QIONGHAI, China, March 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — From March 24-27, the ” Boao: Where the World Meets, Qionghai: Where Free Trade Thrives” City Exhibition was held at Boao’s Dongyu Island Cultural Park. This marks the first major city showcase since the launch of Hainan Free Trade Port’s island-wide special customs operations—providing a panoramic window into Qionghai’s role as a core functional zone of the free trade port. Woven with the theme of global connection and open development, the exhibition turns policies and culture into immersive, sensory experiences through innovative technology and design.
The opening hall’s “Digital Twin Experience Pod” offers a glimpse into daily life in tomorrow’s Qionghai—all through the use of an identity card. The dynamic “Cycling through Qionghai” installation immersed guests in scenic journeys along the Wanquan River and through historic Nanyang towns—settlements built by overseas Chinese returning from Southeast Asia. A major attraction was the “Tale of the Sea” post office, where the mailbox itself was a work of art. Its design drew inspiration from a shipwreck relic recovered from 1,500 meters below the South China Sea—a “Fahua-style” plum vase, an artifact preserved in the deep for five centuries. Once carried on merchant ships across tumultuous seas, witnessing the Maritime Silk Road’s glory, it now stands reimagined as a modern landmark bridging history and the future. Visitors chose postcards, penned messages, stamped them with a unique Qionghai postmark, and mailed their memories home.
These postcards featured images from Qionghai Chronicles, an acclaimed two-year photographic project by Wang Yao, a winner of the World Press Photo award and China News Award. Her lens captured an elder mending nets at dawn in Tanmen port, children playing by the Wanquan River, the warmth of afternoon tea in Boao, and the determined spirit of the port’s builders. Each image told of Qionghai’s resilient yet graceful dance with time.
From its millennia-old fishing traditions and Nanyang heritage to its new chapter as a thriving free trade port, Qionghai’s story is now traveling the world—one postcard at a time. Each card, a whisper from the South China Sea, now finding its voice across the globe.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8fc1a4aa-0268-4ac8-b23b-729937d5f468
