Taiwan youth realizes startup dream in Pingtan

Five people from Taiwan have been honored as model workers of East China's Fujian province in late April.

Lin Jhi-hyuan, a Taiwan native and vice general manager of Pingtan Free Trade Zone Cross-Straits Development Co, was one of the five that attended the awarding ceremony on April 27 in Fuzhou, the capital city.

First setting foot on Fujian's Pingtan Island in 2015, Lin put his entrepreneurial spirit to work by opening a small shop selling cultural and creative products from Taiwan.

Pingtan is part of the China (Fujian) Free Trade Pilot Zone and is the Chinese mainland's closest neighbor of Taiwan.

"My initial goal was quite simple," Lin said. "That was, selling Taiwan's cultural and creative products to the mainland through Pingtan."

His shop quickly became a success, and the 29-year-old entrepreneur set about expanding his business empire further. Looking for opportunities to grow, Lin stumbled upon the Beigang village and recalls being inspired by its rustic character.

Beigang is renowned for its characteristic stone-built houses used by local fisherman. Lin had the idea of creating similar accommodation in the village and marketing them as unique homestays for visitors.

With the help of a team of locals, Lin quickly converted eight stone houses into homestays. Not satisfied with the abodes on their own, Lin set about creating a community around the homestays to provide visitors with an even more special experience. The community, named "Singing Stones", revolves around the use of the rocks to create music.

"The art community is so called because beautiful melodies are created by hitting the igneous rocks collected from the mountain near Beigang," Lin said. "We hoped to develop an art community integrating homestays, culture, music and cuisine by infusing inspired design and creativity."

Lin's efforts quickly paid off and tourism in Beigang village began to boom. Today, the once sleepy fishing village is a hotspot for tourists and a haven for creative types including artists and musicians.

In May 2017, Lin was appointed general vice manager of Pingtan FTZ Cross-Straits Development Co, responsible for the development of new tourism projects and operations, such as the Tanshui village.

Thanks to his prior achievements in Beigang, Lin is confident in replicating the success story elsewhere.

"We're planning to build Tanshui into an art village, a hub for artists to create and display their works," said Lin, adding that homestay businesses would be a big draw for the youth of Pingtan to return to their hometowns.

Lin said such opportunities give a chance for cross-Straits talents to work together and complement each other's skill sets.

"Young men from the mainland, especially from Fujian, have rich local resources while those from Taiwan are experienced in cultural design and services," Lin said.

It is a dream for many youths from Taiwan to run their own café or homestay, said Lin, adding that in Taiwan the markets for such things have become too saturated.

The market in Pingtan, however, is still on the rise and Lin encouraged more savvy would-be entrepreneurs to seize the opportunity.

In recent years, Pingtan has rolled out a raft of preferential policies to support Taiwan youth in starting their own businesses in the city, ranging from government subsidies, tax breaks to technical support.

According to the 31 measures issued by the central government earlier this year, people from Taiwan will gradually be granted equal status with residents of the Chinese mainland with regard to entrepreneurship, employment, education and living.