Objective/Meaning  Under the background of rural revitalization strategy, the integrated development of vernacular culture and ecotourism has become an important way to promote the sustainable development of rural areas. As the place of origin for Mazu culture, Putian City has rich cultural heritage and ecological resources. By exploring the ways to promote rural development through the cultural revitalization and ecological revitalization, it could provide a demonstration for the integration of Fujian and Taiwan.

Methods/Procedures  By using the methods of literature analysis, case study and field investigation, the characteristics of vernacular culture and the current situation of ecotourism development in Putian City were sorted out, and the role of Mazu culture, Puxian opera and traditional crafts in ecotourism was emphatically analyzed. At the same time, the problems existing in the current development process were also summarized, such as insufficient cultural excavation, product homogeneity, low participation of villagers and lack of cross-strait cooperation mechanism. Then, the corresponding optimization strategies were put forward.

Results/Conclusions  The study found that Putian City had special advantages in the integration of vernacular culture and ecotourism, but it was urgent to solve the problems of imbalance between cultural protection and development, insufficient innovation of tourism products, and weak community participation. The countermeasures were put forward including building the development model of “culture as the soul, ecology as the foundation and tourism as the medium”, promoting the activation of intangible cultural heritage, the construction of cultural tourism brand, the development of smart tourism and the participation of village collective economy, as well as deepening the cultural cooperation between Fujian and Taiwan, thus to enhance the cultural recognition and economic sustainability, and to help the rural revitalization and the cross-strait integrated development.