“Hello” is the beginning of so many wonderful stories.

On an ordinary day in 1991, Steven Greig from Australia boarded a flight to study in China. He never imagined that this trip would forge a bond with China that would last for over three decades. In 2025, he first heard of a place called Li'an in Lingshui, Hainan. "I didn’t know where it was, but I wanted to go and see it." With this desire, a new story began...

Hinews, Nanguo Metropolis Daily, and the Hainan International Media Center jointly present the sixth episode of the micro-documentary series FTP Shopkeepers: Expat Entrepreneurs, titled ‘A Café Without Borders in Lingshui’.

For over 30 years, Greig has been deeply involved in Sino-Australian foreign trade, promoting bilateral exchanges through commerce. In 2025, through a talent introduction program, he came to Li'an, Lingshui, Hainan, and opened the SUNCOAST Café in the library of the Hainan Lingshui Li'an International Education Innovation Pilot Zone. Everyone affectionately calls Grieg "Big Head".

People from all over the world meet at the café, bringing their own languages and cultures and turning the small shop into a microcosm of diversity. A simple “hello” is the beginning to so many heartwarming stories.

This café has no traditional door, just as the Pilot Zone has no walls. Tangible boundaries have disappeared, and intangible connections are growing strong, along with new opportunities, new friendships, and much more.

Groups of enthusiastic young people exchange ideas and share experiences in the Pilot Zone, moving forward together. Meal after meal, season after season, as the sun shines down on the mountains, and seas, a new world is forming thanks to goodwill and inclusiveness from around the world.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, the world shrinks, but the heart expands. A café without doors, a campus without walls, an open and inclusive free trade port—all are welcome here with open arms.