Preface: What is a water leisure platform?
Water-based leisure platforms refer to both stationary and mobile structures designed for dining and entertainment, sightseeing, and vacation tourism, extending over the water surface. These platforms are categorized into two main types: floating platforms and fixed pier-type platforms. Water-based leisure platforms represent a new waterfront leisure and entertainment product in coastal, lakeside, and riverfront areas. The main products include a range of water-related projects such as water platforms, yacht marinas, floating bridges, leisure platforms, speedboat marinas, floating docks, sightseeing waterfront platforms, water-based restaurants, water amusement parks, floating cabins, water stages, beach resorts, water pools, ferries, fish farming in cages, and various water-based entertainment facilities.

Original Water-Based Leisure Platform – Fish Piers
The formation of fishing rafts is a necessity for fishermen, who must venture out to fish for survival. Alongside the pursuit of fish, they also bear various risks. Thus, fishing rafts were born. Fishermen select suitable sea areas for settlement at sea and then use rubber rafts to create grid-like formations, where they tie nets for aquaculture. On the aquaculture sites, they also build small houses to meet their living needs, with some fishermen living and eating in these small houses.

The fish rafts, primarily used for waterfront leisure and vacation activities such as specialty dining, leisurely fishing, and sightseeing tours, are found in the coastal areas. In LingShui County, Hainan Province, there is a small fishing village known as the "Dianjia." The harbor of the new village is densely filled with small wooden houses, surrounding each one is a wooden grid, arranged in a grid-like pattern, which are the local nickname "fish rafts." These rafts stretch for miles along the waterway, resembling a city on water; the bamboo fences and scattered reflections of the shallow beach and aquaculture areas further make the entire harbor appear like a rural landscape on water. This is LingShui's "Venice on the Sea"—the Dianjia Fish Rafts.

The fishing platform residents, known as the "Dainian people," form a unique community. Their history can be traced back to the ancient Yue tribes during the Qin and Han dynasties. It is said that during the Qianlong era, the Dainian people from Fujian and Guangdong provinces crossed the turbulent Qiongzhou Strait and settled on Hainan Island. They made a living from the sea, living aboard boats for years, leading a nomadic life at sea. "Generation after generation, the water is our hometown, the boat is our home; floating in the rivers and seas, we are the sea江南 for generations" reflects the lifestyle of the older Dainian people.

The LingShui people have a history of residence in the area for over 500 years. Their ancestors mostly originated from Quanzhou, Fujian, as well as from areas like Nanhai and Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong. They live on boats and make a living by fishing. Despite historical changes, they still preserve a unique folk culture distinct from other ethnic groups. The "Dai people" have their own language, which is similar to Cantonese.