JIANGSU, East China — If it looks like modernity skipped over Yushan Island, that’s because its inhabitants, content with what they’ve had, have been happy to let it pass them by.

Arrivals are first greeted by a rickety pier made from mismatched bits of wood that crack and sway underfoot. War and political turmoil never made it ashore to shake up people’s traditional way of living: The only invasion of note was that of electricity, which replaced oil lamps in 2002. The island in Lake Tai — near megacity Suzhou — is a relic from the past.

A leisurely stroll around the small island only takes about an hour — walking being the only mode of transportation. Along the way, the sounds consist of birds, the breeze, and the surf. But the idyllic land is being disturbed, some islanders say, by a steady trickle of tourists.

At the lakeshore around 6 in the evening, a few septuagenarians are enjoying an after-dinner chat on one of the stone benches. To their visible annoyance, the peace and quiet is being disturbed by a loud group of visitors from Shanghai who are out barbecuing nearby.

Yushan is among the most aged villages in the region. The youngest of its roughly 40 inhabitants is 65 years old — earning Yushan the local moniker “Old People Island.” Many villages in China have turned to tourism to promote their flagging local economies, enticing city folk with rustic homestays and clean air. But while some on Yushan welcome the extra income, other elderly residents would rather things stay the way they are.

Zhao Jianhua, 72, is thin, tanned, and has a slightly bowed back. He has noticed an increase in arrivals since last year from nearby cities — especially Suzhou and Shanghai — looking for a weekend getaway. He’s afraid it will leave a mark on the island’s environment and traditional way of life, in which clothes are still washed in the lake and food is cooked on wood-burning stoves. Yushan avoided the destruction of war, and so the island still has plenty of prewar stone houses, connected by sand and gravel paths. Some locals fear that tourism might become a catalyst for development, which could eventually kick them off of the island altogether.

But for now, the main issues are noise and garbage. Zhao and other islanders pooled some of their money last year to put up a billboard near the dock telling visitors to keep their voices down and to clean up after themselves. “We care about the environment most,” Zhao says. “After all, it is the only thing we’ve got here.”

Before he moved to Yushan at the age of 15, Zhao lived in a small Shanghai lane house. As part of a national campaign to send city dwellers to the countryside, Zhao’s parents volunteered to help improve the island’s living conditions. He remembers how they lived in a shabby and leaky wooden hut. Weeds grew everywhere. Under the leadership of urbanites, the villagers — back then about 200 people — repaired their houses, planted fruit trees that suited the island’s soil, and started fishing in Lake Tai. “Before that, they only farmed some grains to keep themselves alive,” Zhao says.

The island is divided into East Village and West Village, separated by 500 meters of orchards whose trees grow tea and fruits such as wolfberries, loquats, and oranges. Zhao admits that he welcomes tourists who buy his fruit and Biluochun tea — a type of green tea that is a local specialty. Half a kilo of leaves can earn him up to 1,000 yuan ($150). “We can make much more directly from the visitors than from selling to middlemen,” he tells Sixth Tone. This extra boost of about 30,000 yuan a year is welcome. Zhao and his wife each have pensions that pay them just 500 yuan a month — enough to live on, but not much beyond that.

The island’s lack of modern amenities does have its inconveniences. The stony, uneven paths are hard on the island’s seniors and their painful joints. Many still do farmwork and have to carry heavy loads. Xu Guangfu, who just turned 73, says people never retire: They just work until they no longer can. “It’s a lifestyle that has been passed down for generations, and those who can’t deal with it have moved away,” he says in heavily accented Suzhounese. Every morning before sunrise, the wiry Xu still goes fishing in his wooden boat.

The island’s facilities are also nonexistent: The nearest shop is 20 minutes away by boat in Dongshan Town, as is the hospital. But Xu isn’t worried about medical emergencies — in his memory, islanders have rarely needed urgent care. Yushan’s people might be old, but they’re fit and lean, he says. They’re not afflicted with what he calls “the three highs”: high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high body fat percentage. In the city, Xu says, “many men in their early 30s already have big bellies.”

The island’s isolation also means that children and grandchildren — who have all moved away — don’t come to visit very often. There used to be a school on the island, but it closed as the number of pupils dwindled. There are no more children currently on the island, and the old school building looks like it might collapse at any moment.

Yang Yujuan is one of a few islanders who saw the potential business opportunity in the hidden paradise early on. “The air is so fresh on the island, but it won’t do us any good unless we share it with outsiders,” says the 72-year-old while preparing dinner in her kitchen. With help from her son, who lives in Suzhou, Yang renovated the family’s two-story wooden house into a restaurant and one of the island’s homestays. She also bought a speedboat last year that can reach the mainland in three minutes, and now offers pick-up services at 200 yuan a trip.

Almost every weekend, she hosts guests from Shanghai. Her only advertisements are through word of mouth. “Shanghai people have probably been to every vacation spot in the area and are just so happy to find another hidden place like Yushan Island,” she says with a smile.

Zhu Qiaoying fell in love with Yushan Island the first time she visited back in 2014. Now 59 and living across the water in Dongshan Town, she takes a boat to the island almost every day to tend to her trees, chickens, and ducks on a plot of land that she bought some years ago. “I plan to move here officially next year,” she says, adding that she appreciates the peaceful and relaxing island lifestyle. “It’s a good thing that the island hasn’t been developed into a rural tourism spot yet,” she says. “If one day tourists start to flood the island, I don’t think I’d come here anymore.”

Despite his misgivings about tourism, earlier this year Zhao rented out his entire five-bedroom house to a senior couple from Shanghai, who now spend half a year in it. He says visitors bring some life to the island. “Otherwise I can only talk to my wife and the dog,” he says. Zhao and his wife bought a boat, which — with help from their son — they redecorated into a cozy houseboat.

Painted white and adorned with blue curtains, the boat gently bobs on the waves. Inside, the elderly couple has everything they need: a bed, some furniture, a coal stove to fry the tea leaves they sell to tourists, and Wang Wang the puppy, who barks at anyone who gets near. “I feel so fortunate to be living on the lake,” Zhao says. “Here is where my heart belongs.”

Editor: Kevin Schoenmakers.

(Header image: A senior resident walks home on Yushan Island, Jiangsu province, April 11, 2018. Fan Yiying/Sixth Tone)