Xiamen

Xiamen Harbour

Xiamen, Wade-Giles romanization Hsia-men, conventional Amoy, city and port, southeastern Fujian sheng (province), China. It is situated on the southwestern coast of Xiamen (Amoy) Island in Xiamen Harbour (an inlet of the Taiwan Strait), the estuary of the Jiulong River. Known as the “garden on the sea,” it has an excellent harbour sheltered by a number of offshore islands, the most important of which, Quemoy (Pinyin: Jinmen; Wade-Giles: Chin-men), in the mouth of the estuary, has remained a fortress in the hands of the government on Taiwan. The region has a warm and humid subtropical climate, with abundant precipitation falling mainly in the summer months. Pop. (2002 est.) 963,019; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 2,519,000.