Xiamen Laoyuanzi Scenic Area is located at No.9 Huaxia Road, Jimei District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province. It is a national 4A-level tourist attraction and a comprehensive cultural tourist resort integrating Minnan cultural exhibition, folk custom performance experience and characteristic landscape sightseeing. Covering a total area of about 150,000 square meters with a total construction area of about 38,000 square meters, the scenic area takes traditional Minnan architectural style as the core carrier and integrates Nanyang architectural features, creating a cultural park that restores the ancient life style of Minnan. The core features of the scenic spot include immersive Minnan folk culture experience and the large-scale live show Legend of Minnan. It also completely replicates traditional architectural communities such as Minnan ancient houses, fishing villages and academies, serving as an important window to display the historical culture, folk customs and marine civilization of Xiamen and Minnan region.
History and Culture
Rooted in the thousand-year history and culture of Minnan, Xiamen Laoyuanzi Scenic Area focuses on the complete development context of Xiamen and Minnan region from fishing village settlements and maritime trade to modern times. Minnan culture is a regional characteristic culture formed by the integration of Central Plains culture, Minyue culture and marine culture. Through architecture, landscape, performances and physical exhibitions, the scenic area systematically reproduces the historical process of Minnan ancestors pioneering land, fishing and grazing by sea, valuing education and running schools, and venturing into Nanyang, making it an important platform for the living inheritance of Minnan culture.
The scenic area deeply explores the local history of Xiamen, focusing on three core sections: Jimei overseas Chinese culture, fishing village culture and academy culture. As a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, Jimei has nurtured a large number of Minnan people who wandered overseas. The scenic area combines overseas Chinese memories, Nanyang customs with local folk customs. It also restores the traditional fishing village production and life scenes of Xiamen, showing the marine civilization of ancestors living by the sea and relying on the sea. In addition, it inherits the fine tradition of valuing education in Minnan, replicates ancient academy buildings and carries forward the spirit of respecting culture and education.
Relying on modern cultural tourism technology, the scenic area combines traditional folk culture with live performances. As the core cultural product of the scenic area, Legend of Minnan interprets the development process of Minnan from ancient times to modern times in an epic form. It has become a landmark performance project spreading Minnan culture and Xiamen regional culture, enabling static cultural landscapes and dynamic cultural experiences to complement each other and realize the immersive inheritance of historical culture.
Main Attractions
Legend of Minnan Show Theater
The Legend of Minnan Show Theater is the core attraction of Xiamen Laoyuanzi Scenic Area. It is a special theater for large-scale live performances, capable of accommodating about 3,000 audiences at the same time, and is the world's first 360-degree rotating mobile giant wheel theater. Relying on high-tech stage technology, the theater integrates water curtain, fountain, machinery, real scene and special effects to stage Legend of Minnan. The whole show is divided into six chapters, fully interpreting the history, folk customs, marine culture and overseas Chinese culture of Minnan, making it the most distinctive cultural experience project in the scenic area.
Laoyuanzi Folk Culture Custom Park
As the main landscape area of the scenic spot, Laoyuanzi Folk Culture Custom Park covers an area of about 100,000 square meters and replicates traditional Minnan ancient building groups, including typical Minnan architectural elements such as red brick ancient houses, swallow-tail ridge buildings and patio courtyards. The park restores the ancient street life scenes of Minnan, displays traditional Minnan handicrafts, folk utensils and fishery daily necessities, and sets up folk performance areas. Tourists can experience characteristic Minnan folk activities up close and feel the authentic ancient life style of Minnan.
Fishing Village Cultural Area
Covering an area of about 20,000 square meters, the Fishing Village Cultural Area is built based on the prototype of traditional Xiamen fishing villages, restoring the production and life scenes of Minnan fishermen. The area is equipped with ancient fishing boats, fishing net workshops, fisherman courtyards and drying fishing grounds, showing the traditional skills of ancestors living by fishing. It also presents the integrated style of marine culture and Minnan folk customs, serving as an important landscape to understand the marine civilization of Xiamen.
Nanyang Style Street
The Nanyang Style Street is themed on Minnan overseas Chinese culture. Its architecture integrates Nanyang arcade style with Minnan characteristics, with a total length of about 200 meters. It replicates the architectural style and life scenes of Minnan overseas Chinese living and doing business in Nanyang. The street displays historical cultural relics of overseas Chinese and characteristic Nanyang decorations, restores the cultural connection between hometown and Nanyang, and reflects the historical memory of Minnan people striving and developing in Nanyang.
Academy Cultural Area
Inheriting the fine tradition of respecting culture and education in Minnan, the Academy Cultural Area replicates the architectural style of ancient Minnan academies with a traditional layout. It includes lecture halls, library pavilions and cultural exhibition areas, displaying the educational development history and traditional Chinese classics culture of Minnan. It is the core area of the scenic spot to inherit traditional culture and show the fashion of valuing education in Minnan.
Sky City Glass Observation Deck
The Sky City Glass Observation Deck is a popular online celebrity viewing project in the scenic area. It is a high-altitude fully transparent glass viewing facility with a vertical height of about 30 meters and an observation platform area of about 120 square meters. It overlooks the panoramic view of Laoyuanzi Scenic Area and Jimei urban landscape, integrating viewing, photography and leisure experience functions, and is a popular check-in spot in the scenic area.
Tour Route
Scenic Area Entrance → Laoyuanzi Folk Culture Custom Park → Fishing Village Cultural Area → Nanyang Style Street → Academy Cultural Area → Sky City Glass Observation Deck → Legend of Minnan Show Theater → Scenic Area Exit
Travel Suggestions
- It is recommended to spend 3 to 4 hours to visit all attractions and watch the Legend of Minnan show.
- Priority is recommended to watch Legend of Minnan show and arrive at the theater 30 minutes in advance for ticket checking and admission.
- It is advised to visit the Folk Culture Custom Park slowly and participate in on-site folk interactive experiences.
- The Sky City Glass Observation Deck is suitable for visiting on sunny days with the best viewing and photography effects.
- Family tourists can focus on visiting the Fishing Village Cultural Area and Folk Custom Park for immersive cultural popular science.
- There are Minnan characteristic catering areas in the scenic area, where you can taste traditional Minnan snacks during the tour.
Notes
- Food, drinks, flammable and explosive items and dangerous goods are prohibited from being brought into the theater.
- Do not stand, walk or stretch out of the seat when the 360-degree rotating theater is running.
- Abide by tour regulations on the glass observation deck; chasing, fighting and stepping on the glass surface in high heels are forbidden.
- Ancient buildings in the scenic area are landscape facilities; climbing, carving and damaging are prohibited.
- The number of tourists is large on holidays. It is recommended to visit at off-peak hours and keep personal belongings properly.
- Part of the scenic area is water landscape. Children must be accompanied by adults throughout the visit and are prohibited from approaching the water edge.
- The performance time is subject to the official announcement of the scenic area on the day, please do not miss the sessions.
Transportation
- Bus: Take Xiamen Bus No.690, 691, 692, 949, 957 to Laoyuanzi Scenic Area Station, then walk about 200 meters to the scenic entrance.
- Metro: Take Xiamen Metro Line 1 to Tianshui Road Station, walk about 800 meters after exiting or transfer to one bus stop to reach the scenic area.
- Self-driving: Navigate to the parking lot of Xiamen Laoyuanzi Scenic Area. The scenic area is equipped with a dedicated parking lot with about 500 parking spaces available.
- Taxi/Online Car-hailing: Directly locate Xiamen Laoyuanzi Scenic Area (No.9 Huaxia Road, Jimei District) to arrive directly at the scenic entrance.
Opening Hours
The daily opening hours are from 08:30 to 17:30, and ticket entry stops at 17:00. The performance sessions of Legend of Minnan are divided into regular sessions and holiday sessions. There is one show at 15:00 every day on regular days, and two additional shows at 10:30 and 15:00 on weekends and holidays. The specific performance time is subject to the official announcement of the scenic area on the day.
Ticket
The ticket price is 99 yuan per person. You can search the official WeChat account "厦门老院子景区" to get the latest updates.
Online Booking
Click here to jump to the Trip.com ticketing platform for ticket purchase.