A delegation of 180 people from Taiwan arrived in the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone (PCPZ) on the evening of April 11 for a six-day religious cultural exchange event.

The visitors are believers of Mazu, Goddess of the Sea in folk tales, from Hsinchu county. A parade float also made the trip aboard Haixia, a high-speed cross-Straits passenger ferry.

The local government threw a welcome party for the Taiwan visitors upon their arrival at Aoqian port.

In addition to taking part in religious and cultural events in Pingtan, the delegation will visit other cities, including Putian and Xiamen, over six days before heading back to Taiwan.

Wang Wenbing, head of civil administration in Hsinchu, said he hopes Pingtan and Hsinchu, separated by only 68 nautical kilometers, can push for a more direct route to facilitate communications between the local people and boost the economy. He also expressed his wish for green-lighting vehicles from Taiwan and Fujian to drive on each other’s roads soon.

Pingtan is at a turning point in urban construction and industrial cultivation, and can look forward to cooperation with Hsinchu. Pingtan also welcomes merchants and enterprises from Hsinchu to come over for business and boost the “Common Homeland” construction, said You Mengjun, deputy director of PCPZ’s administrative committee.

In the past two years, Haixia has transported more than 20 religious groups from Taiwan.

Customs authorities have been supportive in providing help to Taiwan’s religious groups and hope that the mainland and Taiwan will have more religious communications in the future, said Ding Chenxing, head of Pingtan’s ethics and religious affairs bureau.