A Shared Imagination of an Island
Summer winds blow, growing wild and free
雾起岛屿间
Summer winds blow, growing wild and free
Our Mission
In January 2024, an open letter — the 'Island Co-building Initiative' — was sent from Huanglong Island, capturing the attention of over 3,000 young people across China. They come from design, architecture, art, food, curation, and writing. On this 5.12 km² remote island in the East China Sea, a community is slowly growing through co-creation, co-building, and co-sharing.
IdealWild is not a hotel brand, nor merely a rural experiment. We are practitioners who believe that 'the key to rural development lies in people.' By bringing urban creative energy into dialogue with the local fishing village fabric, we are making a dormant island seen, inhabited, and alive again.
Our work spans community operations, spatial regeneration, cultural curation, and industry incubation — from revitalizing abandoned stone houses to collaborating with world-class architecture studios, from hosting art festivals with 100+ artists to pioneering off-season residency programs. Every step asks the same question: can an island hold a new possibility for living?
“The key to rural development lies in people.
Villages can also offer youth
a free stage of expression and vast space for growth.”
— Qian Shiyi, Founder of IdealWild
Countless islands and villages across China are aging and emptying. We believe community co-building can bring young talent back, let industries regrow, and turn the crisis of hollowing-out into an opportunity for rebirth.
Huanglong is not a scenic spot — it is a complete community. We see the entire 5.12 km² island as a living organism: every stone house, every alley, every stretch of coast is a capillary of the community.
This is not a pop-up — we are putting down roots. We pursue a sustainable island lifestyle that is self-consistent through all four seasons: welcoming visitors in summer, turning inward for community in winter.
We hope that the Huanglong experiment can offer a replicable path for other islands and villages facing similar challenges — one built not on capital dominance, but on trust and creativity between people.
Our Operating Philosophy
Our practice is built on the logic of mutual benefit and symbiosis — not zero-sum competition, but organic multi-party growth.
We don't let modernization erase the fishing village's original fabric. New ventures grow naturally between traditional stone houses and alleys. Preserving the island's layers of time — century-old walls coexist with contemporary art, fishermen's livelihoods run parallel with youth entrepreneurship.
Every creator who arrives is also a community participant. Poetry exhibitions grow on stone walls, the café-bar opens its doors to fishermen, art festivals make islanders collaborators not spectators — creativity is co-cultivated, not transplanted.
Culture isn't mere window-dressing — it must connect to real economic logic. Residencies bring footfall, art brings reach, community brings long-tail spending — industry and spirit form a double helix, mutually supporting, continuously ascending.
Full Landscape
Lost Villa Lighthouse Hotel
Designed by WJ STUDIO, 6 years in the making. 4,000m² architecture nestled into seaside rocks with 28 rooms.
Community Hub
Located in Nihuangkeng, combining accommodation with community commons. The co-builders' home base with winter residency packages.
Night Voyage Café & Bar
Run by philosophy graduate Liang Yuxing. Coffee by day, bar by night — a spiritual refuge facing the ocean.
Island Art Store
Curated by Wang Mengting — showcasing creative products and locally-inspired cultural merchandise.
Island Library
A reading and writing space for residents and guests. Away from digital noise, returning to the essence of paper.
Poetry Exhibition on Stone Walls
Poetry displayed on stone walls and public spaces across the island, reawakening hometown memories through literature. A poetry collection and transparent memorial cards were produced.
Diecui Boutique Stay
A modern boutique guesthouse expanding the island's hospitality capacity.
Creative Base
Key 2026 project — transforming the eastern peninsula into a creative residency and outdoor experience complex.
Land Art Installations
Land art and public installations turning rocky outcrops into experiential art community spaces.
Living Art Festival
Inaugural 2025 FU Island Art Season: 100+ artists in residence, 6 themes, 60+ events across the island.
Talks · Workshops · Co-creation
Inviting local culture practitioners for talks and co-creation. Hosted forums including 'Wind from the Sea' and 'Local Discovery Program', connecting islands with broader rural experiments.
Off-season Residency Program
Exploring sustainable off-season models, blending long-stay residency with content creation and community participation. Cultural series like 'To Those Who Love Next Time' hosted.
Artist-in-Residence
Inviting creators in visual art, music, literature, and film for long-term island residencies and exhibitions.
Island Reading & Writing
Building on the poetry exhibition and Island Library — inviting poets and writers for island residencies, hosting 'Sea Reading Season' events, letting literature grow between tides and stone walls.
Island Nature Education
Nature courses for youth and families: tidal zone exploration, fishing village culture experiences.
Global Recruitment
Global recruitment for entrepreneurs across diverse fields, continuously expanding the island's ecosystem.
Ocean Sports
Crystal-clear waters and rich reefs offer natural conditions for sailing, kayaking, diving, and sea fishing.
Heritage Craft
Centuries-old fishing knots, boat models, and stone carvings await integration with contemporary design language.
Sustainable Agriculture
Can the island's unique saline soil and climate nurture its own food system? From community gardens to seaweed cultivation.
Digital Nomad Hub
With infrastructure in place, Huanglong can become an ideal digital nomad base off China's eastern coast.
Tap to explore sounds
Connected Resources
From world-class design studios to local government, from hospitality brands to creative communities — IdealWild is weaving a network connecting urban resources with island vitality.
Life on Huanglong
As sunset falls, a warm lantern lights the cliffside. Facing the sea, all stories belong to the night.
Open the window to green hills and stone walls. On this island, deep sleep finds you again.
Walking along the rocks — waves below, blue sky above. The island's finest hour for a stroll.
Poetry etched on stone walls and printed on transparent cards — literature as part of island scenery.
Luo Lu's magazine rebuilds connections between islands and the world — 14 issues published from Zhoushan.
Pink clouds blanket the sky while a distant vessel rests on the horizon — no two sunsets are alike.
A full moon rises slowly behind the ridge, bathing the stone village in gentle light. A moment for islanders alone.
The harbor and distant hills through floor-to-ceiling glass, white linens and timber — a simple, complete island stay.
Rooftop ocean yoga, cliffside concerts, ruin meditations — a spiritual festival for an island.
Moments Captured
Capturing the island's breath through lens. Travel film series updating.
IdealWild · Documentary
A shared island vision begins here
MORE FILMS COMING SOON
16s short film series · Updating
Stone house morning · Harbor sunrise
Coastal trail · Cliff breeze
Our Journey
The IdealWild team first sets foot on Huanglong Island, captivated by its untouched fishing village character.
The initiative letter is sent from Huanglong, calling for global co-builders. 2,500+ young people respond.
Night Voyage café-bar, Art Store, and Island Library open. Core co-builders put down roots.
Lost Villa · Huanglong Lighthouse Hotel begins operation — 6 years in the making, 4,000m² on the rocks.
'Ideal Archipelago · Living Art Festival' launches with 100+ artists and 60+ events island-wide.
Annual visitors surpass 23,000. May Day holiday sees 90%+ occupancy across all guesthouses.
Off-season residency packages launched. Even in the coldest January, residents stay — proving year-round viability.
First poetry exhibition on island stone walls and public spaces. A poetry collection and transparent memorial cards produced, connecting islanders and travelers through literature.
Practitioners like Luo Lu (Island And magazine) and Zhouzhou (Yongjia Local Discovery) share at the community center: 'Wind from the Sea', 'Hometown Co-creation'.
Eastern peninsula creative base begins construction. Festival programming upgrades. The co-building map expands.
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