"People on both sides of the Taiwan Straits share the same bloodline—this deep bond of kinship helped me find my place and purpose on the mainland," said Lin Chi-min, a young entrepreneur from China's Taiwan region, when sharing his story of successful entrepreneurship during the main conference of the 17th Straits Forum. The forum is held each year in Xiamen City, Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan across the Taiwan Straits.

As the most inclusive platform for cross-Straits people-to-people exchange with the broadest scope and largest scale, the Straits Forum, over its past 16 iterations, had hosted nearly 800 activities and attracted more than 350,000 participants from both sides, including over 140,000 Taiwan compatriots.

Staying true to its original aspiration, this year's forum continues to uphold the theme: expanding people-to-people exchanges and deepening integrated development. In addition to the main conference, it also features 56 activities covering youth, cultural and economic exchanges, drawing over 7,000 people from all walks of life in Taiwan.

Based on its positioning of being people-oriented, grassroots-based and broadly inclusive, the forum responds to the needs of grassroots communities on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, centering on issues closely related to the everyday lives of the peoples. Together, participants explore these issues and the vision of a promising future for both sides.

In Lin's speech at the conference, he said he journeyed across the Taiwan Straits to the mainland in 2013 and landed in Hangzhou City of Zhejiang Province in east China, aspiring to start his own business. After 12 years of perseverance, he has grown from a young man with limited resources into a business leader who oversees more than 70 massage parlors, creating job opportunities for over 600 visually impaired people, and contributing annually to tax revenues exceeding 1 million yuan ($139,094). Massage has traditionally been a major form of employment for China's vision-impaired population.

Lin said he has benefited from the friendly business environment on the mainland, with favorable policies for Taiwan compatriots' businesses. "The unease I felt when I first arrived in Hangzhou quickly dissipated with the help of the provincial and municipal Taiwan affairs offices and other related organizations. They have supported my life and my entrepreneurial ideas with active communication and resources. The 'one stop, one trip, one paper' policy (A policy that aims to simplify administrative examination and approval—Ed.) has made matters such as obtaining certificates efficient and convenient."

Business aside, Lin established a team in 2024 to provide travel guides and life services for Taiwan people coming to the mainland. "Cross-Straits exchanges must delve into life and touch people's hearts," he said. ​

In response to friends who often ask why he chose to build his life on the mainland, Lin answered candidly, "We share the same roots and ancestors across the Straits, with a common culture and similar ways of life and thinking. When I go abroad, I'm seen as a foreigner. But here on the mainland, I'm embraced as family." Lin's feeling resonates with many young people from Taiwan.

Two shores, one generation 

As a key part of this year's Straits Forum, a sub-forum was held under the theme Youth Creates the Future on the same day, where around 470 young people from both sides of the Straits exchanged their ideas about Chinese culture and the business environment on the mainland, approximately 70 percent of whom were from Taiwan.

At the event, a young Taiwan entrepreneur, Chiang Kuo-ming, shared his recent insights and achievements. Chiang is now collaborating with mainland youth Chen Duo to jointly develop an AIGC (AI-generated content) animation IP (intellectual property). He successfully obtained the mainland's first-ever Radio and Television Program Production and Operation License issued to a Taiwan entrepreneur, after Fujian announced a pilot initiative allowing Taiwan's businesses to invest in and establish radio and television program production companies in the province.

Born and raised in Taiwan, Feng Fan-chiang came to Xiamen to start a business in 2009, when he was 28. In 2016, he co-founded Xiamen Qida Taixiang Entrepreneurship Service Co. Ltd., a cross-Straits entrepreneurship base providing help for young entrepreneurs from Taiwan, with his mainland partners. As of 2024, the base had served more than 40,000 people, helped over 500 youth from Taiwan successfully start businesses on the mainland, and incubated more than 500 entrepreneurial projects.

More and more young people from Taiwan are coming to the mainland.

Ma Ying-jeou, former Chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang party, led a delegation of young people from Taiwan to attend this year's Straits Forum. Apart from attending the forum, they also went to Gansu Province to participate in a commemorative ceremony paying tribute to Fuxi—a legendary ancestor of the Chinese nation, and attended activities for jointly promoting Chinese culture across the Taiwan Straits.

Ma believes that the future lies in the hands of the younger generation, and that the youth on both sides of the Straits represent the future of cross-Straits relations. He had previously led groups of university students from Taiwan to visit the mainland three times, helping them gain a deeper understanding of its development and achievements. "I have observed a growing number of young people from Taiwan coming to the mainland to study, intern and work—many of them full of curiosity and enthusiasm," he said.

According to data released by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council in January, the number of cross-Straits trips exceeded 4.4 million in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 53.8 percent. Of these, 4.023 million trips were made by Taiwan people coming to the mainland—a sharp 54.3-percent rise and the highest figure in recent years. This surge was not only reflected in overall numbers but was especially notable among the younger generation.

At the forum, Ma stated that the emotional bond and exchanges between people on both sides of the Straits cannot be severed. No political force can suppress or prevent the sincere interactions between ordinary people across the Straits, nor can it erase the natural sense of kinship rooted in common ancestry. Only through continuous exchange and mutual understanding can misunderstandings be reduced, misjudgments avoided, and trust and consensus built—paving the way for shared opportunities in cooperation and development.

The 17th Straits Forum has received enthusiastic responses from Taiwan's social groups and people from all walks of life. Chen Zhiyong, Deputy Director of the Organizing Committee Office of the Straits Forum and Deputy Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Fujian Provincial Government, said peace, development, exchange and cooperation are the common aspirations of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. BR

(Print Edition: Inspirational and Aspirational) 

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson 

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