QIONGHAI SHOWCASED AS FREE TRADE HUB AT BOAO EXHIBITION

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Bernama) -- The "Boao: Where the World Meets, Qionghai: Where Free Trade Thrives" City Exhibition, held at Boao’s Dongyu Island Cultural Park, showcased policies and culture through immersive, sensory experiences enabled by innovative technology and design.

According to a statement, the four-day event marked the first major city showcase since the launch of Hainan Free Trade Port’s island-wide special customs operations, offering a panoramic view of Qionghai’s role as a core functional zone of the free trade port.

The opening hall featured a "Digital Twin Experience Pod" offering a glimpse into daily life in future Qionghai through the use of an identity card. Meanwhile, the “Cycling through Qionghai” installation immersed visitors in scenic journeys along the Wanquan River and through historic Nanyang towns.

A major attraction was the "Tale of the Sea" post office, where the mailbox itself served as an art piece inspired by a shipwreck relic recovered from 1,500 metres below the South China Sea. Its design drew from a "Fahua-style” plum vase preserved underwater for five centuries.

Once carried on merchant ships across historic maritime routes, the artefact is now reimagined as a modern symbol bridging history and the future. Visitors selected postcards, wrote messages, stamped them with a unique Qionghai postmark, and mailed them home.

The postcards featured images from Qionghai Chronicles, a two-year photographic project by Wang Yao, a winner of the World Press Photo and China News awards, capturing scenes from Tanmen port, the Wanquan River, and Boao.

From its longstanding fishing traditions and Nanyang heritage to its emergence as a free trade port hub, Qionghai continues to present its story to a global audience.

-- BERNAMA