Pingtan, the closest place on the Chinese mainland to TaiwanIsland, serves as the country's only comprehensive pilot zone for cross-Straits integration. Yet beyond its geopolitical significance, this windswept island off the coast of Fujian has steadily gained a reputation as a coastal retreat, drawing visitors to its ancient stone houses, pastoral landscapes, and the seasonal blue tears that light up its shores.

Lin Lan (first from left, front row) with her homestay team.

A post-80s woman named Lin Lan, affectionately known as Xiaobai, has turned this island's unique charm into a poetic life by transforming from an analytical chemist in a Shanghai office building to the owner of a well-loved homestay in a Pingtan village.

Lin Lan grew up in Meilou Village on Pingtan, where elders always told her to study hard and leave the island for a better life. She made good on the advice after university, working as an analytical chemist in Shanghai and Quanzhou. Her days were filled with meetings, reports and commutes, leaving her feeling empty amid the busy urban rush. A random visit to a scent museum changed everything: she picked up a fragrance labeled "the smell of soil", and the familiar scent of her hometown brought her to tears, making her realize her deep bond with the countryside and the sea. The separation from her child further solidified her decision to return, as she refused to let her child go through the same absence of motherly love she had known growing up in her grandparents' care. The opening of the Pingtan Strait Bridge in 2010 brought booming tourism to the island, and Lin Lan chose to come back and start a homestay business, at peace with her decision.

She first opened Donglin Yueshe Homestay in the busy old urban area of Pingtan, a quaint space with green plants, a fish pond and vintage furniture that soon became a popular spot for travelers. When offered a highly commercialized design plan to create eye-catching photo spots, she turned it down firmly, saying, "The more rural a rural homestay is, the more elegant it is." Lin Lan holds a deep affection for her hometown, stating, "The countryside is like a mother. And I am like a child returning to her mother's embrace." She believes returning to the countryside is not about being more "elegant" than the land, but about blending in with it wholeheartedly.

Lin Lan's aesthetic touch is woven into every corner of the property.

In 2023, Lin Lan focused on creating Seaside Villa in Zhongmen Village, renting several coastal old stone houses and renovating them with the principle of using local materials and following nature. She reused stones, red bricks and old door panels from the village, turned driftwood from the sea into fireplaces and decorations, and used local plants as ornaments. The homestay has five stone houses but only nine guest rooms; the rest are public spaces like courtyards, a teahouse and fireplace areas. She even removed TVs from the rooms, hoping travelers would put down their phones and immerse themselves in the sea, wind and nature of the countryside. During blue tears season, she takes guests to the beach to watch the glowing blue waves in silence, sharing Pingtan's rural beauty and the down-to-earth attitude of local people.

Lin Lan shares a quiet moment arranging flowers with her guests.

Lin Lan's professional background in analytical chemistry seems worlds away from her current life, yet she has taught herself a range of skills to build the homestay she envisioned. She learned floral art so well that she now teaches villagers, traveled to Shanghai for professional storage courses, and studied garden design, coffee making, dessert baking and tie-dyeing. She also visited high-end homestays in Xinjiang, Yunnan and Japan to learn from the best teachers. She says, "I don't care about the cost, I care about the experience. Making money is fine, but it must be fun first." Her creative ideas, like using pumpkins for flower arrangements and old door panels as decorations, have won great love from guests. For Lin Lan, the homestay is never just a business, but a space that holds her childhood memories and love for the countryside. She often says, "A homestay says a lot about one's true 'wealth' in life."

Lin Lan shares her life on Pingtan Island.

Lin Lan places great importance on her child's growth, recording happy moments like sunsets and heart-to-heart talks with the child at Seaside Villa. She believes, "What I can give my children is not wealth, but the ability to find happiness." For the future, she is looking for a new homestay project, but insists it has to touch her heart deeply. "I won't do meaningless things or be perfunctory with my heart," she says. Today, Seaside Villa is a place full of rural charm and warm life, with a 50-year-old banyan tree shading the courtyard, agave growing from stone cracks, and the sound of waves accompanying every guest day and night.