Xiamen and the adjoining island of Gulangiu — known as the land of a thousand pianists because together they have the highest population of piano players per family in the world.

It is one of the few places where it would be easy enough to muster enough pianists to play Carl Czerny’s arrangement of Rossini’s William Tell overture for 16 pianists on eight pianos.

Xiamen is one of China’s most active ’special economic zones’.

Xiamen, which now boasts of one of the highest foreign investments in China, was declared an SEZ in the 1980s. It traditionally dealt with leather, apparel, hardware, antiques and jades. It has 600 financial institutions and has trade links with as many as 162 nations, including India.

The local Hua Cheng Music Company is home to at least 70 gleaming black and brown Hamilton and Baldwin pianos. Their prices range from RMB10,000 ($1,450) to RMB70,000($10,160).

According to an estimate by the trade authorities in Xiamen, in 2007 the city’s GDP amounted to RMB137.5 billion (about $20 billion), an increase of 16.1% over the previous year.

Source: Thaindian News

The Xiamen Economic Zone in Fujian Province and Shenzhen Economic Zone in Guangdong Province are going to be linked by train and work has already started.

The railway starts from Xiamen, a port city facing Taiwan, and runs 502.4 kilometers southwest along the coast to Shenzhen

Upon its completion in 2011, the railway will allow trains to travel at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour, and a journey between the two cities will take about three hours compared with current 11 hours. Which is great for passengers but that  is not primarily what the train is about

The rail link is designed to transport 12 million tons of cargo a year and accommodate 120 pairs of trains per day.

The RMB41.7-billion ($5.6 billion) project will be co-funded by the Ministry of Railways, and the Fujian and Guangdong provincial governments.

The new line will be another important section of China’s coastal railway artery.  Currently two railway lines giving  links are being constructed. One links Wenzhou of Zhejiang Province with Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, and the other links Fuzhou and Xiamen.

Xiamen and Shenzhen were among the first four special economic zones designated by the state council in 1980.
Source: People’s Daily Online