Xiamen Hubin Bus Terminal

After a ten hour bus journey from Guangzhou,the bus passed through the Haicang Daqiao(bridge) overlooking the Xiamen Straits,the scenery was very beautiful.

It was 6:00am and the temperature about 26 degree celcius.
Xiamen has a sub-tropical climate with June till September being the summer months.
Haicang District is on the mainland while Xiamen is an island by itself.
Haicang being a major suburb of Xiamen has many high rise residential buildings,the Xinyang Industrial Zone and the Haicang Port that has been an important port for overseas trade.
In 1989, Haicang was designated as an investment zone for Taiwanese businesses.







The capital of Fujian Province is Fuzhou.

Fujian Province covering an area of 121,400 kilometers square has an estimated 35 million population.

Nine Prefecture-Level Cities in Fujian Province China :
 •Fuzhou ( 福州市 )-6 counties,2 cities,5 districts "Banyan City"-many subtropical banyan trees planted since Song Dynasty (960-1279).
 •Longyan ( 龙岩市 )-5 counties,1 city,1 district one of the hometown of Hakka people residing around the world.
•Nanping ( 南平市 )-5 counties,4 cities,1 district important birthplaces of Fujian's culture and great peoples that carved the history.
•Ningde ( 宁德市 )-6 counties,2 cities,1 district mountainous and covering one third of Fujian Province total coastline. •Putian ( 莆田市 )-1 county,4 districts also known as Lychee City, a large lychee producer. •Quanzhou ( 泉州市 )-5 counties,3 cities,4 districts mountainous and has many rivers and tributaries originating from the interior.
•Sanming ( 三明市 )-9 counties,2 districts,1 city ranks the Top One among the greenest cities in China with rich historical culture.
•Xiamen ( 厦门市 )-6 districts the first(out of 4) special economic zones of China,second largest city in Fujian Province.
 •Zhangzhou ( 漳州市 )-8 counties,2 districts,1 city Nine Dragons River is the second longest river in Fujian Province located here.






Xiamen and the surrounding southern Fujian countryside are the ancestral home to large communities of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and Taiwan.
This is my first trip to Xiamen and my ultimate mission includes locating my ancestral home somewhere near the Xiang'an District.
 It was through Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation Amoy Branch those days where most Chinese emigrants repartriate their monies home.

 So the old Xiamen Island at that time was called Amoy meaning Hokkien which in turn is the main dialect.

By coincidence during the exodus ,most of the Hokkien people choose to land in Southeast Asian islands like Penang,Singapore,the Philippines and coastal cities like Malacca,Medan(Sumatra Island),Surabaya (East Java Island) and Sulawesi Island(Indonesia).Taiwan Island is a non exception.

There are a total of 6 districts in Xiamen: (Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, Haicang and recently Xiang'an), The Jinmen (Kinmen) Islands administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan) are less than 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) away.






Bus passengers got off at the main road infront of a row of shophouses near this Chinese Acupuncture Health Centre.

Hubin Long Distance Bus Terminal is just beside these buildings in the photo.
You'll be surprised that it doesn't looked like a bus terminal as there weren't any other buses around nor any big crowds.
Once you got off from the bus,there'll be a handful of cabbies offering their services.

The most important thing for new arrivals is the handy Map of Xiamen and there is a vendor who will approach you selling for 5 yuan.

Hubin Long Distance Bus Station (湖滨长途汽车站)is at No:59, Hubin Nan(South) Lu(Road)(湖滨南路).

A single storey building where buses were parked behind the building.
The station is just east of Electronic City.

Local Bus Routes to the Station are No:10, 15, 23, 30, 43, 45, 85, 88, 99

There are two other main bus stations namely: Songbai Bus Station (松柏 汽车站) at No.211, Lianyue Lu (莲岳路)
The station is just a few blocks east of the Best Western Premier Hotel and Songbai Park.
Local Bus Routes to the Station are No: 24, 31, 33, 49, 73, 86, 98, 99, 101
Tel: (0)592 5089 018, 5089 328, 5091 086 and Jimei Bus Station (集美 汽车站) at No.159, Yinjiang Lu (银江路)
The station is just south of Jimei University’s main campus on Yinjiang Lu (银江路) Local Bus Routes to the Station are No: 18, 52, 55, 56, 67, 79, 106, 615, 616, 625

It was still early at around 6:30am and most of the eight ticketing booths were still not opened.
There was a board displaying the many destinations,departure time and fares from this terminal.

One interesting information provided in the display list were the the distance price per kilometre chargeable by the buses with their minimum and maximum levy.

Guandong Province: Guangzhou(757km)-0.267/0.336 cts per km =Fares:268Yuan-393Yuan

 Shantou(287km)-0.178/0.223 cts per km=Fares: 97Yuan -111Yuan

Chaozhou(283km)-0.162 cts per km=Fares:86-87Yuan

Meizhou(404km)-0.162/0.203 cts per km=Fares:122Yuan -140 Yuan

Dongguan =Fares:257Yuan-324Yuan

Yunnan Province:
Guilin(1,305km)@0.243cents per km=365Yuan

Kunming (2,435km)@0.267cents per km=523Yuan

Hunan Province:
Changsa(1,122km)-0.243/0.305 cts per km=Fares:332Yuan-484Yuan

If you plan to visit the Hakka people Tulou (土楼), literally meaning “mud buildings” which is listed as a UNESCO site in Yongding,there will be buses departing at: 07:50, 08:50, 10:30, 11:50, 13:00, 13:50, 16:00 and 16:30 daily, 4-hour drive, and the approximate ticket fare is 75 Yuan.

Yongding–Hukeng: the bus departs every 40 minutes, and the approximate ticket fare is 15 yuan
Distance between Yongding attractions:
Hongkeng Earthen Building Complex is 4 kilometers a(2.5 miles) or from Gaobei Earthen Building Complex (includes Chengqi Building), 5 kilometers (2.7 miles) from Nanxi Earthen Building Complex, and about 40 kilometers (22 miles) from Chuxi Earthen Building Complex.

 


View of Hubin South Road from pedestrian bridge in front of Hubin long Distance Bus Station.
Beautiful landscapes and magnificient modern skyscrapers will definitely make visitors attracted to Xiamen.

The air is fresh and clean coupled with the temperate type of climate.

In 2006, Xiamen was ranked as China's second 'most suitable city for living',as well as China's 'most romantic leisure city' in 2011.

Condominium beside Hubin Long Distance Bus Station.
A 3-bedroom,1,300 square metres apartment around this area fetch a monthly rental of 4,500Yuan.
 The main criteria is that you'll need to rent for a period of at least 6 months but preferably a year. Most owners sign a 1year leasing contract.