Hainan is China's newest province, having been separated from the provincial authority of Guangdong in the mid-1980s. It is an island north and west of Hong Kong, off the coast of Guizhou Province. Historically, peoples of Malay extraction, the Miao, Zhuang and Li have populated Hainan. The migration route from Thailand, Malaysia to the Philippines, Indonesia and beyond flows through Hainan Island. A sizeable community of Hui (Muslim) peoples also lives on Hainan.
The capital of Hainan is Haikou City. Located in northern part of the island, it is the political, economic, cultural and transportation center of the whole province. In Hainan, the cities Haikou and Sanya are where most tourists congregate.
Hainan is rich in old growth forests. Since the mid-1980s, markets for lumber have expanded. Here we see basic machinery that dates from the Socialist Era, when local self-sufficiency was one of the highest announced values.
In Hainan Province, the climate is warm all the year round with sunshine most of the times. With blue clear sea and fresh air, couple with soft and small sands and beaches, the island is covered with beautiful tropical plants and is definitely one of the well known international tourist spots. There are many famous places to visit, such as the Five Officials Memorial Temple in Haiku City, the scenic spot of End-of-the-Earth, Dadong River and Yalong Bay in Sanya City. The traditional productions are shell carving, pineapple, coconut, mango, and bird-nests.
The Hainan Island is like a circle island. From the center spread outward, the rugged hills, plains and sea were linked one after another. The plain area covers more than 60 per cent of the total island. The main rivers are Nandu River, Wanquan River and Changhua River. It enjoys a tropical monsoon climate and has no frosting period all year round. Those islands in the South Sea are flat and small. Zengmuansha is the hottest place in the southwest.
Hainan Province was established in 1988, and thereafter had been designated as a special economic zone in China, and became one of the key economic cities and the youngest province in China. With the high speed of economic development, it becomes the key production base of tropical products in China, with products include sugar cane, peanuts, tropical fruits, seafood, timber and plastic. Iron ore and some other gold ore materials account for 70 percent of the nation's mine resource. Reservation of oil and natural gas are strong. And there are rich tropical sea and fishery resources as well. The province is the main tropical crop production base of China and is abundant in rubber, cocoa, coconut, tropical fruits. The handicraft articles, such as coconut carving, etc, are all famous. Hainan is a special economic zone since the 1980’s. It is however not part of the economic policies applied on the Chinese mainland. Industrialization has not reached Hainan yet and there are only very few factories, which makes it an even more beautiful as much of the nature has been left untouched. Hainan has many resources such as animals, plants, rich petroleum and natural gas.
The traffic infrastructure on the island is well developed. There are air, railway and water transports around the island. Specially, the railway connects the south and the west part of the island.
Hainan is a multinational region, and there the ethnic villages of Li and Miao are very typical. The hospitable villagers will treat you to traditional food as well as wonderful singing and dancing performances. So the Li and Miao Villages are well worth a visit in Hainan. Nowadays, Hainan cuisine is very popular all over the world, especially the fresh and delicious seafood. Furthermore, Hainan is famous for their beautiful handicrafts, like shell carvings.
Hainan offers many different tourist attractions such as the Baishi ridge scenic zone, the Wanquan River, the Guantang hot spring resort, the Qizhishan, Yalong bay national resort, the Dongjiao coconut plantation and the Hairui tomb. In case you decide to visit Hainan you should definitely find the time to visit some of these attractions. Due to the quick growth of the tourist industry in Hainan at the moment many inferior tourist attractions start to appear to attract tourists. One should try to avoid these and only visit the truly historical attractions.
The Hairui tomb is well worth seeing. It is located in Yabin village Xiuying district of Haikou city. It is the key cultural relic conservation in Hainan. It was built in 1589. Hairui was a famous official in the Ming Dynasty and was known as the incorruptible officer. No matter how corrupt his surroundings were Hairui would act rightfully.
Dongjiao Coconut Plantation is located in Wenchang city. Wenchang city is located in the northeastern part of Hainan. Many famous politicians were born here and the people living there are broad-minded and welcoming. It is said that the coconuts grown in this city make up half of all coconuts in Hainan. All local food specialties are made up of coconut.
Sanya is famous for its tropical beach landscapes. Tianya Haijiao and Dadonghai are two well known beaches. Just imagine that you are lying on the soft beach under beautiful sunshine or that you are walking through the coconut plantation under the blue sky.
By the end of 2000, there were 5 higher education institutions in Hainan, with the number of enrolled students being 18,504 and that of teachers 1,571; 88 specialized secondary schools had 44,127 enrolled students and 3,145 teachers; 503 secondary schools had 435,789 enrolled students and 1,354 teachers; and 4,167 primary schools had 156,735 students and 50,339 teachers. The enrollment rate of school-age children was 99.71%. |
