Gulangyu: A treasured island in the eye of a foreigner

She had told me of the narrow cobblestone streets that wind through hills and spill out onto tropical beaches lined with coconut palms.

She had described the giant banyan trees shading the graceful European mansions, the romantic couples posing for wedding pictures, and the 13 historical consulates that made Gulangyu look like a Mediterranean island plopped into the South China Sea.

But not even Yang's tales of beauty and charm could have prepared me for the magical experience of stepping off the ferry onto Gulangyu for the first time.

The 10-minute ferry ride from downtown Xiamen takes less time than your average city taxi trip, but it is a ride into another world, into a Chinese-Western past that you might not even know existed.

Like that of Venice, Gulangyu's air is just something that has to be breathed in to be understood.

Last November, in the midst of the final stages of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inspection process, Typhoon Meranti slammed directly into Xiamen and Gulangyu.

"After eight years of hard work to restore and protect our heritage properties, the biggest typhoon we'd ever seen hit the island three days before the UNESCO inspector was due to arrive," says director Zheng Yilin of the Gulangyu Administrative Committee.

Xiamen gets a few glancing blows each year during typhoon season, but this was the largest storm to hit the city directly in 50 years.

Nineteen giant ancient trees fell, and more than 3,000 were damaged.

Zheng says that 100 local families lost their homes, and other local families took them in.

"More than 300 volunteers came to help," she says, including many foreigners living in Xiamen who volunteered all day to clean up debris from the beaches and roads.

The UNESCO inspection visit was postponed, but only by a few weeks.

Gulangyu's local government, its citizens, and its volunteers worked day and night hauling garbage, clearing floodwaters, re-paving streets, and reconstructing buildings that had been damaged.

A team of plant biologists trimmed and righted and saved hundreds of injured trees and planted thousands of new ones.

Nine months later, the island is as verdant as it's ever been.