HAIKOU, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Bed-and-breakfasts are common on China's tropical resort island of Hainan. But one B&B floating on the sea is anything but ordinary.
Just offshore from Xincun Town in Lingshui Li Autonomous County, visitors board ferry boats with captain Li Yingyi, who shuttles them to a floating village where wooden houses rest on the waves.
Li, who began steering boats at the age of nine, now makes as many as 200 trips a day in peak season, carrying tourists eager to experience life on the water.
He is one of the Tanka people, or boat dwellers, whose ancestors lived for centuries on sampans and made their living fishing in coastal waters.
Many of the offshore homes now sit on floating rafts once used for aquaculture, where the Tanka community lived for generations.
To build such a raft, thick, water-resistant planks are lashed together into a grid and fixed to foam buoys, secured with iron wire or thick nylon rope to form a stable base on the water.
More than two decades ago, local fishermen began turning those rafts into restaurants and, more recently, into homestays.
"We've taken idle rafts, reinforced them, and turned them into homestays that showcase the way of life of the Tanka people," said Feng Bing, manager of one floating B&B opened four years ago.
"All 24 rooms are fully booked throughout the summer. You'd have to wait until late August to find a vacant room," Feng said, adding that reservations during peak season must be made two weeks in advance.
Guests can forage for crabs and starfish at low tide, ride in glass-bottom boats to watch tropical fish, or try their hand at squid fishing. Since opening, Feng said, the homestay has welcomed more than 100,000 visitors.
The venture has also created jobs. About 20 employees, most of them young Tanka people, earn between 3,000 and 5,000 yuan (between about 419 and 699 U.S. dollars) a month each person, with salaries rising to 6,000 yuan in peak season, according to Feng.
Inside the homestay, a small, modest exhibition hall displays artifacts of the Tanka people's life, such as woodworking tools, shell spoons, ship logbooks, handmade wedding fans, and embroidered curtains. All of these items were collected by the local fish raft association.
"These are all old stuff from the Tanka people, they are not valuable items, but we put them here to tell more about our history," said Feng.
For visitors seeking a deeper dive into its history, the Hainan Tanka Museum, just 3 kilometers away from the homestay, provides a brand new option.
Opened as the first of its kind in China in September 2023, the 20,000-square-meter museum houses about 360 exhibits, from maritime relics to traditional crafts. VR technology, LED screens, and digital sand tables offer an immersive look into the Tanka heritage.
For Cai Yongchan, 24, a museum guide and Tanka descendant, the work holds special personal significance, as she returned home to work at the museum after graduating from university.
"As a child, I only knew my grandparents lived by fishing. I didn't understand the details of their life at sea," Cai said. "Now, the more I learn about the Tanka history, the deeper my cultural identity grows."
She said her goal is to connect young people with their roots. "As the Tanka people settled on land and integrated into onshore life, younger generations came to know less about their heritage," Cai said. "We want to bridge that gap and ensure our culture is more widely understood."
She remembered the words of 80-year-old Huang Jimin, a longtime advocate for the Tanka culture: "I never hoped the Tanka culture could be fully inherited. I only hoped people would remember the Tanka people were once here."
"That is his wish," Cai said, "and it has also become mine." Enditem
(Lai Lishan, Wang Kexuan, Huang Qianya, Sun Yihan, Su Ling, Li Xinnan, Liu Chaoran, Yin Jiajun and Tian Mengyao also contributed to the story.)
