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Southeast of the center, a series of sites make a pleasant excursion when seen together. Start by taking a taxi or bus no. 2 or 22 from Siming Lu to the Huli Shan Paotai, a platform (open 8:30am-5pm; ¥25/$3) with a vast Krupp 280-millimeter cannon overlooking the island-dotted ocean and offering a different kind of seashell. The huge gun, one of two originally sited here in 1893, sits on a vast rotating chain-driven mechanism and is credited with sinking a Japanese warship in 1937. When it was first fired, several nearby houses collapsed, too. The other gun emplacement now houses a tacky souvenir shop. There are plenty descriptions in English but they include the usual nationalist claptrap about "British aggressors" and "brave Chinese soldiers." The surrounding sunken barracks area has been turned over to the exhibition of peculiar stones and ancient weaponry that includes a rusty pistol said to have belonged to Opium warrior Lin Zexu. A boat at the pier below offers 1-hour trips to see Jinmen and Little Jinmen islands for ¥96 ($12); call tel. 0592/208-3759 for information.
Cross the road opposite the cannon and turn left until you find the gate to the university, Xiamen Daxue. Even the footbridge here is worth a closer look as this innovative tension structure is millennia ahead of almost any other construction in China. This is one of China's older and most pleasant campuses, founded around 90 years ago and heavily funded by donations from Chinese overseas. Wander straight on past substantial brick buildings to a major left turn to the main gate -- students will point you in the right direction if you look lost. Just outside the campus, on the right, is Nan Putuo Si (open 3am-6:30pm; ¥3/40¢). It's a temple of little antiquity but fully functional as a place of worship, with the devout on their knees reading scriptures and surely nearly asphyxiated by all the incense smoke. Monks bustle about, and wooden blocks are tossed to obtain the answers to important questions. There's also rock-cut calligraphy, modern stupas containing the remains of recently interred monks, 18 particularly animated luohan statues, a "thousand-armed" Guanyin, and an excellent vegetarian restaurant.
Around Xiamen Pictrues 
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