Pingtan Island

Pingtan Island (Chinese: 平潭岛; pinyin: Píngtán dǎo; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Pêng-thâm tó) also called Haitan Island (海坛岛, Hǎitán dǎo) is off the east coast of Fujian province, China. It is the largest island in Fujian and the fifth largest island in China.

Pingtan, as a result of its 2010-built bridge connecting it to the mainland, makes it lie at the de facto narrowest gap between the island of Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. It is has long been a standard point of distinction between the East China Sea and South China Sea.

Administratively, the island has become part of Pingtan County, which includes the smaller surrounding islands and part of the mainland. The county seat, Tancheng town, and most of other towns of this county, are on the island.

Pingtan Island is off the coast of Fuqing (a county level city within the prefecture city of Fuzhou — the capital of the province), separated from it by the Haitan Strait.

Large areas of the islands surrounding coastline have undergone land reclamation, along with large scale building and infrastructure projects. The rapid transformation of the island can be seen via Google Earth's historical imagery timeline.

This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2001, under Haitan Scenic Spots, in the Mixed category (Cultural & Natural).

The island relies on tourism and anticipates that foreign investment will spur economic growth. The first major bridge to cross the Haitan Strait was completed in November 2010, connecting the island to Fuqing on the mainland. Spanning 4,976 meters, it cost 1.4 billion RMB (about US $200 million) to build.

A 88.5-km-long Fuzhou-Pingtan Railway (the Fuping Railway, ), connecting Fuzhou to Pingtan Island, via Changle and a series of bridges, is under construction. The project was approved in November 2012. It was expected that the work would start by the end of the year, and would take about five and a half years.

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Wikipedia