From quiet fishing post to film set and tourism hot spot

"There are more and more homestays on the island now," he adds."What we're working on is how to improve quality and stand out to visitors."

The island has also drawn many outsiders who have decided to stay.

Zhu Li is one of them. Once a high-earning sales manager at a real estate company in Zhoushan, she grew tired of working until 3 or 4 am during busy seasons and being on call at all hours. So she quit and came to Miaozihu to volunteer at a youth hostel.

"After I arrived, I thought, this place is really beautiful. The sea is truly blue. We're in Zhoushan — it's not far from here — but I had never seen blue seawater there, only yellow. I never knew there was a place this blue," she says.

During her time off, she went fishing with friends, hiked around the island, and picked up trash from the beaches.

Just one month of volunteering convinced her to stay and start a business on the island. She and her friend took over an old house and renovated it themselves by painting the walls, refinishing old tables and chairs with veneer, installing faucets, and patching the roof.

"Because supplies have to be shipped in from the mainland and getting rid of large items of trash is a hassle, we had no choice but to repurpose old things and build whatever we needed with our own hands. In the process, I felt empowered."

Today, she and her friend run four shops on the island, selling coffee, desserts, and their own branded cultural products.

"Life is busy, but fulfilling," she says. "I cherish my free lifestyle now.

"When I worked in the city, every day was the same routine. Now, even though I'm busy, I'm busy with my own things — the small tasks I actually care about.

"Back in the city, I was sensitive to every noise. But here, even with all the hustle and bustle of local island life, I sleep soundly."

Over the past decade, the island has transformed with each passing year — welcoming tourists, embracing returnees, and giving newcomers a place to start over.

Set-jetting brought Ya Lan here. But what she witnessed, across 11 years and two trips, was an island learning to embrace change without losing itself.

xingwen@chinadaily.com.cn