Editor Notes:

Hainan, with its tropical climate and welcoming locals, has long extended its open arms to the world. In recent years, the breakneck development of the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) has seen waves of professionals from around the world traverse the distance to add their own stories to the multitude that together make up Hainan’s shining new chapter on Chinese modernization.

In the series Hainan FTP: My Hainan Story, Hainan International Media Center turns the lens on international faces who have chosen Hainan. We explore what brought them to Hainan and share their accomplishments and opinions in their respective fields, as well as their deepening affection for their new island home. With their unique perspectives, we present a vision of the Hainan FTP that is both authentic and vivid—a land of innovation and opportunity, with an open, accepting, and international community and a genuine desire for mutually beneficial cooperation. They are contributors to Hainan’s development and bridges linking Hainan and the world.

Listen to their stories, experience Hainan’s unique charm, and witness the astonishing changes unfolding in China’s southernmost province and the world’s largest free trade port.

The humble tilapia, which teems in vast schools beneath the waves, is a key bait fish species and a crucial food source. Their appetizing meat, rapid growth cycle, and strong adaptability have ensured their enduring popularity in global aquaculture. Dr. Jørn Thodesen, a fish genetics and nutrition expert from Norway, is their “lion tamer.” It is in Hainan, far from the fjords of his homeland, that he has passionately engineered an unbreakable bond between himself, this species, and Hainan Island over more than two decades.

Twenty-one years ago, Jørn arrived in China at the invitation of Simon Yuan, founder of Hainan Progift Aquatic Products Technology Co., Ltd. Passionate about aquaculture, he transitioned from Beijing to Hainan, bringing Norwegian fish genetics and nutrition know-how to the province and throwing himself wholeheartedly into the cultivation and breeding of tilapia. On this island of opportunity, he heads up a team that conquered one technical problem after another, boosting the growth rate of the Nile tilapia threefold and cultivating an improved variety with better disease resistance and greater adaptability. Thanks in no small part to his efforts, Progift is now the world’s largest breeder and supplier of tilapia. Its superior tilapia fingerlings and advanced breeding techniques have benefited fishery communities, not just in Hainan, but far beyond, injecting strong momentum into the global aquaculture industry.

As a witness and beneficiary of the opportunities and vitality brought about by the development of the Hainan FTP, Jørn believes that Hainan’s favorable natural climate and environment and open, accepting atmosphere are crucial factors in the aquaculture industry’s growth. Looking ahead, he intends to continue promoting international exchanges and collaboration in aquaculture technology in a bid to attract even more experts and scholars to contribute to the industry’s development and transform Hainan into a key industrial innovation hotspot. In September 2025, he was presented with the 2024 Hainan Friendship Award for his outstanding contributions to the province’s economic and social development.