Fishing and traveling together to develop the "Rebirth" of a small fishing village in eastern Zhejiang

China News Service, Ningbo, October 5th. Title: Fishing and traveling together to develop the "Rebirth" of a small fishing village in eastern Zhejiang

Author Cao Dan Sun Linru

During this year’s National Day holiday, six motorcycles from Hangzhou parked at a cafe in Dasha Village, Xiangshan County, Ningbo City, eastern Zhejiang Province. Car owners drank a cup of coffee and took a rest in the sea breeze.

Not far away, parents and children were playing in the water on the beach, and people were coming and going in the village road.

A scene in Dasha Village in September 2026. (Aerial photo) Photo by Lin Bo

This shop opened in a stone house was once an old house that had been idle for many years in the village. Now it is the only cafe in Dasha Village.

The owner of the cafe, Qiu Jianyao, is from Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and his wife is from Dasha Village. Last year, he rented this old stone house with a history of nearly 80 years and restored it as it was before. In May this year, the cafe opened. “There are so many young people, so there has to be a place to sit and drink coffee,” he said.

This cafe is a footnote to the changes in Dasha Village over the past ten years.

According to Xu Guoqing, secretary of the Party branch of Dasha Village, Dasha Village was originally a fishing village. When the fishing moratorium enters from May to September every year, the villagers use this time to start tourism. "With a fishing boat and a guest room, fishing and entertaining guests can be done without delay."

The first B&B in the village was opened in 2014. Today, the village has 70 B&Bs with 628 rooms and more than 1,000 beds.

Guests come all the way for a bite of seafood. Liu Huizhen was one of the first people to open a B&B in the village. There are four guest rooms in her home. Her daughter is responsible for taking orders online, and her husband and wife are responsible for receiving tourists. As long as the customers want to eat seafood, she will go to the market early in the morning to pick fresh ones. "Many customers are repeat customers and stay for several days."

What keeps tourists in their footsteps are the old stories in the village. In 1942, Unit 7 of "Operation Doolittle" made an emergency landing in Dasha Village. The villagers rescued the American pilot and transferred the crew for treatment.

In 2015, Jeff Thatcher, the son of David Thatcher who was rescued that year, made a special trip to Dasha Village to reminisce about the past on the beach where his father crash-landed, and to express belated gratitude to the land and the villagers who rescued him on his father's behalf.

Today, a replica aircraft is placed on the beach as a commemoration, and tourists come to take photos constantly.

In September 2026, the replica aircraft in Dasha Village. Photo by Cao Dan

As tourists increase, new business formats are also quietly developing. Zheng Jiayu, born in 1999, is a native of Dasha Village. In August last year, she converted her old house into a B&B and used short videos to promote her hometown to all over the world. When guests asked for a trip to the sea and pick up duck eggs, she tried her best to satisfy them, and began to "gather together" with young people in the village - sharing resources, recommending customers to each other, and creating new experiences together.

“The biggest advantage of being a self-media person is that I make friends from all over the world and my horizons are broadened,” she said.

Qiu Jianyao is also planning for the off-season. He plans to clear out the abandoned mountain trails in the village and turn them into a hiking loop that will be connected with the beach, "so that guests will be willing to come in spring and autumn."

The sun sets over the beach, and the music from the cafe mixes with the sound of the waves. Changes in this fishing village in eastern Zhejiang are still continuing, and young people returning home are giving this fishing village more possibilities. (over)