Pingtan: An island where wind howls and stones sing

"The island grows no grass, but stones. Sand is everywhere. Houses look like forts."

Before my journey to Pingtan, Fujian province, an island county off the coast of southeastern China, the ancient folk saying from there, which I read on the internet, gave me my first impression of the area's once desolate state.

The sandy, grassless island with fortlike houses seemed to have little to do with tourism development, the theme of my two-week trip to Pingtan in April, together with seven other reporters.