Chinese say the 92.7m high Sunlight Rock, known as Dragon Head Hill (Longtou Shan 龙头山) by Chinese and Camel Rock (Luotuo Shan 骆驼山) by foreigners, faces Tiger Head Hill across the bay on Xiamen Island, and that the dragon and tiger team up to guard Xiamen Harbor's entrance.


In America, "rolling stones gather no moss", in China, they gather no inscriptions. But Sunlight Rock, like any Chinese rock that sits still long enough, is covered with calligraphic inscriptions—over 80, in fact, the most famous being "Heroic Spirit of South Fujian Sea," a eulogy to Koxinga, Another inscription claims that in 1609 a Ming Dynasty official named Chi Zhifu (池直夫) built a flower and bamboo garden at the foot of Sunlight Rock, and researchers have unearthed Ming Dynasty relics in the area.


Sunlight Rock's oldest carving was inscribed about 400 years ago on a rock near the main gate and reads, "Gulang Dongtian" (鼓浪洞天): "Gulangyu—a Fairyland." The 100-year-old characters to the left read, "Lujiang Diyi"(鹭江第一): "#1 Scenery of the Lujiang River." The horizontal characters, "Tianfeng Haitao"(天风海涛), carved in 1915, suggest that you can hear both roaring wind and raging sea as you climb Sunlight Rock. 

The Fort Gate, one of the islet's most prized sites, is all that remains of Koxinga's fortress.The gate is 74 cm wide by 174 cm high. The largest stones had holes that supported the houses' roof beams. The Fort Gate of course has its share of classic chiseled inscriptions, such as this poem about Koxinga written by educator Mr. Cai Yuanpei (蔡元培):        Master of wind and waves,       Amidst the cloud of battle calmly commands,       Though he sacrificed his steadfast spirit,        He was upright to the last.

Sunlight Rock Temple (Riguangyan Si 日光岩寺), one of Xiamen's four most important temples during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, was built between 1506 and 1521 and called Lotus Temple (Lianhua An 莲花庵). It was rebuilt in 1596 and renamed Sunlight Rock Temple, and is now dedicated to worship of Guanyin (观音), goddess of mercy (a formerly male deity whom Chinese women changed to female over 1,000 years ago because they felt male deities were unsympathetic to their needs).
Sunlight Rock Temple, which is partially within a cave, is often called "One Tile Roof " (Yipian Wa 一片瓦) because a large rock forms part of  the roof. It is also called a "Pocket Temple" because it encompasses only 2,856m. But though its location, scrunched up within a rock, prevents it from sprawling like other temples,  it makes up for size by its exquisite setting, with uniquely Chinese eaves, arches, columns, and glazed colored tiles. The neighboring European architecture only reinforces the essential Chineseness of this pocket-temple. This is China's only temple in which the Buddha Hall (大雄宝殿) and Maitreya (Milefuo) Hall are face to face. There was also a Xu Booth (旭亭) built between 1723 and 1735, but all that remains is a cliff inscription.