Pingtan Island Pingtan Island Pingtan Island () also called Haitan Island (海坛岛, "Hǎitán dǎo") is off the east coast of Fujian province, China. It is the largest island in Fujian and the fifth largest island in China. Pingtan, as a result of its 2010-built bridge connecting it to the mainland, makes it lie at the "de facto" narrowest gap between the island of Taiwan and the Chinese mainland. It has long been a standard point of distinction between the East China Sea and South China Sea. Administratively, the island has become part of Pingtan County, which includes the smaller surrounding islands and
History of Taiwan counseled that the island was "a ball of mud beyond the sea, adding nothing to the breadth of China" (海外泥丸，不足為中國加廣), and advocated removing all the Chinese to mainland China and abandoning the island. It was only the campaigning of admiral Shi Lang and other supporters that convinced the emperor not to abandon Taiwan. Koxinga's followers were forced to depart from Taiwan to the more unpleasant parts of Qing controlled land. By 1682 there were only 7000 Chinese left on Taiwan as they had intermarried with aboriginal women and had property in Taiwan. The Koxinga reign had continued the tax systems