Foreign bookstore (Wai Tu Shu Dian 外图书店）
The best resource for English-language books on Kulangsu is this lovely, centrally located bookstore, where you can find a surprisingly diverse selection of Western reading material in English, as well as a vast array of beautifully designed Chinese-language printed matter. But the highlight of the store is the space itself: a spectacularly restored early-20th-century mansion […]
Wedding beach (Guan Hai Yuan Hai Tan 观海园海滩）
When you’re on the most romantic island in China, some spots can be overwhelmed with romance. This small, pretty beach at the end of Tianwei Road is a classic perch on the Kulangsu coast, in part because of the incredible number of couples posing for wedding pictures on the beach every day. On an average […]
Kulangsu Organ Museum (Eight Diagrams Mansion / Bagua Mansion) (Ba Gua Lou 八卦楼)
The Kulangsu organ museum’s beautiful red dome is visible from across the bay in Xiamen. The museum, housed in the old Bagua Mansion, is one of Kulangsu’s most important tourist attractions–both for its impressive collection of organs and for its stately and imposing architectural style. The Bagua Mansion, also known as Eight Diagrams Mansion, is […]
Pianist Yin Chengzong’s house (Yin Cheng Zong Zhai 殷承宗宅)
Kulangsu’s most famous pianist, Yin Chengzong, still owns and periodically visits this hilltop house. It is one of the island’s most beautiful private homes, now inhabited by the pianist’s brother, Yin Chengdian, who is a first-rate musician in his own right and the former dean of the Xiamen Music School. In 1924, Yin’s father bought the […]
Gulangyu Concert Hall (Gu Lang Yu Yin Yue Ting 鼓浪屿音乐厅)
The premier classical music hall on Kulangsu, China’s premier classical music island, the Gulangyu Concert Hall is proof that the best things in life are free. The diverse classical and traditional Chinese concerts held here on many nights of the week—from visiting symphony orchestras to traditional Chinese music to world-class visiting soloists—are all offered to […]