page_title: Gulangyu
section_title: The International Settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Gulangyu / History / The International Settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Municipal police in the International Settlement of Kulangsu (Gulangyu), Amoy.
context_page_description: The Gulangyu, Gulang Island or Kulangsu is a pedestrian-only island off the coast of Xiamen, Fujian Province in southeastern China. A UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, the island is about 2 km² in area, and is reached by an 8-minute ferry ride from downtown Xiamen. Although only about 20,000 people live on the island, Gulangyu is a major domestic tourist destination, attracting more than 10 million visitors per year, and making it one of China's most visited tourist attractions. Gulangyu not only bans cars, but also bicycles. The only vehicles permitted are small electric buggies and electric government service vehicles.
  Visitors can reach Gulangyu by ferry from the ferry terminal in Xiamen. Local residents are allowed to use a shorter 5-minute ferry to/from the Lun Du Ferry Terminal. During the day, tourists and non-locals take a 20-minute ferry ride from the Dongdu International Cruise Terminal to either San Qiu Tian Terminal or Nei Cuo Ao Terminal in Kulangsu Town. A ticket costs 35 CNY. After 6:00 PM, there is a more convenient ferry from Lundu Terminal 2, which drops off at San Qiu Tian Terminal in Kulangsu Town. That service runs all night, and also costs 35 CNY.
context_section_description: For a time, Gulangyu had the peculiarity of having constituted the only international settlement on Chinese soil apart from the more celebrated 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 in May 1902. Eventually 13 countries, including Great Britain, France, The Netherlands and Japan, were to enjoy 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. The Hokkien dialect is spoken on the island, as it is in Xiamen.
caption: The Sikh police force
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