Sunlight Rock Temple (Ri Guang Yan Si 日光岩寺)
Sunlight Rock Temple, originally named “Lotus Nunnery”, was rebuilt in the 14th Year of the Wanli Reign of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1586). The main hall, General Funds Hall (Yuan Tong Bao Dian), is a huge cave carved into a rock at the hill’s peak and supported by stone columns and crosspieces, hence the nickname […]
Kulangsu Island: a tropical beach paradise beating to the waves of its own drummer
Kulangsu is an island about 600 meters from southwestern coast of Xiamen, Fujian. Slightly long and narrow, the 1.88-square-kilometer Kulangsu Island looks like a sailing ship anchored in the bay. There are seven granite hills as well as numerous ravines and springs scattered on the island. An alternating distribution of white beaches and oddly shaped rocks […]
Integration of diverse cultures
With the continuous increase of both local and foreign residents, Kulangsu began to face great pressure from infrastructure construction and maintenance as well as security management. On the other hand, the increasingly rising Japan had been seeking for more benefits from Kulangsu, while other powers hoped that there would be a reasonable mode to maintain […]
Communication with foreign cultures
In the middle of the 19th century, the global development entered the second stage, when the western industrial countries represented by the Britain and France showed fast increasing demand for expansion to global capital markets. With the enhanced transnational and transboundary flow of commodities, people and capitals all over the world, the cultures and civilizations […]
Development of local culture
Kulangsu had been a desolate island named “Yuanshazhou (Round Sandbank)” or “Yuanzhouzi (Round Bank)” covered by lush grass. It is said that, in late Song Dynasty and early Yuan dynasty, some fishermen, whose family name was Li, had built their houses and settled on the northwest of the island, giving the name of this place […]