Pingtan Island

Background

Pingtan Island, also called Haitan Island, lies in Pingtan County, Fuzhou, Fujian, facing Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait, and is the largest island in Fujian. Strong sea winds blow across the island, so villagers built their homes from local granite to withstand them; these stone dwellings are known as shicuo. Beigang village in Liushui town, in the northeast, sits between the sea and Junshan Mountain and keeps its stone houses largely intact: gray and blue-green granite walls, red and gray tiled roofs weighted with cobblestones of every shape. Many of the houses are now guesthouses. Off the west coast, Shipaiyang is a pair of granite rocks facing each other in the sea, about 33 meters and 17 meters tall, shaped like ships under sail, about 1.4 km from Kan'ao village in Su'ao town. In 2001 the "Haitan Scenic Spots" were added to China's World Heritage Tentative List as a mixed cultural and natural site. The "blue tears" are bioluminescence caused by sea fireflies (Vargula hilgendorfii), usually seen from April to August; large blooms can also deplete oxygen in the water and trigger red tides.

Local customs

• Cycle or drive the round-island road past beaches and coastal rocks
• wander Beigang village among stone houses and creative shops
• gaze out at Shipaiyang from the shore
• try your luck with the blue tears on a beach at night
• enjoy a seafood meal.

Travel tips

• It is windy by the sea, so bring a windproof jacket and sun protection
• whether the blue tears appear depends on the season and sea conditions and cannot be guaranteed. Sights are scattered, so driving or hiring a car is best
• ferry and ticket prices are as officially announced.
• From Fuzhou you can reach the island by road over the Pingtan Strait Bridge, and since the Fuzhou–Pingtan railway opened you can also go by train
• on the island, use buses, taxis or your own car. April to August is the main season for blue tears, autumn is clear and crisp, summer requires watching typhoon forecasts, and winter is windy.