Wu Island (ÒOÀ¬)
Our very first day in the area, we wanted to take advantage of what could've possibly been the only day of good weather (we arrived at the start of the May rainy season) and quickly made our way to Wu Island. In order to make it a day trip, we had to rent out the entire ferry for the hour ride ($200, with $10 return fee thrown in at no extra charge) since the only two scheduled runs are in the afternoon.
During the Ming dynasty, this tiny island (2 sq km) 6 nautical miles south of Xiamen rotated between various roles including Chinese naval outpost, foreigner enclave, smuggling center, and pirate haven. Nowadays it serves as the base for a modern fishing fleet, and is home to the most prosperous village in Longxi County.
They may have a good income, but it's hard work. Boats are usually gone for up to ten months of the year, fishing distant waters such as those around Hainan and selling their catch directly to local markets. However, it's immediately obvious from reading relevant historical documents that coastal peoples of Fujian are anything but wimps. They've always had a reputation for being risk-takers willing to brave the seas, at times even in the face of penalty of death (during dynastic China's frequent bans on sea travel, for example).
Each year the ships return in mid-May for the government-mandated period for resting the fish before setting off again on August 1st. So we were just in time to see the action, and that's what greeted us: row after row of boats moored in the natural cove facing the mainland (it would have been decidedly less interesting had we shown up at almost any other time).
And still around 600 boats had yet to return.
We were told that metal boats are a relatively new development there, having been in use for only a few years, before which the fleet relied on wooden boats. I didn't confirm this. Either way, I can understand how working their boats on the open sea for a majority of the year has the potential to make them look like they do, even in the space of only a few years.
A shipyard adjacent to the docks was busy repairing aged ships and churning out new ones.
The shoreline community was bustling with activity as people unloaded boats and repaired nets, but probably the most ubiquitous activity at the time was stringing tire shreds onto steel cables. Here people offload goods from a ferry from Xiamen which has brought goods for local consumption.
Small boats were also ferrying people and goods between the shore and their boats parked nearby.
Being as close as it is to Taiwan-controlled waters, portions of the island are also cordoned off for military use. We circled the island on a separate ferry to see those parts not accessible by land.
They also maintain small, floating salt water hatcheries just off the island.
Unfortunately, behind success stories you can often find tales of woe. Wu Island has also earned the nickname "Heartless Island" (µL±¡®q), as Chinese from other provinces searching for work are lured there by promises of high pay for manual labor. When they arrive they get not even a quarter of what they were promised, and end up stuck with no easy way to return home.