Driving past the Pingtan Strait Bridge, a cluster of high-rises come into sight. However more than 10 years ago, it was a salt farm. Now it is the seat of government of Pingtan, Chinese mainland’s closest neighbor of Taiwan.

Jinjingwan in olden days [Photo by Yihai]

Initially dubbed "Huoshaogang," the area is no stranger to the older generation of Pingtan. Located in the southwest bay of Pingtan Island and taking up about 750 hectares, the inter-tidal flats were mostly muddy soil with a maximum depth of 23 meters. Surrounded by hills on three sides, the low-lying areas and beaches here used to be inundated by tides and mountain torrents.

On June 17, 1970, a salt farm project in Huoshaogang became official. In 1975, the project was completed and put into production. The project stretched close to 2.8 million man-days. In the process, 700 handcarts, 18 stone dumpers, 2 motorboats, and 30 fishing boats were dispatched.

"When the project started, young people from across Pingtan flocked to contribute.I was 18 years old then,” recalled Xiao Qiuyan, a local villager who is close to 70 years old. There was no mechanical equipment at the time, and everyone carried forward the spirit of "Foolish Old Man Moves Mountain" and transported the soil and rocks with handcarts to the seaside, and then dump them into the sea manually. Under such harsh conditions, hundreds of people worked in two shifts ceaselessly, and it took nearly two years to complete the closure of the dike.

"The salt farm covered an area of 5.56 square kilometers, with an annual output of 30,000 tons of raw salt." Xiao noted that the salt making industry was one of Pingtan's economic pillars and key industries.

In the chapter of a new era, the mission of Huoshaogang as a salt field eventually ended and took a different turn. Now, it is the bridgehead for Pingtan's opening-up and development.

After being designated as a special zone for piloting cross-Straits integration in 2009, Pingtan ushered in a new wave of rapid development.

In 2011, this land once again reproduced the bustling scene of land reclamation in 1971. Shuttled sand blowing boats and roaring machinery broke the tranquility here, and various transportation equipment such as belt boats and crane ships were operating around the clock. It was later renamed Jinjingwan, or literally translated as Golden Well Bay.

Taiwan Entrepreneurial Park at Jinjingwan serves as an important platform for employment and entrepreneurship for youth across the Taiwan Straits

Now, new projects wrapped up one by one, with the new roads extending in all directions and tall buildings rising from the ground. From a tidal flat to a prosperous downtown, Jinjingwan is poised to take off.

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