The International Settlement For a time, Gulangyu was the only
international settlement on Chinese soil apart from the
International Settlement at Shanghai. Soon after Xiamen became a treaty port resulting from China's loss in the
First Opium War and the
Treaty of Nanking in 1842, foreign residents on the island established an informal organization that became formally organized several decades later when its Land Regulations were approved by the government of China (
Qing dynasty) in May 1902. Eventually 13 countries, including Great Britain, France, The Netherlands and
Japan, were to have extraterritorial privileges there and take part in the Kulangsu Municipal Council that administered the settlement. As with the Shanghai International Settlement, the British played a predominant role in the administration and Sikh policemen from British India were charged with the policing of the Settlement under the Kulangsu Municipal Police. The consulates, churches, hospitals, schools, police stations, etc. built by those foreign communities explain the predominantly Victorian-era style architecture that can still be seen throughout Gulangyu. Japanese occupation of the island began in 1942, and lasted until the end of World War II, when it was returned to China. The
Hokkien dialect is spoken on the island, as it is in Xiamen.
People's Republic of China After the establishment of the PRC, Gulangyu was a district of Xiamen, one of four in the municipality not located on Xiamen Island until 2003. In May of that year Gulangyu District was absorbed into
Siming District, and has since been administered, policed, and adjudicated from Xiamen Island, just across the Lujiang River. ==Attractions==