The summer heat in the coastal city of Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, not only comes from the weather, but also is intensified by tourism. Tourists from all over the world enjoy their vacations here, including the relatively remote Dadeng Island.

Located in the southeast waters of Xiamen's Xiang'an District, the Dadeng Isles are comprised of three islands—Dadeng, Xiaodeng and Jiaoyu. Known as the Three-Hero Islands, they cover an area of 13.2 square kilometers, with a population of approximately 20,000 people. It is the closest area on the Chinese mainland to Kinmen of Taiwan—the two places stand face-to-face across the Taiwan Strait, with the shortest distance less than 2 kilometers.

Kinmen used to be the then Kuomintang regime's forefront of military antagonism against the Chinese mainland after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Tensions escalated in August 1958, with Kinmen and Fujian Province bombarding each other with thousands of shells.

Three-Hero Island Park in southeastern Dadeng was crumbled to dust after the August 1958 battles, but has now become a patriotism education base and a scenic spot. The weapons exhibition, tunnel fortification and gunfire ruins at the park are reminders of the cross-Strait tensions at the time. But a nearby trading market presents a striking contrast to the solemn and gloomy park, since it is the only one on the Chinese mainland to trade petty commodities with Taiwan face-to-face.

Dadeng and Kinmen have nurtured close trade ties since ancient times. In fact, many residents in Dadeng had relatives in Kinmen with whom they traded commodities across the Strait. Unfortunately, Dadeng became the forefront of cross-Strait tensions immediately after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Cross-Strait trade in the area was inevitably affected. As cross-Strait tensions eased in the 1980s and 1990s, fishing boats from Taiwan reached Dadeng frequently; people-to-people trade resumed spontaneously and gradually gained momentum.

In 1998, the Dadeng Cross-Strait Petty Commodity Trading Market was established with the approval of China's State Council and the Central Military Commission. The initial business area covered 122 mu (about 1,830 hectares), 10 percent of the total 0.85 square kilometers, with 504 booths and a total investment of 45 million yuan ($5.63 million). It aimed at regulating petty commodity trade, enhancing cross-Strait exchanges, pushing forward economic development and, more importantly, facilitating business between the two sides, particularly Taiwanese businessmen and enterprises on the Chinese mainland.

The market made it possible for local residents from both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan to start up small businesses. Legal trading in Taiwanese commodities consisted of six categories--food and oil, native and livestock products, textiles and clothes, handicrafts, light industrial products, and medicines.

Since May 1, 1999, the market has been on the right track after going through various challenges, and now has a bigger scale and more influence.

According to Yang Deping, head of the general office of the market's Administrative Commission, in 2008 alone, the market's gross trade volume hit 386 million yuan ($55.4 million), and the volume of imported Taiwanese goods amounted to $19.2 million, compared with merely 124 million yuan ($16.5 million) and $2.746 million, respectively, in 2001.

Yang said all preferential policies and service agencies were included in the planning program at the initial stage of market construction. In 1999, for instance, the Xiamen Government issued a managing regulation for the market--cumulative total trade of imported Taiwanese goods under and including 1,000 yuan ($127) would enjoy a duty-free policy. In 2007, the approved stanwashing machine spare parts CFD 外墙清洗 港澳游 OA 电磁流量计 净化工程 surge arrester 搅拌机