Xinhua News Agency, Fuzhou, October 3 (Reporters Wei Xiaorui and Guo Qi) The cool sea breeze blew through the Casuarina forest. At the end of the wooden plank road, the sight suddenly opened up, with a panoramic view of the sea, beach and blue sky. Lei Wanting, a tourist from Zhejiang Province, raised her mobile phone to take a picture of the scene and said: "It's very quiet, and it feels like returning to nature."
During this National Day holiday, more and more people are turning their attention to counties with a more relaxed pace. Pingtan, a small island city, has also become a leisure vacation choice for many tourists.
On the first day of the holiday, Keqiutou Ruins Museum welcomed a group of tourists from other provinces. Parents take advantage of the holidays to bring their children to experience the island culture and learn about the lives of Pingtan's ancestors.
The Keqiutou Site Museum is located in Shangpan Village, Suping District, Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone, Fujian Province, adjacent to the Keqiutou Site Group. The site group also includes Xiying, Donghuaqiu, Guishan and other sites, which provide rich archaeological materials for exploring the characteristics and migration patterns of early Austronesian people, and are listed among the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in the Country in 2023".
The children gathered in front of the display cabinet and carefully looked at the pottery sherds about 7,000 years ago displayed in the cabinet. On the virtual pottery pot on the side, there are neatly arranged and fine jagged impressions. The intervals are wide and narrow, and the depth is different, just like the undulating waves. This is the shell pattern, which was imprinted by the ancestors of Pingtan Island, Fujian Province, using mud clam shells. Shell elements can be seen everywhere in the museum, which can be called the most intuitive carrier of ancient marine civilization.
Cultural relics walked out of the display cases and entered daily life. In the "Pingtan Youli" store in the museum, visitors will be attracted by a unique retro pottery cup. The prototype is a single-eared pottery cup unearthed from the Donghuaqiu site and dating back more than 4,000 years.
"This retro pottery cup can be used to drink coffee." Zhou Wanling, deputy general manager of Pingtan Tourism and Culture Development Co., Ltd., said that during the design process, the patterns and shapes were taken from the cultural relics in the collection, while being close to current life, making the history of "marine civilization started here" perceptible.
The Keqiutou Ruins Museum also uses AI, VR, holographic projection and other technologies to make the visiting experience more immersive and interactive. After tourists select a mask pattern in front of the screen, the mask used by the ancestors is virtually "worn" on their face, and the device records it simultaneously. Modern digital technology has made the dormant history in the museum come alive, and the Austronesian culture has been passed on in a more vivid way.
After leaving the museum and walking towards the seaside, casuarina forests spread along the coast. One side is lush green shade, and the other side is a vast expanse of blue. "The biggest business card of Pingtan Island is this sea view." Huang Xiaoxi, the manager of "Lingdong Island" said that all business types rely on Pingtan's natural scenery, hoping to allow tourists to experience the life of "backing on the mountain and facing the sea" while maintaining the original ecology.
Every April and May, the spectacle of "blue tears" appears on the beach in Pingtan. The tide surges, and the blue shimmer flows down along the top of the waves, as if the sea has crushed the stars in the sky into pieces and quietly hidden them in the waves. Inspired by this, the R&D staff of Kotisang (Fujian) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. created a perfume with Pingtan characteristics. Through the aroma of citrus, amber and white musk, it presents the salty, humid, refreshing and calm feeling of the ocean.
The company has also created a DIY fragrance laboratory project. Since the May Day holiday, more than 300 people have experienced fragrance mixing. Putting Pingtan's unique natural wonders in bottles and taking them away, this "local experience + cultural and creative consumption" model is becoming a new growth point for county tourism.
Currently, as the pace of life accelerates, more and more tourists no longer choose the "special forces" style of travel, but choose the "experience-focused" free travel. "Starting from 2023, Pingtan's tourism revenue has exceeded 10 billion yuan for three consecutive years, and tourist arrivals have exceeded 10 million for three consecutive years." Chen Jianxiang, chief planner of the Tourism, Culture and Sports Bureau of Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone, said that infrastructure and innovative business formats are being continuously improved, and he hopes that more people will be willing to stay and slowly experience the unique style of this island.
