Across the ocean

Before the night falls, fishermen come to the local razor clam market to sell their captures. [Photo provided to China Daily]

For a person who has just escaped smog-choked Beijing, the weather in Dongtou is a blessing - bright sunshine, crystal clear air and a moist breeze. But Zhao Xiangwu, a 56-year-old local fisherman, tells me it is just a typical day in the island county, 30 kilometers offshore from Zhejiang's Wenzhou city.

"You should come again in July. The sky will be even more blue in summer," Zhao says on his way to collect oysters on the beach. A bamboo basket hangs from his waist.

"But then the beaches will be packed with tourists," he laughs. "Dongtou is becoming famous."

Local's call Dongtou "a county of a hundred islands". More precisely, it has 168 islands. Fourteen of them are inhabited and are home to more than 130,000 people. The five largest islands are connected by highways that stretch across the water.

After landing in Wenzhou, it takes me one hour to drive to the islands. In the dusk, a thick mist drapes the highways and islets on either side of me, giving the county a mysterious look.

I thought the mist only appeared in the dusk, but the next morning when I climb the Wanghai Tower, or Sea-watching Tower, an ancient structure located on the highest mountain on the county's largest island and the highest point of Dongtou, I find all the islets still covered with mist. They are like leafy mountain peaks, and the ocean like the layer of cloud hiding the mountain's massive bottom.