“Oh, so you’re heading to China for your year abroad? Beijing or Shanghai I guess?”
“Nope, Xiamen.”
The city is in the bracket of up and coming like most in China. Situated within the scenic Fujian region of South-East China and set off the coast just beside the Taiwan Strait. A city seemingly regarded as the go-to for those a few hours north in Shanghai wealthy enough to buy an out of town pad, (well that’s what I was told by my lecturers on multiple occasions, so you’ll have to trust me). In comparison with the huge metropolis, Xiamen is quiet, laidback and clean[i], easy to enjoy the warm hustling aura so well known to be emanating from Chinese cities. Despite traces of a previous time and temple grounds dotted across the city reminiscing the China of old, Xiamen does seem to be in transition, construction sites litter the island, new cafés and boutiques popping up every other week, and a brand-new metro system well under way. In all honesty, given the speed and scale of Chinese development, I can well imagine returning in a couple of years to find an altogether different Xiamen.
For students coming from Southampton to study Chinese, the metro from the main university campus Siming (思明) linking the island with the mainland is not yet in use, an hour bus-ride northwards from the city downtown area will give you a glimpse of the island on your way to Xiamen University’s Xiang’an Campus (翔安). Although out of the city and so a sanctuary in itself of sorts, the distinctive Chinese hustle is still ever-present, the torrent of bikes streaming from the student accommodation down to the library at the head of the campus was one of the many daily occurrences slowly normalised through the year and now forever engrained in my mind. On reflection, these life’s ‘first-time’ moments pretty much made up my time in China, from self-imposed chopstick lessons with each meal to a slightly unhealthy obsession with bubble tea, you grow accustomed and even attached to the previously unknown. As my everyday normal was turned on its head, I really did come to appreciate our adaptability, for myself the construct of ‘home’ opened up, it was perhaps even a realisation that home is just that place where you know and recognise everything – it can change if given the opportunity.
Based outside of the city and in what is essentially rural China did come as a bit of a shock to the system, yet Xiang’an did soon grow to feel like a home away from home, and it’s no wonder really with essentially everything you may need right on your doorstep, all amenities covered within the campus grounds. It is a reasonably easy-going place, there’s a comfortable atmosphere. I would go so far as to say Xiamen itself is one of the most liveable cities in China, (warning: tangent ahead) yet I as a student based in Xiang’an didn’t end up fully living in it. I left China feeling like I hadn’t connected with the people quite as well as I possibly would have liked, and I feel it partly lies in the lack of engagement with the city. Don’t get me wrong, I spent what felt like every weekend in and around the city, exploring what the island had to offer but actually living there I do feel may have helped in feeling more a part of something, instead of feeling like a single piece of the student cluster back on the mainland in Xiang’an.
I ended up having the most rewarding experience of my life, Xiamen is a wonderful place and one where I leave behind great memories, after being back home and settling back into life in England the itch to return to China is already setting in. To go back to the ‘lack of engagement’ issue and this bubble-like feeling that came on towards the end of my time in China, really, I feel I should probably be thankful for the protection that Xiang’an Campus provided, it offered a sanctuary for me to learn Chinese and for that I’m grateful. Living amongst the locals will just have to wait until next time. I leave China with unfinished business. With any luck soon to return.
[i] Just on the note of clean Xiamen, its air quality is one thing that drew me to the city, only behind Sanya, Guilin, Kunming, and Lhasa in clean air terms.
