老外看老鼓浪屿  Old Gulangyu in Foreinger’s Eyes1

   新年伊始，厦门大学管理学系教授潘威廉推出新作《老外看老鼓浪屿》。 这本书作为鼓浪屿申报世界文化遗产的资料之一，以老福建、老厦门、老鼓浪屿的历史为主题，文章全部摘自1575 年以来在厦门工作、生活过的外籍人士所撰写的书籍、传记、甚至私人日记，还有上千张的老照片, 提供给读者一个独特的视角来品味福建, 品味厦门的历史文化。

    2010年，双语周刊将在本版设专栏连载潘教授的新作，与大家一同分享书中的奇珍异宝。   

   The name of Fu Jian  or “Established Fortune，” is quite apt for this province.  Fujian largely prospered from the time it became the cradle of China’s maritime shipbuilding over 2,000 years ago right through the twentieth century.

    Early Fujian established a reputation of producing scholars, adventurers and seafarers. Historically, a significant number of emigrants from China were Fujianese residents who traveled the world seeking fortune. 

    Fujian is blessed with rich natural and geological resources. The province produced China’s first tea exports to the West. With the nation’s second-longest coastline, Fujian today ranks second in the production of aquatic products. However, at the start of China’s modern reformation and engagement in 1978, the province’s fortune no longer seemed so fortunate.

    Over the next two decades, Fujian fell behind other provinces, partially because its 6,000 kilometers of coastline faced the Taiwan Straits. In those days, Xiamen University students recited the slogan, “Books in one hand, guns in the other.” Beijing was reluctant to invest heavily in what easily could have become a battle zone. Today, Fujian’s proximity to Taiwan has become a boon for both sides of the Straits and an engine for continued improvement in cross-Straits relations.

    In recent years, Taiwan firms have invested over $20 billion in Fujian. Cross-Straits relations received a major boost last December when mainland China and Taiwan lifted a 59-year ban on direct flights, mail and shipping. Fujian’s vast coastline and shared culture, language and heritage have become a significant advantage and the province has been designated as China’s Taiwan Straits West Bank Economic Zone.

    The former start of the Maritime Silk Route is again becoming a global trade hub. Fujian hosts numerous trade exhibitions and conventions such as the annual China International Fair for Investment and Trade. Most importantly in this era of growing ecological peril, Fujian has prospered while receiving global recognition for its efforts to preserve its natural, historic and ecological heritages. Overseas scholars visit Fujian to study its biological diversity, its Hakka earthen houses, wooden dragon bridges, Gulangyu architecture, Quanzhou tea and marionettes.

    Fujian is today a prosperous place for Chinese and foreigners alike to call home. Fujian truly deserves its name of  Established Fortune.

    This article is a reprint of the preface to Old Gulangyu in Foreigners’Eyes.

    By Bill Brown