10/03/2005 11:15:00 AM|||The Zen Master|||Roughly halfway through the 6-hour, 2300-mile flight from Beijing to Singapore, my plane touched down for the better part of half an hour in the city of Xiamen. Xiamen is the Special Economic Zone formerly known as the Treaty Port of Amoy, whence the name of that ubiquitous brand of Chinese sauces. The airport was surprisingly bright, clean, and international for a random city in China, and the view from the circular windows on the other side of the people mover made Xiamen seem like a tropical background for a car-raching video game. It is in Fujian province, which basically makes it Florida relative to Beijing's New York, so I guess that makes sense, but still, it was surprising to see scenery like this in mainland China. I wonder if that's what Taiwan looks like as well, since Taipei is just across the Strait of Taiwan from there.|||112830996054003190|||Xiamen