'It is good for both sides to know and admire each other's advantages'

fuzhou - Born and raised in Taiwan's Kaohsiung city as a Fujian descendant, 46-year-old Siu Shu-mian was happy that her first trip to her original family home was to promote Taiwan specialties to mainland people.

Acting as the board chairman of a Taiwan department store, Siu was attending a five-day Cross-Straits Fair for Economy and Trade that started on Tuesday in Fuzhou, capital of Southeast China's Fujian province. The trip was also the first time she came back to the roots of her family.

"It has been a long time since my family emigrated to Taiwan, but I feel it is so familiar here - the same dialect, the same local cuisine, and the same climate," Siu said as she skillfully applied an herbal cream to a customer's neck.

The herbal cream, named "ice saussurea cream", is a typical local Taiwan product that boasts the magical functions of easing fatigue and pain.

Inside the exhibition hall of the fair, curious mainland residents and businessmen were enthralled by various kinds of Taiwan products, such as oolong tea, wine, desserts, household appliances, cartoon products and other copyrighted material.

"Their tarts taste similar to ours, but more delicate and are better packed I now cannot wait to book a tour group to travel to Taiwan," said Chen Wenjing, a Fuzhou resident.

Nearly 2,000 Taiwan businessmen brought more than 1,000 kinds of Taiwan products to the fair, said Peter W.J. Huang, executive vice president of the semi-official Taipei World Trade Center.

"The improved ties enable us to have more exchanges now, and that is good for both sides to know and admire each other's advantages, which in turn pushes forward the relation," he said.

Although Fuzhou and Taiwan are separated by only about 100 sea miles, tension in cross-Straits ties were evident when the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party ruled the island between 2000 and 2008. During these years, exchanges between the two sides were hindered.

Since May 2008, when the Kuomintang came into power, cross-Straits relations have been progressing well, with closer personal exchanges following the setting up of direct postal and transportation links.

In May 2009, Fujian province, facing Taiwan across the Straits, got an approval from the State Council to build a "haixi" (or West cross-Straits) economic zone. The zone is designed to enhance economic and trade cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan and boost regional integration.

Grassroots level exchanges have been booming in the past year, including the largest cross-Straits forum ever, held last May in Fujian province, which attracted a record number of 8,000 Taiwan people.

In early May, Fujian provincial governor Huang Xiaojing led a trade and cultural exchange delegation to Taiwan. He visited 11 cities and towns in the island, met with more than 200 local village and town heads, and also signed a cooperation agreement between two ports - Taiwan's Kaohsiung and Fujian's Xiamen.