Definition of "Amoy"
Amoy
proper noun
(dated) Xiamen, a prefecture-level city and subprovincial city in Fujian, in southeastern China.
Quotations
Passing one or two headlands to the northeastward of this place, we reach the harbor of Amoy, as pronounced by the natives, or, as more generally pronounced Heämun. This harbor is in the southwestern corner of a considerable bay, in which are two large and many smaller islands. The largest and westernmost island, named Amoy, forms the northern limit of the harbor, which is sheltered on the east by the smaller of the two principal islands, while the mainland shelters is on the west and south. The town of Amoy is situated at the south end of the larger island, and the anchorage for ships is immediately in front of it.
1837 May, “Coast of China: the division of it into four portions ; brief description of the principal places on the southeastern, eastern, and northeastern portions.”, in The Chinese Repository, volume VI, number 1, Canton, page 12
Leaving Namoa, and sailing up the coast towards Amoy, the stranger is continually struck with the barren rocky nature of the coast, and in some parts has a view of hills of sand, the particles of which, when a hurricane blows, mix with the wind, and whiten the ropes of vessels and render it most unpleasant to be in the vicinity.
1847, Robert Fortune, Three Years' Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China: Including a Visit to the Tea, Silk, and Cotton Countries; with an Account of the Agriculture and Horticulture of the Chinese, New Plants, Etc., 2nd edition, John Murray, Albemarle Street, pages 23–24
The tea grown in the southern Fukien hills goes out through Amoy; in a shallow bay on one side of town there stand out of the mud at low tide hundreds of upright granite blocks like Western tombstones, on which oysters are grown. But the only unique industry Amoy and its island seem to boast is the making of toy cats, dogs, lions, tigers, and even more fearsome beasts from mud gaudily painted, the heads and tails so balanced that they wag gravely back and forth.
1925, Harry A. Franck, Roving Through Southern China, The Century Company, page 198
The Merope stopped at Namoa, an island off the coast of Kwangtung and Fukien, where some small sales were made, and then, proceeding to Amoy, attempted to open trade relations there.
1934, David Edward Owen, British Opium Policy in China and India, Yale University Press, page 122; republished Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1968
In February last year, he went to Amoy in Fukien Province on business. Amoy lies opposite Kinmen. One February day he swam to Kinmen and reached freedom. He has since worked for the General Political Warfare Department of the Ministry of National Defense.
1975 October 12, “Escapees from mainland plan wedding in Taipei”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVI, number 40, Taipei, page 4
Kinmen Island lies in the Amoy (Xiamen) Bay, southeast of mainland China's Fujian Province, with a total area of 150.456 square kilometers. The outlying island is 277 kilometers off the coast of Taiwan proper and a mere 10 kilometers from Xiamen Harbor.
, “Kinmen Battlefield Culture”, in Ministry of Culture, archived from the original on 2021-09-16, Potential World Heritage Sites in Taiwan
Back in China, the American vice-consul in Amoy was one Le Gendre, married to Clara. His responsibilities lay in Amoy plus four other locations on Formosa (Taiwan) — Tamsui, Anping, Keelung and Takao.
2023 October 12, Bradley Winterton, “Book review: ‘Puppet Flower’: the roots of modern Taiwan”, in Taipei Times, archived from the original on 25 November 2023, Features, page 14