Walking out of the Guishan Island Passenger Terminal, an east-west asphalt road stretches along the coastline, with shops and seafood stalls lining the street in an orderly manner; Walking through the streets and alleys of the island, Santorini style blue and white romance and the traditional customs of island fishing customs are coming... In recent years, Guishan Town of Zhuhai City, guided by the work of rural revitalization, has constantly promoted the integration of blue and green, moving towards creating a harmonious island with ecological beauty, life beauty, and production beauty.

Guishan Island

Island facelift

In order to deeply implement the rural revitalization strategy, Guishan Town firmly grasps the unique natural endowment of ocean islands, adheres to ecological priority, promotes the organic integration of island tourism development and ecological protection, and makes good ecology the foundation for high-quality development of island tourism.

The butterfly transformation in Dolphin Bay, located to the east of Guishan Island, is a typical example. Due to the long-term impact of adjacent quarries dumping and filling with gravel, as well as coastal waves, currents, and wind forces, Dolphin Bay is often in a state of mixed sand and gravel, which not only looks unattractive but also poses safety hazards. In 2021, the Dolphin Bay Beach Restoration Project on Guishan Island was officially launched, restoring approximately 791 meters of beach coastline and a beach area of 32000 square meters.

Restored Dolphin Bay

The restored Dolphin Bay has added a beautiful coastal arc to Guishan Island, making it the best viewing point for watching sunrise throughout the island. The implementation of the project effectively compensates for the shortage of beaches in the coastal tourism resources of Guishan Island, expands the hydrophilic space for residents and tourists, and overall improves the ecological, economic, and social comprehensive benefits of Guishan Island. According to Li Shuaihe, a member of the Guishan Town Party Committee, Guishan Town will continue to do well in beach management, shoreline stability monitoring, and other later work, providing more experience for the implementation of coastal ecological restoration projects.

In addition to Dolphin Bay, the ecological restoration of Binhai Station, the comprehensive completion of No.1 Beach, the successful completion of the West Coast landscape improvement project, and the increasingly clear picture of the blending of blue and green on Guishan Island.

While consolidating the ecological foundation of the island, Guishan Island has achieved a butterfly transformation amidst the horn of rural revitalization.

In 2018, Guishan Village and Guihai Village, which were selected as model villages for the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy in Zhuhai, took "protective development" as the starting point. On the basis of retaining the original traditional village architectural style, they adopted a renewal method of "repairing the old as old" and "overall renovation+partial renovation", gradually achieving achievements such as village appearance renovation, public infrastructure improvement, and revitalization of village collective idle properties. Nowadays, nearly 150 village renovation projects have come to a successful conclusion, and the rural revitalization demonstration section has gone from minor renovation to comprehensive renovation, successfully creating multiple demonstration projects such as the construction project of the Ping'an Road to Changti Lane rural revitalization demonstration section.

Before and after the renovation of Ping'an Road

Before and after the renovation of the long ladder roadway

The environmental improvement and renovation project of the old reservoir plot in Guishan Village will transform the grassy old reservoir into a fun and expanding camping base

After the renovation of residential buildings in Guihai Village

At the same time, Guishan Town takes the implementation of the "Creating Beautiful Courtyards" project as the starting point, creating a unique courtyard landscape of "one scenery along the way, four seasons with flowers" according to local conditions, and actively guiding villagers to participate in it, using the beauty of small homes to help the island achieve great beauty. Nowadays, residential courtyards have become a beautiful scenic spot on Guishan Island.

Guishan actively implements the "Creative Beauty Courtyard" project

Zou Yujing, who lives in Building 1, Yongping Lane, Guishan Island, is one of the demonstration households of "Creating Beautiful Courtyards". Entering Zou Yujing's courtyard, the longan tree pavilion is like a canopy, surrounded by fresh flowers and green plants. A set of wooden tables and chairs are placed between them, highlighting the antique charm of the courtyard. Sitting in the courtyard to cool off and rest, one can look up and see the blue sea.

Zou Yujing manages the "Yishan Courtyard" in an orderly manner

Under the careful care of Zou Yujing, his own courtyard "Yishan Courtyard" has successfully been listed as one of the top ten beautiful courtyards in Zhuhai. Diligent and driven by the "One Family, One Product" characteristic industry construction of the "Creative Beauty Courtyard" project, she has leapt from a housewife to a "internet celebrity" on Guishan Island. Often, tourists hold their phones and ask me if I am an aunt who makes tea and fruit, which is why I know so many people are paying attention to our island of Guishan. "Zou Yujing's specialty cake, Hakka tea and fruit, unexpectedly became popular and popular with the increasing tourism popularity of Guishan Island.

The island life in Guishan now is something that city people yearn for after seeing, "said Li Ruiqi, 71, as she talked about the changes in Guishan Island. The ecological and livable island environment also made Li Ruiqi's "00" generation granddaughter particularly moved. After graduation, she simply moved back to the island from the city to live with them.

New Status of Fishing Village Exhibition

The changes in the islands have opened up the "two arteries" of the development of fishing villages. Taking advantage of the east wind of rural revitalization, Guishan Town continues to introduce social capital, revitalize idle village houses, and create island style boutique homestays. As of December 31, 2022, there are a total of 44 accommodation enterprises in Guishan Island, with a total of 762 guest rooms and 1276 beds, including 447 homestays with 701 beds.

Huang Chunyan from Xingning, Meizhou, did not expect that she, who grew up in the mountains since childhood, would one day operate her own homestay by the sea. By chance, they came to Guishan Island with their husband and fell in love with the island at first sight. They bought an old stone house facing the sea and transformed it into a unique seaside homestay in the wave of rural revitalization. The healing experience of boundless blue and lush green has brought us many repeat customers, "said Huang Chunyan, who is enthusiastic and cheerful, looking forward to the further development of the island in the butterfly transformation of Guishan Island.

In addition to promoting the development of homestay industry, Guishan Town has also accelerated the transformation and development of fisheries. The first semi submersible wave energy aquaculture cage "Penghu" in the country has been put into operation in the Guishan sea area, achieving the integration of fisheries and aquaculture production, scientific and technological sightseeing, and leisure fishing; Guide and support companies such as Johnson, Xinpingmao, Quansheng, and Shenbang to carry out deep water cage aquaculture and new cooperative aquaculture. At present, 394 deep-water net cages have been constructed in the Guishan sea area, with a aquaculture area of 226 hectares. The average annual aquaculture output of the entire town's fisheries reaches 11400 tons, achieving a aquaculture output value of 262 million yuan. Guishan Pillow Box Farm has been listed as one of the first batch of "Vegetable Basket" production bases in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area. Johnson&Johnson Company's "White Flower Gel" has successfully applied for "Guangdong Province Fishery Famous Product", and Xinpingmao Company and Dalinyang Company have become the "Vegetable Basket" bases in Guangdong Province.

Guishan Town also guides fishermen to transform traditional fishing methods and move towards leisure fishing. In recent years, the Zhonggui Leisure Fishery Company, jointly established by fishermen from Guishan Village and Guihai Village, has made joining the fishermen's "money bag" even more impressive through a series of operational activities such as offshore fishing, sea sightseeing, and holding international sea fishing festivals. According to statistics, the average monthly increase in income per household of fishermen in the two villages reached 14000 yuan.

Leisure Fishery Wharf on Guishan Island

Blue has brought vitality to the development of Guishan Island, while red has injected a distinct cultural background into Guishan Island. As the site of the first naval battle in New China - the Wanshan Naval Battle, Guishan Town fully explores the advantages of red tourism resources, with the overall goal of building a red tourism demonstration island, connecting a series of themed resources such as the Wanshan Naval Battle site, Wentianxiang Square, the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macao Bridge sinking base, and the "Penghu" intelligent breeding and tourism platform. With the expansion of the red tourism brand effect year by year, the once "isolated" islands have become tourist destinations crowded with tourists. In 2022, the number of tourists to Guishan Island reached 125000.

Actively Exploiting Red Tourism Resources in Guishan

Development has added strength

The comprehensive revitalization of Guishan Island cannot be achieved without the guidance of party building. It is reported that in recent years, Guishan Town has continuously strengthened the leadership of the Party, integrated high-quality resources, and strengthened the overall planning of the Party organization in various levels and forces of rural revitalization.

With the refinement of organizational services, the relationship between the cadres and the masses in Guishan Town has become closer, and the villagers have widely participated in mass autonomy, which has become a centripetal force to promote the development of Guishan Island.

The changes in Guishan Island have also attracted a group of motivated and energetic young people to return to or come to the island, sparking a "youth storm" of work and entrepreneurship on the island.

Li Xuewen, born in the 1990s, is a native of Guishan Island. After graduating from university, he had the idea of going home and starting a business. With the support of his family, Li Xuewen transformed the second floor of his house into a homestay. "I will tell tourists the story of Guishan Island, take them to the sea, dig Guishan clams, and set up fish cages." Seeing the changes in his hometown, Li Xuewen became more and more motivated. In order to help more people understand Guishan Island, Li Xuewen also taught himself video shooting and editing, and shared everything about Guishan Island with netizens.

To ensure that returning youth can stay and foreign youth can stay, Guishan Town is striving to depict the new landscape of rural revitalization while implementing the "Returning Wild Goose Plan" and "Talent Cultivation Project", continuously building a talent "reservoir" and continuously injecting fresh energy into the "spring water" of island rural revitalization.

Ecological revitalization, industrial revitalization, cultural revitalization, organizational revitalization, and talent revitalization. While composing a comprehensive revitalization march, Guishan Island also plays the harmony notes of ecological beauty, life beauty, and production beauty in island construction. In the future, Guishan Island will closely follow the leadership of party building, promote the 3.0 version of island rural revitalization with high standards, and promote the overall beauty and comprehensive revitalization through the linkage between rural revitalization and the construction of Hemei Island.

（文图由珠海万山海洋开发试验区提供）

编辑　冯柏津