Aerial photo shows Mulan Bay of Wenchang, south China's Hainan Province, April 28, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
HAIKOU: Fisherwoman Yang Jianling watches the tide rise and ebb, and she knows the perfect time for a good catch from the sea.
At the age of 47, she has seldom left the seashore, where she grew up watching her parents anchor or sail, except for trucking buckets of bream and croakers to fish markets or a few necessary trips away from home.
Her hometown, Puqian, is perched at the northeast tip of Hainan Island, which is building the world’s largest free trade port (FTP). Yang’s family, now with her husband and two sons, have made a living hooking fish from the sea for generations.
“With business getting so good, there is every reason to go on,” she said, calling herself an anchor head, a local nickname for fish dealers.
When Yang was young, the farthest market where she sold fish was in the provincial capital Haikou, about 50km to the west and a 90-minute drive.
The opening of a cross-sea bridge in 2019, part of the FTP infrastructure, has cut the time to 20 minutes, giving a solid economic boost to the town, which is already benefiting from Wenchang, a city that administers it and is known for space launches.
Aerial photo taken on March 18, 2019 shows the Haiwen Bridge, south China’s Hainan Province. The bridge, which links Yanfeng Township of Haikou City and Puqian Township of Wenchang City, cut the trip between the two places from an hour and a half to about 20 minutes.
On April 13, 2018, China announced a decision to support Hainan in developing the whole island into a pilot free trade zone and gradually exploring and steadily promoting the establishment of a FTP with Chinese characteristics.
A master plan was rolled out in June 2020 to build the island into a globally influential and high-level FTP by the middle of the century.
Buoyed by free trade policies, Puqian is renewing traditional fishing and farming industries, taking on a new look with sleek highways and bustling commercial streets, and banking on a bigger travel boom expected with the opening of a scenic highway encircling almost the whole of Hainan Island.
The new port is designed to accommodate 800 vessels, costing 10 billion yuan (about US$1.45bil or RM6.4bil).
The township party secretary Xing Yizhi said it aims to become a high-end fisheries processing and trade centre in Asia. The port’s main structure is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
“The port will not only serve local fishermen but also foreign ships. It will be able to process and trade fish from countries like Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia after their ships dock here,” he said.
The Hainan FTP is scheduled to initiate independent customs operations throughout the whole island by the end of 2025, which means the free flow of foreign cargo, ships and commodities.
The prospects of a busy international port beckon well among fishermen. Yang already uses speedy logistics and eCommerce to sell seafood to Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, hours of flight away, while still managing to keep them fresh.
“The fishing port definitely opens up more possibilities,” she said, “and we have already benefited greatly from the Hainan FTP. We have more visitors and buyers. Fish prices are rising and our lives are better.”
Over the past five years, tourism, modern services, hi-tech and tropical agriculture industries have replaced industries such as real estate to sustain growth. In Puqian, the changes are not hard to spot. The town’s Mulan Bay has been a magnet for tourists.
The Mulantou Lighthouse, once dubbed Asia’s tallest, overlooks large swathes of forests, coconut trees and farm fields. Tourists hit scenic roads leading to the lighthouse and often stop to purchase sweet potatoes or watermelons directly from farmers.
Wu Zhong, who runs one of the largest sweet potato-growing businesses in the town, is deeply tanned.
Wu’s sweet potatoes usually come into season from January to May, a few months earlier than other sweet potato varieties due to the warm weather in the tropical province, making it more competitive in the domestic market.
Wu’s company contracts 80ha of the crop and expects to produce two million kg this year. The purple skin, proper sweetness and rich starch of the variety make it a hot cake in the market.
Finding the right cash crop is not easy. Wu started to test grow the plant introduced from Japan in 2019.
“I hired some local farmers who are good at planting stuff to cultivate this variety. To my great assurance, it was a good harvest and I remember it very quickly sold out,” he said.
Now Wu’s company hires around 70 workers every day, and 100 during the busy season. Most are villagers nearby. Villager Zhou Qiongzhen began helping harvest, sort and pack the crops in the company in August last year and makes about 5,000 yuan (RM3,203) each month. — Xinhua
