Xiamen: A Poetic Abode by the Sea

## Xiamen: A City of Mountains, Sea, and Poetry The sound of the tide flows over the keys of Gulangyu, and egrets skim over the arc of the Yanwu Bridge. This city, kissed by the sea breeze, is telling the romance of mountains and seas embracing each other in the soft Minnan dialect. What you overlook from Sunlight Rock is not only the Museum of International Architecture, but also the traces of a century of time flowing between the red brick arcade buildings. The incense of Nanputuo Temple intertwines with the sound of books at Xiamen University, brewing a unique urban rhythm under the flame of the phoenix trees. The bicycle bell on the Island Ring Road startles a wave, and the creative shops in Zengcuo'an hide the magic of a fishing village transformation. Behind the graffiti wall in Shapowe Art Zone, the old factory buildings are colliding with new ideas to create the aroma of coffee. Around the corner, you may encounter a bowl of refreshing Tusu frozen, or the babbling singing of a Minnan opera troupe. When night falls on Lujiang Road, the piano sound from Gulangyu on the other side floats in the sea breeze. Under the arcade buildings of Zhongshan Road, the sweet fragrance of peanut soup mixes with the crispy fragrance of oyster omelets, cooking the worldly fireworks into a vivid and fragrant scene. The sea here writes poetry, repeatedly modifying it on the beach with the tide. The clouds here love to paint, splashing the sunset on the glass curtain wall of the Twin Towers. Xiamen is teaching every passerby how to turn life into a poem that rhymes with the waves with its slow pace.