No Xiamen--No U.S.A.!

U.S. Presence to Expand in Xiamen!
The U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou e-mailed and they are expanding their presence in Fujian Province, including Xiamen! That's good news for Xiamen--and the U.S. as well. Fujian, especially Xiamen, is very strategic for the U.S., and has been for centuries. It's 1/3 of the way between Hong Kong and Shanghai, on the coast facing Taiwan, home to most Overseas Chinese, home to China's only Key university in a Special Economic Zone (Xiamen University), and, most importantly, my home. :)

No Xiamen, no U.S.A.?
And, as I told over 400 American business people in a luncheon in Guangzhou a couple years ago, after Condoleeza (sp.?) Rice's special advisor had lectured us for half an hour, had it not been for Xiamen, there would not even be a U.S. of A! Remember the Boston Tea Party? December, 1773--the tea tossed into the sea was Anxi tea, shipped out of Xiamen Harbor. So were it not for Xiamen we'd still be a British colony and our judges would be wearing white wigs. I rest my case.

No Xiamen, No New World?
By the way, Columbus was not seeking a New World but a shortcut to an ancient world. His goal? India, or China (specifically, Zaytun, ancient start of the Maritime Silk Route, which is Quanzhou, 70 km. to the north of us in Xiamen). Columbus' copy of Marco Polo's Travels was dog-eared and underlined on the pages about Zaytun, which told of its fabulous wealth. "For every ship laden with pepper sailing out of Christendom, 100 sail from Zaytun", he wrote (I paraphrase, as its from memory, but I'm sure it was pepper, or Dr. Pepper, or perhaps it was Pepsi).

So...no Xiamen (which was Zaytun's deepest port), no America!
Enjoy Amoy!