Pingtan Island

Fujian's largest island ("island county of a thousand reefs"), with Tannan Bay & Longwangtou Beach / Beigang Village stone houses / Changjiang'ao wind farm, the "blue tears" spectacle (nightly Noctiluca, April-August) and a blue-tears chasing map; the strait road-rail bridge (China's first combined road-and-rail cross-sea bridge). Fujian's largest island and the closest point on the mainland to Taiwan, long dubbed the "island county of a thousand reefs": Tannan Bay and Longwangtou Beach have fine sand and gentle waves; Beigang Village's hillside stone houses facing the sea are stacked from colorful tiles and stones and hailed as "singing stone houses"; the white turbines of the Changjiang'ao wind farm line the coast, striking backlit at sunset. From April to August, "blue tears" often appear at night — Noctiluca algae glow an eerie blue when disturbed — and chasing the tears is now the top reason young travelers flock to Pingtan; high-speed trains arrive directly across the strait road-rail bridge, e-bike rentals make an island loop easy, and Pingtan is the newest star of China's island travel.

Getting there: High-speed rail, Pingtan Station / self-drive (cross-sea bridge)