Historic island looks for global recognition

Gulangyu hopes to become China's candidate for World Heritage Site status in 2016, as local authorities examine ways to protect its environment and culture. Sun Li and Hu Meidong report from Xiamen, Fujian province.

During a recent business trip to Xiamen, Cai Zhenzhen cringed at the thought of visiting Gulangyu Island, a tourist magnet near the city.

Cai, a sales representative from Shanghai, discovered that the 2-square-kilometer islet in Fujian province was visited by about 70,000 tourists every day during the National Day holiday in October, and felt it would be "torture" to squeeze onto the tiny space along with a huge number of visitors.