Xiamen Botanical Garden

Revolutionary Martyr's Memorial Park (Chinese: 烈士陵园; pinyin: Lièshì Língyuán) beside Huyuan Road.

An open memorial park with bronze statues of soldiers advancing in proclamation of victory.

To reach here you need to get a bus to 一中(pinyin:yi zhong) bus stop just directly opposite Xiamen City Hotel or walk from nearby Zhongsan Park.









"Yi zhong " is actually Number One Middle School and the word is simplest to remember

.Most Southeast Asian Chinese secondary schools also used such name.

Take Buses No. 3, 18, 19, 21 or 809 to this stop (pinyin:zhan)
How to read this bus route: Bus move from left(near the bus number) to your current position(in red wordings) and the balance of subsequent stops.

If it's nearby just pay a 1Yuan bill and the maximum fares is 2 Yuan.

Huyuan Road connects via a tunnel to Siming South Road which is a shortcut to the coastal Island Ring Road.

At the end of this tunnel will be near the Nanputuo Temple but unfortunately there was no pedestrian walkway.

The cable cars operated by Straco Corporation Limited-Singapore (Stock ticker:S85) were plying from the Wanshi Botanical Garden in Xiamen National Park along Zhonggu Mountain.



  Xiamen´s most obvious attraction is of course its natural beauty,idyllic climate, deep natural harbor (one of the best in the world), and strategic coastal location between Hong Kong and Shanghai, and facing Taiwan.

 Xiamen had China´s first daily air quality forecasts, and was a pilot city for national environment protection and the first ISO-authenticated garden.

Former U.S. President Richard Nixon, who once toured Xiamen in September 1985 said that of all the cities he had visited in the past 38 years Xiamen was the most beautiful.






West gate entrance near the Revolutionary Martyr's Monument to Wanshi Botanical garden also known as Xiamen Botanical Garden.

 Actually the large blue lake is the Modanyan Reservoir on the northern slope of Shi Mountain in southeast urban area of Xiamen.

Modanyan reservoir was built in 1952 with extension of Wanshi Botanical Garden, which is divided into more than 20 botanical zones, cultivating grounds and display rooms for more than tens of thousands of cultivated tropical.

Wanshi Botanical Garden has scenic spots such as the Morning Bell of Heaven, the Reading and Music Playing Cave, the Cloud Locking Stones, the Jade Scepter Rock and the Peace Stone.
Entrance Fee: 40Yuan ,Opening Hours: 05:00-18:00 .

Xiamen Botanical Garden is situated in downtown Xiamen, to the southeast of Zhongshan Park.

 It was set up in 1960 and its architectural layout was designed according to the Chinese ancient garden-style residence.

This is a very educational park in understanding the various type of floras,the ecology and rocks formation.

Some of the rocks have ancient calligraphic inscriptions.
In the Pine and China Fir Garden, eye-catching trees like the metasequoia,cypress and gingko trees can be seen.

The Victoria amazonica, a giant water lily, whose massive leaves look like giant pans grows in some of the big ponds.

Tags along the trails writtten in Chinese and Latin the names and origins of the plants.

Wulao Peak (pinyin:Wulao feng, 五老峰) or "Five Old Men Peak" is the highest point overlooking the Nanputuo Temple.

The winding road uphill might prove too tough for some people to walk so there's also an internal minibus services to the Wulao Cable Car Station.




The South Gate that links to Xiamen University.

There were many kinds of tropical and sub-tropical plants surrounding the hills.

On the peak overlooking Xiamen University is a Military Museum, as well as the Buddhist nunnery that explains why centuries of Nanputuo monks have worn so many trails over the Five Old Men Mountains in search of enlightenment.

 Entrance via the backway from Xiamen University to the Botanical Garden might require a cheaper fee or possibly free if you just ignore when nobody ask.

Main Attractions:
Spring & Autumn Bridge (Chunqiu Qiao) between Bamboo Path and Palm Garden Tiger Stream Temple (Huxi Yan Si) ,Tiger Stream Night Moon (Huxi Yeyue), Wan Shilian Temple (Wan Shilian Si) ,Border of Heaven Temple (Tianjie Si).




Tianjie Temple(Tianjie Si) occupies a high level ground.
Its famous morning bell can be heard far and near and was listed among the eight must see sights of Xiamen---"Bell Tinkling at dawn from the Heaven Border."

Panoramic view of the city from Tianjie Temple.

  There were numerous stone inscriptions carved  cliffs behind the temple and one such section with engraved words near the Long Howling Cave was carved during the reign of Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty.











Xue Qifeng, a famous scholar of early Qing Dynasty,praised it in one of his poems like this---
"Hills and rocks combine all the views and the garden has been claiming unparalleled wonder through the ages."

There has been such a saying as "The things that can make one smile and happy can not be expressed."

Bronze josstick urn.

 Joss sticks are used for a variety of purposes associated with ritual and religious devotion in China.

Traditionally burned before the threshold of a home or business, before an image of a Chinese popular religion divinity or spirit of place, or in small and humble or large and elaborate shrine found at the main entrance to each and every villages.

Spiral joss sticks are also used on a regular basis, which are found hanging above temple ceilings, with burn times that are exceedingly long hours.

During the Ghost Festival, very large pillar-like dragon joss sticks are sometimes used and this festival is very popular anually in Singapore.

This bronze josstick urn was donated by two Overseas Chinese (華僑 -- Huáqiáo).

They were from the Philippines. The Chinese Filipinos belonging either the Fujianese or Cantonese dialect groups of the Han nationality have always been one of the largest Filipino ethnic groups in the Philippines.

 It can be said that a large population of Pinoys have Chinese ancestry.

Those who intermarriage during the Spanish colonial era are known as Chinese mestizos just like the national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

 Famous Pinoys who are of Chinese descents include Corazon Aquino(former president),Henry Sy (owner of giant retailer SMGroup),Lucio Tan Eng Tsai (owns San Miguel Brewery,Philippines Airlines),Tony Tan Chak Tiong ('Jollibee' restauranteur) and many others.

There were Minnan (Southern Fujianese) dialect incorporated into the Tagalog,official language of the Philippines. Xiamen's first international school is the Manila Xiamen International School located at No:735 Long Hu Shan Lu, Zengcuo'an,Siming District.






Starting from the rain forest area,the road uphill became very winding and having steep gradient.

 The physical features of the terrain have close similarity to Maxwell Hill (Taiping Hill) near Taiping town in the state of Perak,West Malaysia.

 As you proceeded uphill via Taipingyan Temple,the distance to Wulao's Peak is still at least an hour walk.

Cactus and Succulent Zone is a very interesting site,visitors can see the various sizes and types of cacti.

Cactus has a lot of sharp spines or thorns which keeps the plant safe but is harmful to human beings so don't go near or touch it.

A voice from a loudspeaker here in this park will suddenly scream at you.

Beautiul landscaping with cactus succulent.
Cactus are well adapted to desert conditions, using their stems to store water during extended dry seasons and are credited as the world's largest family of succulent plants.





Extracting solar energy from the sun with solar panels and a wind energy turbine.













A CCTV lampost in the background scrutinised visitors attempting to go too near the cacti succulent plants.





  Flowering cactus potruding from the spores.Cactus flowers are pollinated by insects, birds and bats but not wind-pollinated and self-pollination.

Cactus are great ornamental plants for homes and offices.

They are very low maintenance plants.

Commercial extraction of cactus for herbal,cosmectics or jams is also a big consumer business.

Cacti are also flowering plants that serve an important role in their ecosystem by providing food and shelter to many animals, birds and reptiles. Opuntia basilaris, the Beavertail Cactus about to blossom.

The Beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris), a related species with flat pads, grows between one and two feet tall.

Ficus microcarpa-Boschotia javahica,the Chinese Bayan tree clinging to the walls.
Bonsai miniature plants are from the Ficus specie.






In case of emergency,the service centre call number is 110 being the police (gong'an).Xiamen Public Security Bureau.

A small community living near the Cactus and Succulent Zone.

At the far end turn right into a dirt road and then walk towards the left along the tar road will lead you downhill to the South Gate.

Having enquired from one of the residents here,he told me that this is a shortcut down to Xiamen University.

 If you still have the energy to walk uphill,then use the other normal path to the South Gate.

Chinese made old series missile in front of Military Museum office.

The YJ-6 anti-ship missile was designed to attack ships up to light cruiser class.







Type 88 is a series of second-generation main battle tanks entered service with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in the 1980s.

Anti-aircrafts gun.
It is a towed, road-mobile anti-aircraft weapon designed to engage low-speed airborne targets at short- to medium-range.














After seeing this jet-fighter plane,walk straight ahead you'll see some student dormitories .Just keep to your right and follow the path downhill to reach the South Gate and subsequently Xiamen University. There will be road directions sign along the way so it won't be of any problem