Taiwan Youth Finds Home and Purpose as Community Builder in Xiamen
For Taiwanese youth He Jiawei, the journey from Keelung, Taiwan, to Jianmei Village in Xiamen’s Haicang District began in 2019 with a job title that sounded unfamiliar: “community builder.” Seven years later, he has not only helped revive a long-dormant dragon boat tradition and organized dozens of village festivals, but has also moved his wife and children to the mainland, calling Haicang home.
He Jiawei is one of a growing number of Taiwanese youth working at the grassroots level in Fujian Province under a pioneering program that adapts Taiwan’s community-building expertise to rural revitalization on the mainland. His story, featured in Xinhua News as part of its “Integration Development Imprints” series, offers a window into the people-to-people dimension of cross-strait relations.
From Taiwan to Jianmei Village
He Jiawei arrived in Haicang in 2019, the same year the Haicang Cross-Strait Urban-Rural Development Foundation was established—the first non-public charitable foundation on the mainland founded by Taiwanese youth. His role as a community builder placed him in Jianmei Village, where he found immediate cultural familiarity.
“This place is very similar to Taiwan, and the language is basically the same,” He Jiawei said, describing his first impressions. The shared Hokkien (Minnan) dialect and similar culinary traditions helped him settle in quickly.
He is part of a team of three Taiwanese community builders in Jianmei Village, alongside Wu Peirong and Chen Jiawei. Together, they work with local villagers on rural revitalization projects, applying concepts of community governance that trace back to the pioneering work of Taiwanese planner Li Peizhen, who arrived in Xiamen in 2014 with 15 years of community-building experience from Taiwan.
Reviving a Dragon Boat Tradition
One of the team’s most visible achievements came in 2024, when He Jiawei and his colleagues crowdfunded the purchase of a small dragon boat, successfully reviving Jianmei Village’s long-dormant dragon boat tradition.
“I train with them every time, so I can better understand everyone’s needs,” He Jiawei explained, describing his hands-on approach to community engagement. The team is now working to register a district-level dragon boat association and expand the tradition through summer camps and cultural merchandise aimed at younger generations.
Dragon boat racing holds deep cultural significance on both sides of the strait, particularly in southern Fujian and Taiwan, where the practice has centuries-old roots. The revival serves as a powerful metaphor for the broader renewal of cross-strait cultural connections at the community level.
Building Community Through Shared Culture
Beyond the dragon boat, He Jiawei and his team have organized a wide range of community events that draw on shared cultural traditions: Mid-Autumn Festival barbecues paired with mooncake gambling, Children’s Day fairs, inter-village basketball games, and cross-strait love song duets. These activities have brought new energy to village life.
“Sometimes when I need help from the villagers, they are all very enthusiastic, making me feel like I’ve come home,” He Jiawei said, reflecting on the warmth he has received from local residents.
His personal journey mirrors the professional one. Today, He Jiawei’s wife and children live with him in Haicang, and he considers the area his permanent home.
Policy Framework and Broader Context
He Jiawei’s story is part of a larger policy framework. In September 2023, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the “Opinions on Supporting Fujian in Exploring a New Path for Cross-Strait Integration and Building a Cross-Strait Integration Development Demonstration Zone.” As the third anniversary of this landmark policy approaches, Xinhua’s “Integration Development Imprints” series profiles Taiwanese “strivers, guardians, and dreamers” who have crossed the strait, documenting what the series describes as “vivid stories of deep integration between compatriots on both sides.”
The Haicang District government has actively recruited Taiwanese community builders as part of this vision. The approach represents a soft-power strategy that leverages cultural affinity—shared language, traditions, and festivals—as bridges for integration at the grassroots level, distinct from the often tense official political relations between Beijing and Taipei.
Implications and Outlook
He Jiawei’s experience highlights a people-to-people track of cross-strait relations that operates alongside formal diplomacy. Programs like the Haicang community builder initiative showcase how shared cultural heritage and economic opportunity can foster integration at the community level, even as political tensions persist.
For He Jiawei, the calculation is personal rather than political. “This place is very similar to Taiwan,” he said of his first impressions of Jianmei Village. Seven years later, the similarities have become the foundation of a new life—one built on dragon boat races, village festivals, and the daily rhythms of community life on the other side of the strait.
As Fujian continues to develop its role as a “demonstration zone” for cross-strait integration, stories like He Jiawei’s offer a glimpse of what that vision looks like on the ground: Taiwanese and mainland Chinese residents working side by side, rebuilding traditions, and creating communities together.
This article is based on reporting by Xinhua News, with additional background from Fujian Daily on the Haicang Cross-Strait Urban-Rural Development Foundation.