How a remote island became a hub of China's opening up

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Pingtan, once an ordinary small island off the coast of east China's Fujian Province, is now at the forefront of Fujian-Taiwan cooperation and the nation's opening up to the outside world. Within just a few years, it has become the home to a Comprehensive Pilot Zone, a Free Trade Zone and an International Tourist Destination designated by the state.

The transformation of Pingtan has been accelerated by a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2014, during which Xi called for the deepening of cross-Strait cooperation and the protection of ecological environment on the island. Boosted by favorable policies, Pingtan has attracted an increasing number of businesspeople and tourists.

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with staff members at a customs checkpoint in the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone in Fujian Province, east China, November 1, 2014. /Xinhua Photo

Hsueh Ching-te, an entrepreneur from Taiwan, opened his second company in Pingtan recently. He told CCTV that he still remembered meeting Xi over two years ago.

"I told President Xi that I was a happy entrepreneur in Pingtan," Hsueh recalled. "And when he was about to leave, he said he wished prosperity to this happy entrepreneur."

Pingtan is only 126 kilometers from Taiwan. By this July, the number of Taiwan-funded enterprises in Pingtan had increased to 863. Forty-four companies are now headquartered there.

Xi visited Pingtan on 20 occasions throughout his 17-year official tenure in Fujian from 1985 to 2002.

A ceremony is held to celebrate successful installation of the first steel truss girder of the Pingtan cross-strait highway-railway bridge in east China's Fujian Province, August 22, 2017. /Xinhua Photo

Better environment

"When President Xi came to Pingtan, he knew the place better than we did," said Zhang Zhaomin, an official in the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone. "During his inspection, President Xi emphasized that Pingtan's excellent ecological environment was a treasure, and warned against ruining it."

Since his visit, Pingtan has shut down a number of companies that failed to pass the island's environmental impact assessment. Local officials closed the region's largest shipyard, which used to account for 60 percent of Pingtan's total industrial output. It is being upgraded into a port for yachts. Seventy-six pig farms were also shut down.

A kiteboarding competition is held in Pingtan, east China's Fujian Province, September 2017. /Xinhua Photo

Over 10 million trees are planted in Pingtan each year, bring the island's forest coverage rate from 29 percent to 40 percent over the past three years.

As the second Chinese island being developed into an International Tourist Destination after Hainan, Pingtan is witnessing the growth of its tourism industry at 70 percent annually.

1633km