Homestays create fresh harmony on the island of singing stones

New arrivals

Many businesspeople from Taiwan have taken the ferry across the Straits to try their fortunes in Pingtan. Lin Jhih-yuan, 30, founder of "Singing Stones", is one of them, arriving on Haitan in 2015.

In June that year, Lin and his wife opened a shop selling tea and handicrafts from Taiwan in Aoqian Taiwan Town, a duty-free market targeting businesses from Taiwan.

By the beginning of last month, 270 people from Taiwan had opened stores in the market, and the goods they imported from Taiwan had a combined value of 3.3 billion yuan ($491 million).

A short time after their arrival, Lin, his wife and some friends from Taiwan visited Beigang, because there is a place with the same name on Taiwan.

There were few young people in the village, so the primary school was empty and abandoned, but the visitors found the old stone houses fascinating.

"The bay is quiet and peaceful. The red roof tiles light up the gray buildings. From the roof of each house, one can see the sea. It's a really interesting place," Lin said.

After that, he and his wife visited the village regularly.

They had run a couple of homestays in Taiwan, so they decided to convert some of the old houses into similar lodgings for visitors.

In March 2016, they rented five houses and began refurbishing them with the help of several young people from Taiwan, including designers and architects.

"We wanted to make use of the existing resources, which contain the history of the island, and also put our ideas into these stones to find new possibilities for the ancient village," he said.

They lodged in villagers' houses, and talked with the locals to get ideas for their designs.

To their delight, they discovered that the local people could create melodies by hitting the rocks they collected from the nearby mountain.

"I wanted to revitalize the stones of Beigang via art and homestays," Lin said.

The couple decided to build an arts community in the village, featuring a combination of homestays, handicrafts and home-cooked food.

They decorated the handicraft workshop with old tables and chairs from the empty primary school, and with driftwood left behind at low tide.

Then they festooned the walls and ceiling with fishing nets that had been abandoned on the beach.

"Singing Stones" opened in the summer of 2016, after six months' preparatory work.

In front of the house, the couple placed the rock-strewn table that allows visitors to make "stone music".