I was born and raised in Hainan, China's southernmost province and pretty much a tropical paradise. In the past decades, it has been dubbed the "Chinese Hawaii" for its blue waters and white beaches.

However, in the old imperial days, Hainan was a place of exile for criminals and corrupt officials as it proved a particularly expedient place to send those who had irritated the emperor, with its isolation ensuring that political ripples back to the mainland would be few. In modern times, it became a quiet, sleepy prefecture of Guangdong Province. 

My home village is in Tunchang County, central Hainan. Tunchang has neither beaches nor rainforests—the two attractions that make the island a top tourist destination—and hence was long shunned by tourists and remained as one of the most undeveloped areas on the island in the 1980s.

How poor was it? Well, take the availability of electricity as an example. China's first power plant was established in Shanghai in 1882, a century before I was born. But I had never read under a light bulb until I was nine. Kerosene lamps were our main light source at night.

For decades, my family lived off the land. Selling farm produce at the market was the main source of our income before the 1990s. The market was located at the county seat, 5 km away from my home. Sometimes I would accompany my grandfather on his trip into town to sell vegetables. We had to leave home before daybreak, and walking was our only means of transport. My grandfather would carry one shoulder pole that would hold two huge baskets brimming with vegetables. It was dark and quiet. I can still remember the sound of the pole creaking under the load. When we arrived at the fair, my grandfather's shoulders would be red and sore. "It would be nice if we had a truck," I used to think to my young self.

Back then, the county seat of Tunchang featured many dirt roads and whenever a car sped by, clouds of dust would rise up and linger in the air. The shabby houses lining the roads remained covered in mud and dust all year long. Going into town was not as exciting as I'd expected.

The turning point came in the late 1980s. Hainan was upgraded to China's largest special economic zone (SEZ) and youngest province on April 13, 1988. Many groundbreaking policies, including the shareholding reform of state-owned companies, were first tried and tested on the island. Tens of thousands of ambitious entrepreneurs crossed the Qiongzhou Strait that lies between the mainland and the island to pursue their "Hainan dreams." The island has since grown by leaps and bounds.

The ripple of reform and opening up was first felt in my family three years later. Gleaming bulbs illuminated my sleepy village in 1991. I no longer had to read in dim light and the acrid kerosene fumes.

New visitors came to our county as a local deer breeding base was put onto the tourist map in the early 1990s. My father bought a motor tricycle to serve incoming tourists, which doubled our family income. Of course, it also gave my grandpa a ride into town to sell his farm produce—literally lifting the burden off his shoulders.

Infrastructure construction got into full swing in Hainan in 1988. Dirt roads in the country were upgraded to tar or cement roads. In 1995, Hainan started building its first freeway circling the island. That same year, my father replaced his motor tricycle with a truck, transporting materials like sand to construction sites. By contributing to the island's infrastructure boom, my father also realized his dream: building a two-storied house at the county seat in 2000.

Although my family left the rural area more than two decades ago, I, as a reporter, have been keeping a close eye on my hometown's development.

President Xi Jinping announced on April 13, 2018, that Hainan would become the country's free trade zone (FTZ) with the prospect of further developing into the first free trade port (FTP) on the Chinese mainland.

Modern agriculture features high on the Hainan FTZ's agenda. Tunchang, thanks to its fertile farmland, remains a key agricultural base on the island. And Internet plus agriculture has become reality in many villages in the county. Unlike my grandpa who had to carry vegetables on his shoulders and walk to the market before dawn, farmers in my hometown now sell their farm produce to Haikou, capital of Hainan, via an online farm-to-table platform on their smartphones. "The Internet offers a new channel for us to sell farm produce," Wu Hongye, a farmer in Shiqiao Village—4 km from my old village, said.

The year 2023 will mark the 35th anniversary of the Hainan SEZ and the fifth anniversary of the FTZ. The improved life of my hometown's farmers mirrors the growth of Hainan over the past decades. I believe that more pleasant surprises shall await me when the FTP is ready.

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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