China News Service, Ningde, November 14th (Wang Tingting) In autumn and winter, the sea breeze passes over the slopes of Yuniao Village, Yushan Island, Fuding City, Ningde, Fujian Province. The "Fireworks Coffee" wind chimes are gently swaying. Wang Jiating, the "post-00s" manager, is preparing island specialties at the bar. The aroma of the coffee attracts tourists to stop and check in.
As a "new islander" on Yushan Island, Wang Jiating was attracted by the beautiful scenery of the island where mountains and sea blend together when she first came to the island. She rented an unused house in the village and transformed it into a "Fireworks Café" to build a small space for tourists to communicate and share the island, adding a touch of youth to the island's cultural tourism.
"When I first chose to go to the island, I just wanted to find a place I liked and live a slow life. Later, the island's 'New Islander' policy further gave us young people the confidence to run the shop well and grow slowly with the island." Wang Jiating said.
On August 1 this year, the Yushan Town People's Government issued "Several Measures for Yushan Town to Promote the Development of "New Islanders" (Trial)" to optimize the island's talent development ecology, guide all types of talents to experience short-term, long-term roots, and participate in multiple ways on Yushan Island, and promote personal growth to resonate with the high-quality development of Yushan Town and provide two-way empowerment. After learning about the measure, Wang Jiating submitted the application form to the Yuniao Village Committee, which would compile and review the application form. After the identification, Wang Jiating received the "New Islander Certificate" and the "New Islander Badge of Honor".
According to reports, with the "new island citizen certificate", you can enjoy island residents' rates for ferries, free passenger transportation within the island, half-price shared electric vehicles, rent idle housing at low prices, and enjoy benefit meals in the canteen; in terms of entrepreneurship, priority is given to the supply of idle sites, setting up a renovation transition period, supporting micro-renovation subsidies, first-year water and electricity discounts, brand grade awards, and high-quality projects Priority is given to recommending projects to participate in the evaluation, and high-level talents can customize support on a "one-case-by-case" basis; in terms of finance, a green channel for credit unions has been opened to connect with credit support; in terms of cultural and tourism promotion, tickets and transportation fees to the Tianhu Scenic Area are free of charge, and original promotional works are paid for and additional rewards; qualified on-the-job employees share some benefits, etc.
Wang Jiating said that she can also apply for subsidies for minor modifications and improvements to the surrounding environment, which allows her and her team to dare to polish their own small space and help the development of island cultural tourism.
In recent years, as "island tourism" continues to heat up, various new business formats have continued to emerge on Yushan Island, attracting batches of talented people with ideas and enthusiasm. The applicable objects of the "New Islanders" this time are divided into five categories - business cooperation category, tourism industry operation category, cultural tourism promotion category, talent practice category, and high-level talent category. Different types of entrepreneurs and practitioners can find adaptive support within the policy framework.
Zhou Hongyu, the director of Fuding Station of Tsinghua University Rural Revitalization Work Station and a Ph.D. of Tsinghua University, is the representative of the “talent practice category” named in the document. On May 26, 2018, Tsinghua University and Fuding City signed a rural revitalization school-site cooperation agreement to establish the country's first Tsinghua University rural revitalization workstation on Yushan Island. Zhou Hongyu then took root on the island and continued to carry out local practice.
Conceived by students from Tsinghua University, fishermen in Dongjiao Village saw an abandoned fish sauce factory turned into a reading and movie-watching space, and a unique public toilet built with bamboo. The new measures make it clear that students who have been to the island for practice at the workstation more than three times can apply to be recognized as "new islanders" after completing the set practical tasks and passing the assessment, making it easier to implement and transform more rural revitalization results.
Some people take root on the island to practice projects, while others use their cameras to speak out for the island. Wang Cong, a self-media practitioner, often travels around the island to take pictures, record the morning and evening tides, grasslands, lakes and seas of Yushan Island, explore the old stories and scenery of the fishing village, continue to produce new content, and convey the island's unique mountain and sea charm to the outside world.
"Now, relying on the 'New Islander' publicity rewards, once high-quality manuscripts and videos are adopted by the town's official platform, we can also receive royalties and communication rewards, which gives us more motivation to continue to tell the story of Yushan." Wang Cong said with a smile.
Policies benefit people and services are meticulous. Yushan Town simultaneously established a special class for cultivating "new islanders" and established a "one-stop" service center to coordinate the entire process of policy implementation, qualification review, and complaint handling. It also established a "Yishan New Islander Station" to regularly organize offline discussions, research, and networking activities to promote exchanges and collaboration among "new islanders."
According to statistics, the first batch of "new island residents" in Yushan Town totaled 54, and they are continuing to accumulate momentum for the long-term development of the island. Jiang Daxin, director of the Party and Mass Service Center of Yushan Town, said that in the next step, they will continue to refine supporting services, enrich activity carriers, and continuously expand channels for attracting and gathering talents, so that more talents are willing to come to the island, stay on the island with peace of mind, and work together to develop the island.
