Port of Call LAST UPDATE May 30, 2009
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April 27, 2009 Xiamen, China – A Cultural Discovery
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Xiamen’s city skyline as seen from the ship approaching the first port of call for Peace Boat’s 66th Global Voyage.
After four days at sea, the 66th Peace Boat Global Voyage arrived at its first port of call, Xiamen, China. The port is located in one of the most beautiful and eco-friendly prefectures in China. As close neighbours, Japan owes a large part of its cultural heritage and identity to China, yet before disembarking the ship, many participants had little idea about Chinese culture, customs or language. In order to learn more about the local culture, a group of participants set off for a Chinese family home to share a traditional home-cooked meal and participate in an exchange programme in order to better understand their way of life.
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The feast prepared for the participants by the Chin family.
The family home, the Chin residence, is situated approximately 30 minutes from the port-town’s centre, in a lower socio-economic, semi-industrial area. Participants were amazed by the array of fruit in the street stalls and the extremely low prices compared to Japan. The surroundings were also very surprising for the participants, many of whom had never left Japan before. Sights such as the busy streets, lined with street vendors selling their goods and animals being butchered alive, caused mixed reactions amongst the group. ‘It was strange for me, but very interesting’, said Mayumi, on her first trip to China.

Upon arriving at the Chin residence, the participants were greeted by the family and served tea in the lounge room. Mr Chin offered the men cigarettes, whilst Mrs Chin and her daughter Sandy finished the lunch preparations. In order to facilitate communication and answer questions from the curious participants about Chinese life, a Japanese-speaking local, Maasam, joined the group. He explained that generally it was the men who do the cooking in Chinese culture, but that in recent times it was becoming common for responsibilities to be shared.
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By writing kanji, participants communicate with one of their hosts, Sandy, a 20 year old university graduate who is now doing a internship for a tourism company.
According to Chinese tradition, if guests visit to share a meal, an abundance of food must be prepared - much more than could possibly be eaten. If all the food is finished, it is considered bad hospitality. A high quantity of meat is also usually provided as a symbol of wealth – an important trait in traditional Chinese culture.

After eating, Mrs Chin prepared more tea for the participants as they tried communicating with the Chinese family. ‘Communicating was very hard. We communicated in English and a little Chinese, but we couldn’t speak Japanese. We wrote kanji (Chinese characters also used in Japanese) to communicate. It was fantastic to communicate with someone from a different culture’, said Yamamote Hotoshi. ‘I learnt about how Chinese people think and what they do in daily life, and it has made me interested in Chinese culture.’
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Live animals at a street butcher, a scene which shocked many participants.
As the closest point of China to Taiwan, just over a kilometer away, Xiamen has been a frontier zone and a place of intense emotion and tension. A large fort near the port stands as testament to this fighting, housing long range cannons that are still aimed at Taiwan. Until 1986, when the Chinese government changed its economic policies, there was intense opposition across the Strait, including long-range cannon attacks, propaganda bombardment and espionage. The intensity reached its zenith in 1956, when around 4.6 million cannonballs were fired from Taiwan towards Xiamen in one week. Cannonballs were still fired between the two as often as once a week until the late 1970s.

As a creative means of recycling, the iron from these remaining cannonballs is used to produce decorative knives, known as Kimmon Knives - named after the Taiwanese island from which the cannonballs were fired. The knives are still in production today and are renowned throughout all of China. While still very complicated, relations between China and Taiwan have improved dramatically since 1986 and, due to their close proximity, the two are now important trade partners.
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There is still a strong traditional way of life in China, especially in the developing regions. This mother and daughter greeted participants outside a local textile factory.
Xiamen is renowned as one of the most beautiful prefectures in China for its vast expanses of natural forests. In order to preserve this reputation and protect the natural heritage of the region, the local Xiamen government has implemented a range of laws designed to limit carbon-dioxide emissions. A ban has been placed on the development of any factories, and there are laws against pollution-emitting vehicles.
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Peace Boat staff member Izu Yuuka and a Chinese local outside the 800-year old Nanputuo Temple.
On the way back, we stopped at a Buddhist temple where Maasam explained to the participants the differences between Chinese and Japanese temples and Buddhist customs in the two countries. Nanputuo Temple, built in 1200AD, contains many different Buddhas that the Chinese pray to in order to achieve peace and tranquility in their lives. Maasam explained that the temple is quite typical, in that it was converted into a prison for dissidents under the Maoist peoples’ revolution, under whose government religion was banned.