uniform, now that they are created with computer instead of hand-aligned rubber blocks. For some really humdinger cards, try places like Xiamen Lucky Star Card Printing. Phone: 212-1208 or 203-1208

Carpentry For 15 years, we’ve turned to Mr. Chen Gengsheng for custom furniture, remodeling, or repairs. You draw a picture of what ou want and he’ll make it. Phone: 218-4496
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Carpets & Tapestries (Ditan) galore, including Asian and Western style wallhangings, can be found at # 135 Gu Gong Road, in Xiamen. They also offer Persian-style carpets, and hand-embroidered relief wallhangings. Phone: 213-8291 And check out fine carpet shops on Douxi Road.

Carrefour (Ji¨¡l¨¨f¨² ¼ÒÀÖ¸£) of France. World¡¯s 2nd largest retailer; in May, 2006, it opened its 76th ¡°Hypermarket¡± in China. And we can see why they¡¯re called Hypermarkets. Carrefour is larger than Wal-mart, but also a lot noisier! Sue prefers the quieter Wal-mart (though after 18 years of Chinese restaurants you¡¯d think the din would not bother her). Tel: 2928849
Address: 1/F M¨ªngf¨¡ Commercial Mall (see previous page).
Á«Ç°Î÷·Óë¼ÎºÌ·½»»ã´¦Ã÷·¢ÉÌÒµ¹ã³¡¸ºÒ»Â¥
Website: www.carrefour.com

Cheese (Ganlao) Yes, Xiamen now has cheese. Metro has best selection.(If you visit Beijing, try the excellent Beijing Cheese in the Friendship Store).

Christian Gift Shop Click Here for Jehovah Nissi Opened November, 2002, this was the first Christian gift shop in Fujian Province. It was located on Siming Rd. between the train track and the Holiday Inn, and sold a broad selection of Christian sculptures, paintings, magnets, stationary, calendars—about everything you can imagine. They are now opposite the Overseas Chinese Museum. Click Here for information and address.
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Clothes (Yifu, or Fuzhuang) Mao blue and gray may have been in vogue a decade ago, but no more. Chinese are not just following fashion but leading it. Zhonghan Road is lined with boutiques. Try the 2/F of the 1st Department Store, or the Donghai Building. SM-Mart has a gigantic Laiya store, and all over town, shops cater to name brands from around the world, but name brands don’t necessarily imply quality or durability, so don’t buy based on price—as folks learned on Gulangyu a few years back…

15 Yuan, or 150 Yuan?
A youth sat on the sidewalk trying to hawk good quality cotton shirts—a steal at only 15 Yuan. After hours of no takers, he made a new sign: “Quality shirts—150 Yuan.” He sold every shirt.

Yellow Peril!
Sue discarded her brightly colored dresses before coming to China in 1988. She said, ¡°Chinese wear only dark colors¡ªdark blue, dark green, dark black...¡±
¡°That was the Cultural Revolution!¡± I said. ¡°China¡¯s changed since then!¡±
Sure enough, the girls in Xi¨¤m¨¦n weren¡¯t wear-ing blue Mao caps and coats but brightly hued dresses and mini-skirts.
¡°See! I told you so!¡± I said as I pointed to a lovely lass in a yellow mini-skirt.
¡°Well,¡± Sue said, ¡°It¡¯s a dark yellow!¡±

Computers (Diannao) shops are all over Xiamen, but Electronic City (Dianzi Cheng) has the most under one roof. Address: # 69 S. Hubin Rd. Also check out Cybermart, at SM Mart, 3/F, beside Book City.

Condiments I saw a Minnan lass in a Shanghai store hawking B.B. Brand condiments. BB. Nice ring, eh? And no, I’m not making the stuff in my bathtub. BB’s fine products are made right here in Xiamen, at #35 Zhenhai Rd. near the #1 hospital. Try them. They spent $3 million U.S. to import Taiwanese equipment to produce dozens of great sauces, including hot sauce, satay sauce, sweet ‘n sour sauce, Worcestershire, sesame oil, BBQ chili oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, deng deng. Buy them in stores throughout Xiamen.
B.B.’s phone: 205-1170; 502-4079. Fax: 205-7377.
The Olive Oil Store (later in this chapter) offers ketchup (I recommend good, cheap Maling brand Chinese ketchup), American and European mustards, mayonnaise, caviar, deng deng.

Cooking Oil (Caiyou). Chinese usually use peanut oil, perhaps because we’re so used to working for peanuts. Rapeseed oil is healthier but lacks that Jimmy Carter flavor. Olive oil is now available in the Dahua (United Bank Building) store, Beatrice, or the Restaurant Supply (address under “Food Markets”).

Crystals & Minerals I’ve collected minerals and crystals since I was seven, and our apartment is almost a museum. Xiamen has many gem shops, but I like the small shop in the basement of the SM Mart, across from Wal-Mart.

Dentist (Yayi) Click Here for Dental Care Page The Sino-Japanese joint venture behind Zhongshan Park offers excellent dental care—though at a cost. An American family in Xiamen discovered that military hospitals also offer excellent, but affordable, dental care.

Eggs. Duck eggs (Yadan) are big and white, chicken eggs (Jidan) are smaller and brown. Chinese doctors swear duck eggs are more nutritious, but I chicken out and go for tastier chicken eggs (though I’m not ducking the issue). Whichever, be sure they’re fresh or they can get rather fowl.
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Eggspress Mail Services
DHL: 601-0503/4/5
EMS: (Chinese Post Offices)
UPS: 563-9828; 563-2835; 563-2765
Federal Express: 510-1771, or (800) 830-2338
Pony Express: Just neigh.

Home Electronics: Xiamen has dozens of places selling appliances, but Yuxing Songbai Electronics has served Xiamen for over two decades, and offers both local ownership and local service. Phone: 510-5611, 510-8585. Location: Diagonal across the intersection from SM-Mart in Songbai District. There is also a nice branch across from the XiaXi Market at #7 Siming Dong Rd. --a 3 minute walk from the ZhongshanRd./Siming Rd. intersection. Or—place orders online in English! http://www.xm-yuxing.com.cn/default_en.asp

Flour: Fine cake flour (Jingfen) gives best results in baking breads or cakes. Wholewheat flour is still hard to come by, but at least we no longer have to buy dry corn (used for pig feed) and grind it by hand with the 200 hundred pound granite mill I lugged home during a hair-raising and hernia-inducing trip to the countryside. Many shops like Beatrice sell a perfectly serviceable corn meal. Just ask for yumi fen. (Also found in Metro and Wal-Mart).

The Olive Oil Store (more under Food Markets) --a perennial Laowai favorite, and now has second shop near the #7 market (prices are cheaper in the new shop). This store offers excellent domestic cake flour in large quantity. Dr. Jan says that in winter months, non-white flour from Gansu Province is available. Baking tip: with bread, substitute 1/3 Chinese oatmeal to make tasty and nutritious oatmeal bread. (Also has cheese, cereals, and other hard to find imported items).

Flowers: the shops behind Zhongshan Park sell potted and cut flowers, as well as all you need to raise birds, fish, turtles…w
For a marvelous selection of nursery items, including potted plants and flowers, fertilizers, miniature landscapes, pots and vases, try the gigantic nursery mall on Lianqian Road about halfway between the traffic circle across from the Exposition Center and the beach (it looks like a row of airplane hangers covered in plastic).

Foam Rubber! (H¨£imi¨¢n º£Ãà) Best stuff in the world for mattresses, furniture pads, or remodeling the padded cell you might need after a few years here! This rubber factory will custom create anything you need!
(even space-age ¡°memory foam¡±). Great for sound rooms. The factory¡¯s off a small road near the airport. Name: Xi¨¤m¨¦n X¨©ngzh¨¬h¨¦ng H¨£imi¨¢n Zh¨¬p¨ªn Y¨¯uxi¨¤n G¨­ngs¨©ÏÃÃÅöÎÖ¾ºãº£ÃàÖÆÆ·ÓÐÏÞ¹«Ë¾). Add: #4092 Zh¨­ngzh¨¢ic¨±n Xi¨£oxu¨¦ L¨´ ÖÓÕ¬ ´åСѧ·4092ºÅ Tel: 579-1579 Mobile: 13328767992

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Forklifts: If you shop like Susan Marie, load your car with a mforklift from the German firm Linde. Phone: 610-2990.

Furniture Xiamen furniture shops offer everything from 4 Yuan bamboo stools and inexpensive bamboo and rattan couches and bookshelves to mahogany dining room sets that should belong in a museum of Oriental art. Douxi Road (???) has several shops. Susan even had rattan furniture custom made. For marvelous mahogany furniture from Yunnan, in Southwest China, try Yunnan Province Dali City Furniture Company located at 399 Xiahe Rd. (???399?). Phone: 211-9898 or 138 606-6868

Honey (Feng mi) We used to wangle our honey from a country doctor way out in the countryside because our local honey was always watered down with sugar water (to keep it from spoiling, we were told, but it always fermented, whereas pure honey keeps forever). Fortunately, Xiamen shops now offer many excellent honeys. To be sure it’s pure, turn the bottle upside down; the slower the bubbles rise, the thicker and purer the honey.
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Housekeeper (Baomu) A good Chinese housekeeper/cook will make your stay much more enjoyable (read “Half the Sky”). One source is Mr. Hugh Bing at 1360 691-9006, or e-mail: Hughbing@hotmail.com.

Ice Cream (Bingqilin) It was hard for me to believe that Chinese had invented ice cream when I first tasted Chinese ice cream in ’88. Then a local firm began selling White Snow (which sure beats yellow snow.). Unfortunately, they only sold it for a few weeks a year, claiming it was too cold to eat in winter (though icebound Northern Chinese scarf ice cream year round). Then came Walls, a foreign firm that in one fell swoop installed ice cream freezers throughout China, Amoy included. Walls, offers a broad variety of ice cream bars, cones, fudgesicles—and year round.
Local firms have read the writing on the Walls and come up with some winners, but they keep changing brands’ names, so you’ll have to experiment.

Internet Café (Yinte Kafei Wu). How on earth (or China) did we ever survive without internet or e-mail (just 5 years ago.)? And service is getting faster and cheaper all the time. You can even access the internet without an account. Yep—no user name, no password. Just dial 8163, type “8163” for the user name, and whatever phone you use will be charged (roughly 6 Yuan an hour). But folks in China Telecom’s two Internet Café’s are happy to help you set up your own internet account. To get a DSL account, phone: 1000

Jewelry Several Chinese friends have asked me to buy gold for them in Hong Kong because local gold jewelry is sometimes plated or filled. Buy gold from a reputable jewelry store. Zhongshan Rd. has several.

Malls Xiamen has many shopping centers but the largest are in the Zhongshan Road area, beside the train station—and the massive Philippine-based SM Mall.
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Maps The Foreign Language Bookstore sells a marvelous English map of Xiamen for only 10 Yuan (compared with 15 to 30 Yuan in local hotels for the same map). There is also a good English map of Gulangyu, and dozens of map books covering all of China, as well as countries back on planet earth.

Margarine (Huangyou) like bread, comes as ‘salty’ (xian) or as “sweet” (tian); get the so-called “salty.” (Both are colored lard, not butter). Metro has good prices on imported margarine. The best prices on butter are at the Olive Oil Store.

Massage-- Get rubbed the right way! China has the planet's best therapeutic massages! They might not feel as relaxing but their effects are long lasting. The best foot massages are at the place right across the street from the Overseas Chinese Museum, on Siming Rd. (just over the hill from Xiamen University). Buy a card for ten visits and the price goes down to 45 Yuan for 90 minutes of luxurious body and foot massage, as well as tea or coffee, fruit, and snacks like noodles, soup, and Chinese dumplings.
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Blind Body Massages are a special treat that may be unique to China. I feel a lot less self-conscious knowing that the blind masseuse cannot see my contours! Our favorite, just around the corner from Lianban Pizza Hut, is a bargain at only 30 Yuan per hour. Phone: 513-3477

Meat (Rou). Pork (Zhurou) is cheap and plentiful, but buy it early in the day because it is often not refrigerated. And beware of frozen meats in small shops; they have sometimes been thawed and refrozen many times.
Beef (Niurou) is less popular than pork, and so a little more costly, but quality varies from imported Australian to domestic road kill. The best beef is in the Xiaxi Rd. Market/#7 market (probably because of their proximity to the Muslim Mosque, which was relocated). And they deliver! Phone: 552-9513.

Ground Meats Nowadays we enjoy ground meat without grinding it ourselves. Ground carcasses of all kinds are on display at Trust-Mart, Metro, Wal-Mart, and the driver's training school. Or you can grind beef and pork in minutes with a good food processor, or spend 25 Yuan on a cheap metal grinder. Sometimes you can find ground meats in the Olive Oil Store, Beatrice, or the Donghai’s food department, and the Yikang Dried Produce and Fast Food Supply, across from the #7 market, has frozen chicken and beef patties. (See “Food Markets”).

Metro (M¨¤id¨¦l¨®ng ÂóµÂÁú). This German firm is the world¡¯s 3rd largest retailer, with 25 outlets in China as of June, 2006. It¡¯s members only, but membership is free if you show your passport. Prices aren¡¯t all that cheap but you¡¯ll find things you can¡¯t get elsewhere (cheeses, for example).
It¡¯s a bit remote, out by the airport. Take bus 22 or 33. Tel: 5758888
Address: 8 Ch¨¢ngh¨¢o L¨´, H¨²l¨« District, ÏÃÃÅÊкþÀïÇø³¤ºÆ·8ºÅ
Website: www.metro.com.cn

Milk (Niunai). “Dutch Lady” and “Anchor” brands of powdered milk are excellent, but getting hard to find. Domestic milk powders are half the price (and bags are half the price of canned), but make sure you buy the unsweetened milk. If you’re a real milk lover, try the fresh whole milk in the plastic liter bottles from I Love Milk. Best of all, they deliver. I Love Milk’s Phone: 552-8828.
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Music (Yinyue). Huacheng Piano, at # 123 Zhongshan Rd.has been opened since 1923.  They offer many kinds of Western and Chinese instruments, as well as musical lessons.  Tel: 2055923.

For imported, and expensive, Japanese, American and European pianos and brass instruments, try the shop just down the street from the train station (about halfway between McDonalds and the station).

Music Performances. One of Xiamen’s many goals is to become the Music Center of Southeast China. Not a month goes by that Xiamen doesn’t have performances by visiting orchestras, ballet troupes, opera stars, deng deng. For the latest offerings, check the Internet at www.xmec.cn/performance/

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Pets Click Here for Pet Page
For fishy pursuits, Jukou St. Aquarium offers an excellent selection and good service, and they deliver. It’s just off Zhongshan Road, down Jukou Rd., the little side road to the left of the foreign languages bookstore and the DVD shop. Address: #17 Jukou St. Phone: 202-0880

Dogs and cats? Other than best selection of pets han Cantonese restaurants) is at the shop on the roof of the antique shopping area in Bailuzhou (the Yuandang Lake area, near City Hall).

Pet Home (Supplies and Veterinary care). It’s a relief to find someone who can neuter a cat or spay a dog (we had to get a people doctor for our cat; poor thing was tied spread eagled to a chair while his manhood was diminished). But Pet Home has quality supplies for cats and dogs, and good vet care, in both Xiamen and Fuzhou. The Xiamen branch is just a five minute walk to the right of the Gulangyu Ferry (Xiamen side). But they told us it would cost 80 to neuter a cat, then took a 300 deposit, then ended up charging us over 500 Yuan (complications, they said). And they gave a friend's puppy a distemper shot, after which he promptly died. So... you might want to consider other quality vets as well!
Address: Lujiang Blvd. Qianhao Market St. #7 Phone: 0592 210-7891

For birds and fish, and beautifully crafted bird cages, try the shop behind Zhongshan Park. Also check out the nice aquarium supply across the street.

Pharmacy (medicines= Yao). The most complete pharmacy around is right downtown on the corner of Zhongshan and Siming roads. They have a broad range of both Chinese and Western medicines, as well as vitamins, band-aids, ace bandages, deng deng. Zhongshan Rd. and SM-Mart 1/F also have Watson outlets (a Hong Kong-based store that sells prescription and nonprescription drugs, medicines, and health care products).
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Piano Tune or Repair – Xiao Lin's the man to call: 816-8296

Plastics – pots, basins, chairs, plastic sheeting (everything plastic but credit cards.) can be had in a little shop one block south and across the street from the Olive Oil store. Prices run half that of similar items in department stores.

Plumbing, hardware, electrical, deng deng. (Hardware Store: Wujin Dian) Datong Rd., parallel to Zhongshan Rd. and two blocks north, has several hardware, plumbing and electrical stores. And try the many good shops around Douxi Rd and Xiahe Rd. Warning: domestic electrical components (plugs, outlets) vary widely in quality. Choose quality, like "Bull" brand (Gongniu) or imports like Clipsal.

Real Estate. There are many agencies, including Century 21, but for private housing, I recommend Mr. Hugh Bing, who has distinctively Western tastes. He can also help you land reliable domestic help. Mobile Phone: 1360 691-9006 E-mail: Hughbing@hotmail.com

Ms. Eunice Chau (Huang Jiali), of Symphony Trading Co., Ltd., also helps with home searches, travel arrangements, education advice, orientations, etc.. Phone: 581-1621.
E-mail: symphony@public.xm.fj.cn
Fax: 581-1718 Address: Unit 1206 Haixia Building, Hubin E. Road
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Rice (Mi) is a weighty topic for Chinese, who revere the grain almost as much as Cambodians (for whom it is a criminal offense to insult a rice plant). Don’t skimp on it. Grades and prices are innumerable, but cheaper grades are prepared on roadsides and include, at no extra charge, white gravel masquerading as rice. After a few chipped teeth, I heeded my comrades’ rice catechism and became a connoisseur of rice.

Rice comes long grained and short, polished and coarse, fat and thin, sticky and sweet or hard and chewy, deng deng. In addition to dozens of grades of domestic rice, we can also buy Japanese, Thai or American rice in local shops. Our favorite is the domestic “Dongbei” (Manchurian rice), which is even cheaper than local rice.

There are dozens of ways to serve up the dozens of grades of humble rice. In Northern Fujian, cooked rice is so dry it rasps your throat. In the South it’s almost mushy, and Xiamenese prefer rice congee – a watery rice porridge livened up with salted and pickled vegetables, shredded pork, dried minnows (such sad little dried faces) and diced Thousand Day Old Eggs (which are purplish greenish, gelatinous, and smell of ammonia or horse pee).

For Chinese (in the South, at least), rice is life and they use it for everything – except weddings. No self-respecting Chinese would irreverently toss rice. When they hear of this, I suspect they’ll seek revenge by tossing cheeseburgers at Chinese weddings.

Second Hand Market has everything from drum sets to fridges & freezers. It’s on a side street near the #1 Olive Oil Store, etc.
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Spices of Life--Xiangliao. (If the plural of mouse is mice, why isn't the plural of spouse spice?). .... Chinese eat everything edible, and what isn’t edible is called medicine and ingested anyway. Which makes it surprising that many of our common spices are nowhere to be found in Xiamen. It took me weeks to learn that nutmeg (Roudoukou) and cinnamon (Rougui) were found only in Chinese medicine stores, and vanilla extract was sold in the paint store, between the enamel and the paint thinner. They argued this was because both paint and vanilla are chemically prepared. And I think they were right. I put a match to a spoon of vanilla and it exploded. It was the last time I used it, because after four months in China I’d lost a lot of weight and didn’t need any thinner.

The best selection of spices is probably at Metro. You may still want to bring some spices from home (see our “Wish List” at the beginning of this chapter). Also bring a few Lawry spice mixes—spaghetti seasoning, taco seasoning, chili seasoning, sloppy joe mix—to add a little spice to your life.
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Sports Events Xiamen folk have sporting in the blood, and not a week passes without a game or competition. According to Julia, at IKEA, tickets are available at these locations:
1. Sport Center West Gate: 506-4618 or 506-2107
2. Xiada Yuanwu Road # 18 209-3865
3. 4/No.2, Kaipin road, Siming District: 220-9846
4. Songbo Park: 512-5612
5. Lujiang Hotel Market: 202-2922, extension 713
6. Huli Park: 603-7092
7. Lianhua Crossroads: 512-4396
...And check out the Xiamen International Marathon! (every March)

Subscriptions Keep abreast on China with a few subscriptions to excellent Chinese magazines and newspapers, including Xiamen Daily's weekly 8-page English supplement Common Talk. Subscribe at your post office or these service centers:
#3 Zhongshan Road Ph: 202--1662
#47 South Siming Road Ph: 202-1227
#6 Huyuan Rd. Ph: 210-9988
I particularly enjoy…

Xiamen Daily's Common Talk This 8-page English supplement each Wednesday also has a great online archive!

Fujian Pictorial (Fujian Huabao) has great photos of Fujian, and is now coming out with an English edition. It will be even better now that Zhu Qingfu has joined the staff (he supplied many of the color photos in Amoy Magic, Fujian Adventure, and Mystic Quanzhou).
China Daily (Zhongguo Ribao) China's top English newspaper
Beijing Weekly (Beijing Zhoubao)
China Today (Jinri Zhongguo) Formerly "China Reconstructs," long a personal favorite.
Women of China (Zhongguo Funu Zazhi) I received an award from this magazine for one of my articles, but generally they have higher standards!
World of English (Yingyu Shijie)—for English learners, but I enjoy the broad selection of foreign articles. It's rather like a small Reader's Digest. Subscribe at the post office.
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Theaters (Y¨«ngj¨´yu¨¤nÓ°¾çÔº)
J¨©ny¨©ng Theater, World Trade Center (Sh¨¬m¨¡o J¨©ny¨©ng Di¨¤ny¨«ngyu¨¤n ÊÀó½ðÓ¥µçÓ°Ôº Nice Food Court, and Xi¨¤men¡¯s most L¨£ow¨¤i-friendly theater (many foreign movies). Add: #888 Xi¨¤h¨¥ L¨´ 5/F ÏúÌ·888ºÅÊÀóÉ̳ÇÎåÂ¥ Tel: 5805408 Website: www.jyfilm.com
Buses: 1, 3, 9, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 37, 43, 72, 102, 808

Zh¨­nghu¨¢ Theater (Zh¨­nghu¨¢ Di¨¤ny¨«ngyu¨¤nÖлªµçÓ°Ôº)
Add: #225 Zh¨­ngsh¨¡n L¨´ ÖÐɽ·ÖÐɽ·225ºÅ Tel: 2023881

S¨©m¨ªng Theater (S¨©m¨ªng Di¨¤ny¨«ngyu¨¤n ˼Ã÷µçÓ°Ôº)
Add: #2-14 S¨©m¨ªng B¨§i L¨´ ˼Ã÷±±Â·2-14ºÅ Tel: 2132873
E-mail: lww.928@163.com Website: www.smdyy.com
Buses: 1, 15, 21, 22, 45, 48, 507, 532, 534

K¨¡im¨ªng Theater Complex (K¨¡im¨ªng Di¨¤ny¨«ngch¨¦ng ¿ªÃ÷µçÓ°³Ç)
Add: #69 Ji¨¡ngt¨®u B¨§i L¨´ ½­Í·±±Â·69ºÅ Tel: 5517918
E-mail: silm@xmkming.com Website: www.xmkaiming.com
Buses: 6, 7, 10, 13, 34, 42, 96


Translation & Internet Services:
Frank Wei is the advisor and patron saint of Amoymagic.com! To enlist his able services, check out his Master Translation Services. Click Here for more info. Or write Frank at frank@mts.cn

Trust-Mart
(Ch¨¦ngd¨¢, ³Ï´ï, aka H¨£oy¨°udu¨­, ºÃÓÖ¶à)
Zh¨­ngsh¨¡n Trust-Mart #158 S¨©m¨ªng N¨¢n L¨´ ˼Ã÷ÄÏ·158ºÅ
Tel: 2136088 Buses: 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 19, 23, 25, 27, 28, 32, 51, 67, 71, 88
F¨´sh¨¡n Trust-Mart #398 H¨²b¨©n N¨¢n L¨´ (¸»É½Õ¹ÀÀ³Ç£©ºþ±õÄÏ·398ºÅ
Tel: 5160515 Buses: 10, 23, 26, 27, 37, 45, .96, 509, 517, 518, 526

H¨¦xi¨¡ng X¨© L¨´ Trust-Mart #606 H¨¦xi¨¡ng X¨© L¨´ ºÌÏéÎ÷·609ºÅ
Tel: 8689482 Buses: 10, 23, 30, 35, 43, 48, 85, 97, 526, 528
H¨²b¨©n X¨© L¨´ Trust-Mart #10 H¨±b¨©n X¨© L¨´ ºþ±õÎ÷·10ºÅ Tel: 3256188
Buses: 10, 11, 15, 22, 23, 30, 31, 45, 48, 66, 71, 97, 102, 509, 520, 528
Website: www.trust-mart.com


Utensils. Xiamen shops sell Teflon skillets and pots, but rubber spatulas are still not easy to find, and steel ones rub Teflon the wrong way. So bring a rubber spatula. (Good serrated break knives are hard to come by too, so bring one from home, unless you plan on loafing).
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Food Markets

Chinese Produce Markets are scattered all over Xiamen, and offer endless varieties of rice, eggs, beans, noodles, veggies, meat, tofu products, fish, deng deng. But it takes a while to get a handle on their hours. The market outside of Xiada’s beach gate is a “morning market,” open from 6:30 until high noon. Afternoon markets in other locations are usually open from around 4 to 6 p.m.

Fresh Fish? Check out the morning offerings at the Ding An Rd. Market on Ding An Rd. #34-38—just across from the Min Ke Long market. (It’s the little street just off Siming Rd. to the left (between Trust-Mart/KFC and Zhongshan Rd.). Ding An Rd. also has a bustling night market!

Just across the street from the #7 market is Yikang Dried Produce and Fast Food Supply at # 19 E. Siming Rd. They have reasonable prices on everything from dried fruit and meats to canned vegetables, McCormick spices, Miracle Whip (only 20 Yuan a jar), McCormick Grape Jelly (8.50 Yuan.), and Pizza Hut salad dressings. They also offer frozen hamburger patties, chicken filets, french fries, deng deng. Phone: 212-9721.
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Olive Oil Store! (Xiamen Xuli Restaurant Supply)
(Cheese, Bacon, Tuna, deng deng) Now you can finally bring home the bacon, and the cheese as well! The first Xuli Restaurant Supply (loyal Laowai call it the Olive Oil Store) is only a ten minute walk from the train station.

They offer hard to find items like tuna [though Trust-Mart has the best prices in town for Century brand tuna in spring water]. But their prices have gone up. Our favorite breakfast food, Nicoli cereals (from Italy--click here for info) cost 50% more here than at Metro.

Susan Marie appreciates these Olive Oil store staples:
frozen peas, whipping cream (on shelf next to boxed milk), Nestle baking chocolate (a 1 lb. brick that is the same as Toll House chocolate, but much cheaper), pudding powder (called “Custard Powder”—it’s excellent with bits of Nestle chocolate sprinkled on top), fine cake flour, hot dogs, bacon, cream cheese, evaporated milk, evaporated water (just kidding), cold cereals, fine table salt, hot dog relish, tuna, frozen french fries, frozen uncooked shelled shrimp, deng deng.
Train Station area shop E. Hexiang Rd., Longxiang Garden #18-8
Phone: (0592) 517-9188 or 517-7599 Mobile Phone: 13906000118

Another decent produce market is the Lianhua Market, on Lianhua North Rd. You can also find a broad variety of fresh, frozen and dried produce at the various Trust-Marts, Metro, Wal-Marts, etc.
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Chinese Supermarkets. The best prices (almost wholesale) on canned or dried foods, coffee and oatmeal, cookies and candies, deng deng, are at the small warehouse type stores like Xiamen Harbor Foodstuffs Market (#66-68 University Road), near the corner of the street leading up to the Overseas Chinese Museum. Also try the large market in the building below the Big Egg Bowling Alley on Xiahe Lu (just up the street from Siming Beilu, or another one on the street parallel to Zhongshan Rd. roughly in front of the New China Bookstore). The Donghai Department Store also has a small selection of foodstuffs, as well as everything else.

Dr. Jan (Xiamen University Journalism department's Jan Engsberg, who has been at Xiada since 1988), recommends Minkelong warehouse store--Xiamen's original superstores. When coming from Xiada on Siming Rd, turn left on the night market street just before and parallel to Zhongshan Rd. Walk up it a few hundred feet and it’s on your right, down some steps.
And try Xiamen Heyang Supermarket, in the United Bank Building, (Dahua Bank Building) at #19 Hubin North Rd.

KOREAN SUPERMARKET (H¨¤nf¨³ B¨£ihu¨°, H¨¢ngu¨¯ Sh¨ªsh¨¤ng Di¨¤n ºº¸ª°Ù»õ, º«¹úʱÉеê) ÈÕ±¾Ê±Éеê Chown down on some Kimchee!
Add: H¨²b¨©n N¨¢n L¨´ W¨¤nh¨¦ Square 2/F #3 ºþ±õÄÏ·ÍòºÌ¹ã³¡¶þÂ¥3ºÅµê Tel: 5076098 Buses:10, 19, 30, 33 Near F¨´sh¨¡n Trust-Mart ¸»É½³Ï´ï¹ºÎï¹ã³¡

Beatrice -- “Your Friendly Community Store”, with at least 6 Xiamen locations, is more convenient than Xuli Restaurant Supply, though costlier. Beatrice offers a good selection of baked breads, hamburger and hotdog buns, cakes and cookies, as well as various European cheeses and other items hard to find elsewhere (like Dragon Island Ham, and microwave frozen pizza). Some Beatrice’s also have Sam’s Snacks, a small concession area that offers whole roast chicken (20 Yuan), sweet Chinese buns (1 Yuan) and jumbo hot dogs (9 Yuan).
Since Beatrice's are popping up like mushrooms (and disappearing like them too), I won’t bother with locations. They’re everywhere.
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Foreign Chains

Metro, the world’s 3rd largest retailer (after Wal-Mart, and France’s Carrefour), has an enormous store out near the airport. You must get a membership card (Chinese must show a business license, foreigners must present a passport). Prices aren’t really any lower than anywhere else for most things, but they do have unique items you can’t find elsewhere in Xiamen—cottage cheese and sour cream, for instance).

Wal-Mart has two locations in Xiamen—one in the World Trade Center Mall (by the train station, and the other in SM Mall’s basement).

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Downtown Shopping

Zhongshan Road (Sun Yat-sen Road), the heart of downtown Xiamen, offers great scenery (a harbor view of Gulangyu Island, and nicely renovated colonial architecture), and a good variety of shops, boutiques, restaurants, and fast food outlets.

HuaLian Department Store (Donghai) Zhongshan Rd. # 1-4. The “Hualian Store” says “Donghai Building” on the front so that’s what the Laowai characters who can’t read characters call it. Since 1987, the Donghai (let’s call it Hualian and keep the locals happy) has offered excellent prices on a broad variety of products, including clothing, electronics & appliances, sports equipment, musical instruments, housewares, stationery, toys, wigs, deng deng. Hualian also boasted Xiamen’s first escalator, which I dubbed Stairway to Heaven because of how it intimidated folks back before they became so cosmopolitan. We enjoyed watching people dare one another to step foot on it. One burley dock worker was jeered by his comrades when he took the stairs—after 3 year old Shannon skipped up the escalator two steps at a time.

Hualian Department Store’s other locations include:
N. Lianhua (Lotus) Road #21-1 Ph. 503-7045
N. Hubin Rd. #36-38-5,6 Ph. 205-6337
Lianyue Rd. # 1-4 Ph. 512-3730
Bailu Zhou Store, just off Huzhong Rd. Ph. 508-3686

Blue Hut is actually just off Zhongshan Rd., but I include it because it’s one of Xiamen’s more unique little gift shops. Blue Hut’s unique blend of Western & Eastern sights, sounds and scents is more what I’d expect in Maui or California than Xiamen. Selections vary each time we visit, and the service is great. The 3 young proprietors will deftly gift wrap your purchases for free. One of the partners also opened “Band” just around the corner.
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Musical Instrument Store Zhongshan Rd. #123
This place used to have a monopoly on musical Instruments (pianos, guitars, classical Chinese instruments), music books, CD and cassette players, CDs, guitar strings, deng deng. Nowadays, music stores are a dime a dozen, but this one remains popular because it’s convenient, and will probably be around a longtime so you’re assured of good service.

#1 Department Store, at #123 Zhongshan Rd., has a broad assortment of odds and ends on the first floor, and clothes and shoes on the upper two floors. Between the 1st and 2nd floor is a nice shop selling clocks and watches. Phone: 202-4538. They also have branches in Huli and Lianhua.

Fast Food – Muslim hand-pulled noodle shops (Xibei Lamian), as well as the ubiquitous Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonalds, deng deng.

Postage Stamps You can win lots of friends by judicious distribution of canceled stamps from back home, but you might also enjoy collecting Chinese stamps, many of which have won international design awards. The post office used to strictly regulated stamp sales to clamp down on the black market, but I never understood the fuss. Who would buy black stamps when colored ones are so much prettier?

The best selection of beautiful Chinese postage stamps is in the Post Office at the end of Zhongshan Road, across from the PSB. They charge the basic rates even for limited stamps. But for hardcore stamp enthusiasts, try the Philately Shop next door to the Donghai (Hualian) Department Store on the harbor.

Foreign Language Bookstore -- Zhongshan Rd. # 153-161
Excellent selection of Chinese books, and quite a few Western classics and biographies—and on the 3rd and 4th floors, Zhongshan Rd.’s cleanest restrooms. But for a great selection of imported English books, try the Xiamen Book City (Fujian’s Largest!) at SM Mart.

Bank of China – Across from the Donghai (Hualian) Department store, by the harbor. (I used to joke that it was located right under the giant Ronald McDonald sign’s armpits, but the city fathers disarmed me when they removed the Ronald McDonald sign)
The easiest way to get money from home is to open a savings account in USD, and have money wired to it. (But note that they charge a service fee, and deduct an additional ½% when the money arrives). I wouldn’t suggest trying to cash a personal check. It takes a couple of weeks, and then you are required to deposit it in a 30 day CD before withdrawing it.
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Click Here for Zhongshan Map


TenFu’s Tea—a great purveyor of fine packaged tea’s, Tenfu is the sister company of Tenren, one of the largest tea manufacturers in Asia. # 52-54 Zhongshan Road Phone: 202-2318

Minkelong Department Stores was one of the first chains in Xiamen to offer big selections and low prices on foods and household items. Try the store at 34-38 Ding An Rd, just across from the Ding An Market. It’s on the small road to the left of Siming Rd, between Trust-Mart and Zhongshan Rd. (headed towards the harbor)—site of the rip roaring Ding An. Night Market!

Ding An Rd. Night Market! On the little road between Trust-Mart and Zhongshan Rd., it’s a lot of fun—and leads to great finds like the bamboo shop and factory. But you don’t have to wait until dark. Folks like this bird map throng the streets by day as well.

Trust-Mart—(Chengda Gouwu) on Siming Road, between Zhongshan Road and the Holiday Inn, is a Tawan-based version of a Wal-mart Supercenter, with good prices on everything from home appliances to groceries. But you might want to take ear plugs; the canned pop music is loud!
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TRAVEL LINKS Favorite Fujian Sites Fujian Foto Album Xiamen Gulangyu Fujian Guides Quanzhou Zhangzhou Longyan Wuyi Mtn Ningde Putian Sanming
Zhouning Taimu Mtn. Roundhouses Bridges Jiangxi Guilin Order Books
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