Diplomats and Bureaucrats
When planning my visit, I did not quite realise the extent to which I would be coddled by the entirety of Kelly’s family, not just in the apartment but outside of it. After Kelly’s grandma made us breakfast and Kelly’s dad made us tea and coffee, Kelly’s jiujiu (paternal uncle) drove us to the harbour. Along with Kelly’s cousin Yiding – a hilariously awkward fourteen-year old who made up for his shyness with a range of animated facial expressions – we took the ferry to the island of Gulangyu. Gulangyu is the site of a former international settlement: It housed a number of Western consulates after China lost the First Opium War and Xiamen was designated a Treaty Port by the Treaty of Nanjing. Nowadays, Gulangyu is a hot tourist spot, offering somewhat polluted beaches that are much better for taking pictures than swimming, as well as pedestrian, European-style streets and views of modern Xiamen.