Discover Xiamen
Hulishan Fortress
胡里山炮台
An 1894 Qing coastal battery holding the largest surviving 19th-century Krupp cannon in the world, aimed across the strait at Kinmen. Live firing-drill re-enactments run several times a day.
The story
What makes this place special
Hulishan Fortress was built on the headland at the southern tip of Xiamen island, generally dated to 1894, as part of the late-Qing coastal defence programme. Two 280 mm breech-loading guns were bought from Krupp in Germany; one survives, mounted in its emplacement, with an estimated range of around 16 kilometres. In August 2000 it was recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest and largest surviving nineteenth-century coastal artillery piece of its kind. The fortress also holds more than fifty Ming and Qing iron cannon collected from elsewhere.
What you’ll discover
A granite coastal battery on the rocks, with tunnels, magazines and command rooms built into the headland, and the surviving Krupp gun on its turntable looking out over the strait — the scale of it is the point, a gun the size of a bus with hand-cranked traverse gear. From the ramparts you look across to Kinmen, which is Taiwan-administered territory a few kilometres offshore, and there are telescopes for the purpose. A costumed artillery display with blank charges is performed on a daily schedule, usually in the afternoon.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Check the firing-display time when you buy your ticket and plan around it. It is the one thing here that people remember, it runs once or twice a day, and missing it by twenty minutes is the standard mistake.
- Go into the tunnels and magazines under the battery, not just round the gun. They are cool, empty and the best-preserved part of the installation.
- Look at Kinmen. The islands across the water are governed from Taipei, visible from the rampart on a clear day, and the fortress is the easiest place in Xiamen to understand why this coast has been militarised for four hundred years.
- It is at the western end of Huandao Road beside Xiamen University, so combine it with the campus, Nanputuo and the beach walk rather than coming out specially.
- Afternoon light is better for the gun, which faces roughly south over the water, and the display is in the afternoon anyway.
When to come
Afternoon, timed to the firing display, in autumn or winter when the air is clear enough to see Kinmen. The site is exposed granite with little shade and is hot in summer.
Getting around
Mixed. The main battery deck and the area around the Krupp gun are broadly level and reachable on paved surfaces, so the headline exhibit is achievable in a wheelchair with help. The tunnels and magazines involve steps, narrow doorways and uneven floors, the ramparts are reached by steps in places, and the site is on a headland with gradients. A bad knee will manage the gun and the main deck comfortably.
Worth knowing before you go
Check the cannon-drill times on arrival and plan around them; the telescope on the wall reaches Taiwan-administered Kinmen on a clear day.
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