As an important historical site to the south of Xiamen, Hulishan Fortress is a must-see item in the region for history buffs.

The 70,000-square-meter compound was built in 1894 as the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was shaken by the power of Western aggression.

The fortress includes a barracks, a secret tunnel, an ammunition depot and a castle. Its German-made Krupp cannon is confirmed as “the largest and oldest 19th-century breechloader still in existence”.

In 1888, Bian Baodi, then top official of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, told the emperor that strategically important Fujian needed careful protection. He suggested building a new fort at Xiamen’s Huli Mountain and equipping it with Krupp cannons.

Emperor Guangxu ordered Bian to build the fort and buy the Krupp cannons himself, but the huge funds needed became a problem. It took Bian, as well as his two successors, 22 years to raise enough capital for the project.

Starting from 1894, construction took more than three years. Two cannons were then purchased from the Krupp Munitions Factory in Germany.

Weighing 87 tons each and measuring 13.9 meters in length, the cannons had a firing range of nearly 20 kilometers. They were powerful weapons for the time and provided strategic defense against foreign invasions.

The fortress and its Krupp cannons played an important role during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

In September 1937, when Japanese warships invaded China through Xiamen, Hulishan Fortress was a crucial defense as the Krupp cannons demonstrated that their tremendous firepower remained by sinking the Japanese destroyer Wakatake.

It was the first Japanese warship sunk by the Chinese army in the war. The invading troops began to retreat after the ship sank.

In the 1980s, Hulishan Fortress was renovated by the local government and opened to the public as a tourist site displaying its single remaining Krupp cannon.

In recent years, it has become an even more popular tourist destination. It receives more than 1.7 million tourists every year, and has become a window to experience Xiamen’s rich culture and history.

A show re-enacting soldiers from the Qing Dynasty firing Dutch cannons is also a major attraction for tourists.

The show uses the whole fortress as a performance ground. Every day from 10 am to 4 pm, a phalanx of actors dressed in ancient military uniforms parade in front of camera-toting tourists.

After brandishing imperial dragon flags in a few not-so-regal dance movements, they march up a knoll. The fanfare ends with the lighting of a Dutch cannon.

In the neighboring Rongguang Museum, ancient firecrackers, guns, swords and stones are on display.