Dachen Island in Taizhou's Jiaojiang district is designated a cross-Straits exchange base on Nov 1. [Photo/WeChat account: tzfb001]

Dachen Island in Taizhou's Jiaojiang district was designated a cross-Straits exchange base on Nov 1, according to local media reports. 

More than 200 guests from both sides of the Taiwan Straits including Long Mingbiao, deputy director of the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, Gao Xiaobing, vice-minister of civil affairs, and Wang Wenxu, vice governor of Zhejiang, attended the inauguration ceremony.

Dachen Island, situated to the southeast of Taizhou Bay, was liberated by the People's Liberation Army in 1955. More than 10,000 local residents moved to Taiwan as Kuomintang troops retreated from the island.

Currently, there are still over 100,000 Taiwan residents who are of Dachen origin, and they still retain the cultural customs and living habits they had on the island and mostly use the Taizhou dialect.

Since 2015, Taizhou has launched a series of activities to boost cross-Straits exchange. The number of attendees who are Taiwan residents native to Dachen has increased from 150 to over 800.

With the opening of passenger sea routes, a number of Taiwan residents from Dachen have returned to Taizhou to seek out their roots, visit relatives, travel and explore business opportunities. 

A 163-nautical-mile passenger sea route linking Taizhou's Damaiyu with Taiwan's Keelung opened on Jan 7, 2009, and is the only direct sea passenger route linking the Yangtze River Delta to Taiwan.