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Xiamen, an renowned city with long history, was first established during the Jin Dynasty as part of Tong'an County.
The area was known as Tong'an County under Quanzhou under Emperor Changxing's reign in the Late Tang Dynasty (933 A.D). The records reflect strong growth during the Song Dynasty.
Xiamen History - Defence Checkpoint
In 1387, the Ming Dynasty built a fort in Xiamen, then part of Quanzhou, to guard against pirates. After the ManchuQing Dynasty overthrew the Ming in 1644, Ming loyalist Koxinga, used Xiamen as a base to launch counterattacks against the invading Manchus from 1650 to 1660. In 1656, he named Xiamen Island, Siming, or "Remembering the Ming". In 1661, Koxinga drove the Dutch from Taiwan and moved his operations there. The Manchus renamed the island Xiamen. The city was renamed by the Manchus in 1680 to Xiamen Subprefecture. The name "Siming" was changed back after the 1912 Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty and the settlement was made a county. Later it reverted to the name Xiamen City. In 1949, Xiamen became a provincially administered city, then was upgraded to a vice-province-class city, or a municipality. Today, Siming is the name of main city district of downtown Xiamen.
Xiamen History - Important Port
Xiamen's importance as a port continued to grow into the 1600s, when Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands began to trade through the city. The Dutch in particular made an impact on the area when they attempted to colonise it in the first half of the 17th Century. The famous Chinese General, Zheng Chenggong used the city as a base from which to fight the invading forces, finally fighting them off and establishing his own outpost on Taiwan in 1661. The end of the war with the Netherlands led to resumed trade relations with Europe, which continued well until the outset of the Opium Wars.
Xiamen History - Modern Colony
The Treaty of Nanjing which was signed after the end of the Opium Wars named Xiamen as one of the first five ports to be opened up to foreigners. Gulang Yu (Gulang Island) became an international settlement, which brought trade, money and European architectural styles to the area. The Japanese took control of the island in 1939. In the 1980's, Xiamen was opened up yet again after being named as one of China's four SEZ's (Special Economic Zones) alongside Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou.
During World War II, Xiamen was occupied by Japan from May 1938 to September 1945. In the Chinese Civil War that followed, the islands of Xiamen and Gulangyu were captured by Communist forces in October 1949 but an assault on the island of Jinmen was repelled by Nationalist defenders. The battle line of the war remained in the narrow channel between Xiamen and Jinmen. In 1955 and 1958, mainland China escalated Cold War political tensions by shelling offshore islands held by Taiwan including Jinmen in what became known as the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crisis. The Nationalists responded by reinforcing Jinmen and shelling Xiamen. Due to political tensions, the eastern half of Xiamen Island and much of the Fujian Coast facing the offshore islands remained undeveloped in the 1960s and 1970s.
Xiamen History - Economy Reform
When China began to reform its economy, Xiamen was made one of the original Special Economic Zones in 1980, to attract foreign investment, particularly from overseas Chinese. The city grew and prospered from foreign investment and trade. On April 18, 1988, Xiamen was approved a sub-provincial administrative status, and is specifically designated in the state plan. In 2001, the governments of mainland China and Taiwan agreed to initiate the "Three Mini-Links" and restored ferry, commercial and mail links between the mainland and offshore islands. Trade and travel between Xiamen and Jinmen was restored and later expanded to include direct air travel to Taiwan. In 2010, travelers between Xiamen and Jinmen made 1.31 million trips.
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