XIAMEN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Lin Chi-yuan is rocking out onstage, banging a bunch of rocks with a hammer. Some call it a rock concert.
Somewhat bizarrely, Lin and his wife discovered that rocks in the mountains surrounding Pingtan, about 126 km from Taiwan, made a series of different sounds when you hit them with a hammer. Lin, amazed by this, soon incorporated the discovery into his rock project.
"The rocks were collected by me and my colleagues from the mountains of Pingtan," Lin says at the ongoing 10th Straits Forum in Xiamen City in east China's Fujian Province.
Pingtan is an island county in the eastern part of Fujian, consisting of more than 100 islets and about 1,000 ledges, and was known as "a barren place with nothing but rocks." But Lin has achieved solid business success on the island, which is also a free trade zone.
"In June 2015, my wife and I came to Pingtan to sell tea leaves and handicrafts from our hometown in Taiwan," Lin says. "One day we bumped into a village in Pingtan called Beigang, and we were amazed by the local rock-houses."
Beigang has about 400 families, but most of the young people migrate for better jobs in the cities, leaving behind only the elderly, women and children. Legend has it that the locals were once scared their roofs would be blown away by the strong ocean winds, so they piled rocks on them. Later, they used rocks to build their entire houses.
Impressed by the unique architecture and local hospitality, the couple decided to start a business in the "rock village."
"We wanted to use our experience developing homestays in Taiwan and try to develop the accommodation business in Beigang," Lin says.
A slew of preferential policies introduced to Pingtan made their business ideas possible, such as in August 2015 when a business park opened, aiming to lower the starting costs of businesses for young people.
Lin and his wife registered in the park and rented five rock houses in Beigang. They collected old wooden desks and chairs from local schools, as well as fish-nets and driftwood from the seashore to furnish and decorate the homes.
"We wanted to make best use of the resources here and give the village a new sense of style," Lin says.
But the project process was not easy. Locals had not rented their houses out to others before, and some of the villagers could not even speak Mandarin Chinese. However, local officials soon solved their problems by helping them communicate with the villagers. The officials even invited seasoned village craftsmen to help with decoration.
After six months of preparation, the couple's project -- "Rocks Can Sing" -- opened to the public. The business takes in accommodation, live music, a restaurant, a cafe and even a souvenir store.
"When you get close to 'Rocks Can Sing,' you can see artists playing music with the rocks, and people sipping coffee in rock houses," Lin says. "The project quickly became a success, attracting visitors from the mainland and Taiwan. Some Taiwanese artists even came to the village to seek artistic inspiration."
During the May Day holiday this year, average daily visitors to Beigang exceeded 10,000. Spurred by the couple's success, local authorities decided to make Beigang "a village with a cultural and creative industry," in hope of attracting more businesses.
"The market in Taiwan is almost saturated, while the mainland provides more opportunities," says Lin's wife, Syu Lin-Yi. "I like it here in Pingtan, so I have brought my relatives here too."
In Beigang, more than 30 young people have also settled and started similar businesses.
"We hope to breathe new life into the village through art and homestays," Lin says.
