The Sanfang Qixiang (three lanes, seven alleys) business block, in the city of Fuzhou, Fujian province, is now officially a Cross-Straits Communication Base, since Ye Kedong, the deputy director of China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, conferred the honor, along with a plaque, to Yang Yimin, Fuzhou’s mayor, on Aug 3.

The same day, Sanfang Qixiang was named a Cross-Straits Youth Startup Base and Youth Communication Center. The area is known as a sort of Ming and Qing dynasty architectural museum and a remnant of the Li and Fang administrative systems. It is a Fuzhou cultural heritage site and was listed as one of China’s 10 cultural-historical streets. Some people who were born and raised in Sanfang Qixiang are prominent in Taiwan as well, such as Shen Baozhen, who lived in Gong Alley and led the Fujian Navy to Taiwan to expel the Japanese in 1874, marking the beginning of modernization. Then there is Shen Yourong, from Jibi Alley, who was the first general to reclaim Taiwan. Zhang Zhijun, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, announced that 11 more cross-Straits communication bases will be added to the existing 17, at the 5th Straits Forum, on June 16. Edited by Lin Hong and Roger Bradshaw