Lin Yongda, president of a local traditional culture organization, hopes the center will offer visitors the chance to experience a mixture of Taiwan's cultural creativity and the mainland's traditional cultural heritage. Lin hopes future cultural projects will include other areas of Taiwan province.

Lu Fu-ching, deputy director of Kinmen's transportation and tourism bureau, expressed the hope that there would be future opportunities for people to become familiar with Kinmen culture. In recent times Kinmen has striven to simplify the procedures for mainland visitors. The Kinmen tourism authorities are looking to lift the barriers of travel between Quanzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Kinmen to promote tourism and a variety of other exchanges.

Jinjiang students decorate traditional lion sculptures with paint. [Photo by Sun Hong/chinanews.com]