An open provincial tourism economic region (旅游经济区) since June 1988, in April 1992 Meizhou Island introduced a landing visa policy for visitors from Taiwan. In October of the same year it became a national tourism-vacation region (国家旅游度假区). The island was formally opened to visitors from overseas in October 1999.[citation needed]
Located in the northern part of the mouth of Meizhou Bay, Meizhou Island covers an area of 14.35 km2 (5.54 sq mi) and measures 9.6 kilometres (6.0 mi) north-south, and 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) east-west. The beach runs for around 20 kilometres (12 mi).[citation needed]
Tourist attractions
The Heavenly Empress Palace-Meizhou Ancestral Temple (天后宮湄洲祖廟) began as a small shrine soon after Mazu's death in the 10th century. It has now been renovated and greatly enlarged to accommodate pilgrims.[citation needed]
^ ab"China hopes Mazu, a sea goddess, can help it win over Taiwan". The Economist. June 15, 2023. ISSN0013-0613. Archived from the original on 2023-06-15. Retrieved 2023-06-16. Officials in Beijing hope Mazu will help them in a different way. The United Front Work Department, the Communist Party branch with the job of boosting China's influence abroad, views the goddess as a tool to win Taiwanese hearts and minds. Mazu—or Lin Moniang, as she was known before becoming a goddess—hailed from a small fishing village on the island of Meizhou in the province of Fujian. Today worshippers make pilgrimages to her ancestral temple there. That is useful to China, which has been supporting Mazu-related cultural exchanges with Taiwan since the late 1990s. Local offices of the United Front talk openly of using Mazu to "strengthen Taiwan's patriotic unification force". If they can turn Taiwan's love of Mazu into love of the motherland, that would make it easier to peacefully bring Taiwan back under the mainland's rule.