Lin Chin-yuan goes to Zhangzhou's Pinghe county in Fujian province in search of his ancestral home - and to expand his business. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Seven years ago, when Lin Chin-yuan came from Taiwan to start a business in Fujian province, he regarded himself as a visitor whose real home was across the Taiwan Straits. But now from the bottom of his heart, he feels Fujian is home.

The change came after Lin, 33, traced the roots of his family in Taiwan to Fujian's Pinghe county last year.

"I noticed two Chinese characters meaning 'Pinghe' on the tombs of my ancestors every Tomb Sweeping Day in Taiwan, and I wondered where that was," he said.

Then he learned from information recorded in a family temple located rural Taiwan that an ancestor had settled in Jiayi county of Taiwan after moving from Pinghe.

"I was excited to learn that Pinghe is a place on the Chinese mainland, and it's in Fujian," he said. It's a county under the city of Zhangzhou.

In 2015, attracted by a tourism project in Pingtan county - an island group off the coast of Fujian - Lin made his way there to develop a rural tourism business. He spent his time on business, but finding his ancestral home was always on his mind.