An Introduction to Hainan Province海 南 省 简 介

Abbreviation: Qiong琼
Capital: Haikou
Area: More than 34,000 square kilometers
Population: 7.79 million
Location: On the sea of South China Sea

Hainan Province, the second biggest island, only trailing Taiwan, lies at the southernmost part of China, connecting Guangdong Province with the Qiongzhou Straits. Its western neighbour is the Beibu Gulf and it faces Viet Nam; on its eastern side it borders the South China Sea and faces Taiwan; its southeastern and southern sides face the Philippines, and Malaysia. The province is home to 37 ethnic groups including the Han, Li, Miao and Hui, and the people of Hainan speak the dialects of Hainan, Danzhou, Lin’gao, Cunhua, Maihua, Junhua, Yahua with the minority people speaking the dialects of Li, Miao and Hui. The Hainan dialect is the most popular one in the province.

The province has the smallest land area but the biggest ocean area of any province in China. Its total land area is 34,000 square kilometers while its ocean area adds up to some 2 million square kilometers. The distance from the northeast end to the southwest end of the island is about 290 kilometers and the distance from the northwest end to the southeast end being about 180 kilometers. The archipelagoes of Xisha and Zhongsha are about 300 kilometers to the southeast of Hainan Island; the Nansha Archipwlago is in the south of the South China Sea. The islands in the South China Sea are a necessary route between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, an advantageous position in international oceangoing transportation.

The province is high in the middle and comparatively flat around the edges of the island. Its coastline is 1,528 kilometers long with numerous harbours andsandy beaches. The coastline ecology contains a tropical mangrove belt and coral reefs. Sea level of the archipelagos stands at 4-5 meters on average. The stone island, 14 meters above sea level, is the highest in the Xisha Archipelago.

Mountains surpassing 1,500 meters include the Wuzhi Mountain五指山, the mountain ranges of Yingge, Erzong, Houmi, Yajiada and Diaolu. Located in the middle of the island, the Wuzhi Mountain has a main peak of 1,867.1 meters high and is the highest peak on Hainan Island. The province has 154 rivers folwing into the sea, the top three of which are the Nandu River, the Changhua River and the Wanquan River.

The climate in Hainan is of the tropical monsoon and tropical ocean type. It is hot and warm all the yrar round with plenty of rainfall. Tropical storms and typhoons frequent the island in autumn. Located in the tropical and equatorial belt, Hainan has abundant sunshine, warmth and water. Thirty thousand species of living organism have been detected in the province, accounting for 10 per cent of China’s total. The 3.44 million gectares of arable land make up 42.5 percent of China’s tropical arable land. And the arable land of the province is suitable for agriculture, rubber plants, tropical crops, forestry, animal husbandry and other purposes.

Hainan administers three cities, nine counties, and seven autonomous counties as well as the islands and reefs of the Xisha, Nansha and Zhongsha islands and the territorial waters around them.

In 1988, Hainan was designated a province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the largest SEZ in China, was established there. In 1999, more than 200 key tourism projects have been completed, signaling that the island’s tourism industry has rapidly developed.

The island is served by two international airports and more than 140 civil airlines, including charter lines from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia. It has opened shipping routes to more than 20 countries. In addition, the expressway surrounding the island opened to traffic in late 1999.

Tourists can gorge themselves on cuisine of China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Southeast Asia, and the United States on the island. The development of tourism is playing a significant role in the development of rural and urban construction, transportation, trade and communications on the island. Tourism has become a pillar industry in Hainan, a tropical island in South China. The island’s tropical environment has created conditions favourable for the development of related industries in the province.

Haikou---Tourism Submarine 海口----旅游潜水艇

The first sightseeing submarine made in China completed its trial voyage in Sanya, a city on Hainan Island’s south coast. China is now one of a few countries to manufacture submarines for sightseeing purposes. The 43-seat “Hanglu No 1” is 23.5 meters long, has a displacement of 125 tons and can go to a depth of 50 meters. The vessel uses materials similar to those used for a fuselage of the Boeing-737 for its passenger section, and carbon dioxide-filters keep the air clean in the submarine. The under-water tours last for 50 minutes and opened to tourists in July 1997.

Train Ferry for Hainan 跨海火车渡轮

Designed by the No 708 Institute of the China Shipbuilding and Trading Company and manufactured by the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard, Yuehai Railway 1粤海铁一号, the first Chinese-made train ferry at a cost of 210 million (US $25 million) passed a rigorous series of tests and met design requirements. It began trial operation on December 28, 2002. China’s first-ever maritime rail service was successfully launched on January 7, 2003 with the loading of a locomotive, two freight train cars, and a number of trucks onto a railway ferry. The century-old dream of Dr Sun Yet-sen—a vanguard of the Chinese revolution—of a direct rail link from the Chinese mainland to Hainan Island, has become a reality. The carrier links Hainan with Wuwen County in nearby Guangding Province. The 12.5-nautical-mile (the 24-kilometer-long ferry route ) Qiongzhou Straits had been a bottleneck blocking the development of the island province but the ship is capable of keeping stable while sailing in heavy gales and can travel at a speed of more than 15 knots per hour, and crosses it in more than 40 minutes. It is a big spur to the development of Hainan Province and the exploration of resources in the South China Sea. Its significance lies not just in its being an economic boost but also because it enhances the national defence as well. The maritime rail service is part of the Guangding-Hainan railway which consists of a 139.12-kilometer stretch of track running from Zhanjiang to Hai’an, the ferry crossing and 182 kilometers of track across Hainan’s west coast from Haikou to Sanya, a popular seaside resort on the southern tip of the island. Although using ferries to take trains across the Qiongzho9u Straits can not compare with a marine tunnel in terms of time-saving, transport capacity, all-weather traffic and comfort, it is the best time at present in terms of cost and furthermore, fully met current demands. The ferry was initially limited to handling freight; passengers and their vehicles follow later in 2003. The cost of building a tunnel under the Qiongzhou Straits is estimated at over 20 billion yuan (US$2.41 billion), whereas the entire rail connection; begun in August in 1998, cost 4.5 billion yuan (US$542 million). The line from Zhanjiang to Hai’an has been in use since December 2001. Three ferries eventually ply the Qiongzhou Straits. The first pair will cost 400 million yuan (US$48.19 million). The 12,400-ton ship, which cost 210 million yuan (US$ 25 million) has passed a rigorous series of tests and met design requirements. With a minimum speed of 15 nautical miles per hour, the ferry is 165.4 meters long and 22.6 meters wide. Its main deck, built for a standard load of 4,200 tons, can hold a 40-car freight train or an 18-car passenger train. Its cabins meet the standard of a three-star hotel to provide a comfortable service for passengers. It is also equipped with a black box, radar, a fireproof lighting system, lifesaving equipment and emergency exits, which combine to ensure an evacuation time of 30 minutes or less. The ferry is gauged capable of safely navigating the straits in gale-force winds. A second similar ferry came into service in April and the railroad from Haikou to Sanya opened to traffic late in 2003. Guangdong Province, one of China’s economic powerhouse, is one of the country’s leading export processing bases, while Hainan Province, China’s biggest special economic zone, has grown slowly and remained comparatively backward due to its restrictive transport connection. The new railway link in place, the movement of people and goods between the island and the mainland has been greatly improved.

The two provinces and the Ministry of Ministry of Railways decided during the 1980s to build the Yuehai (Guangdong-Hainan) Passage, which comprises two railways and the train ferry. Work started in 1997.

Hive Fingers Mountain 五指山

Five Fingers Mountain, known as the highest mountain in Hainan Province, is the symbol of Hainan and one of the famous mountains in China. It lies horizontally in the southwest part of Qiongzhong County. Thanks to prolonged natural erosion, its saw-like ridges rise high and olw, hence the name Five Fingers Mountain. The second finger of the Wuzhi is the highest, with an elevation of 1,867 meters, 343 meters higher than the number one of the five mountains in China—Mount Tai. The third, fourth, and fifth fingers are connected each stands independently, forming an extraordinary scene. Walking into the primitive forest, the tourist finds the canopy shelter the sun, gigantic trees point sharply to the sky, steep slopes and vertical cliffs, which can make the tourist’s heart throb with excitement. Looking from the top of the Five Fingers Mountain, the tourist feels that the cloud sea arises from below, just like having a space walk.

In a sunny day with a blue sky, the tourist can have a wonderful view of the Hainan Sea and the tiny little islands from this vantage point. In the early morning, the tourist can watch the sunrise with radiating rays of golden light; in the evening, the tourist can enjoy the sunset, as the sky and sea turn all red. There are a large quantity or precious animals, birds, and vegetation in the forest. There this is an ideal place for vocation, adventure and scientific studies.

Nansha Islands 南沙群岛

Composed of more than 25 islands and over 230 reef shoals and sand banks, the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters encompass 823,000 square kilometers, approximately the size of 80 Hong Kongs or 23 Taiwans. This accounts for more than one quarter of China’s 3-million-square-kilometer marine territory. In addition to the rich fishery resources, in this part of the South China Sea, which may yield a gross catch of 500,000 tons of fish every year. Nansha also has estimated oil resources of 35 billion tons and natural gas resources of 8,300 billion cubic meters.

Known as “the Second Persian Gulf” for its oil and gas reserves, Nansha is also a vital communication line for China’s foreign trade, as 21 out of the country’s 39 navigation routes to other nations go through Nansha.

The first generation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “Nansha guardians” set up the reef posts in the 1980s, when UNESCO commissioned China to establish an ocean logical and meteorological observatory

River of Ten-Thousand Springs 万泉河

Wanquan River is the third largest river in Hainan Province. It originates at two sources, the south source from the east of Wuzhishan and the north source from the south of Limu Mountain. With a total length of about 160 kilometers, it winds through four counties, encompassing 1,683 square kilometers. Legend claims that long time ago, a group of evils plagued this area. The people suffered a great deal they cried day and night. Their crying had touched the gods in the sky. Therefore, the gods turned the tears of the people into thousands of streams which converge into a great river and in a minute drown the devils and carry them far out into the big sea. Since then, people residing there have lived a comfortable and peaceful life and the river is thus named as River of Ten Thousand Springs.

The scenery at Wanquan River is unique. It combines greatness and grace, the hard and the soft. At its upper reach, the scenery is one of adventure and grandeur, characterized by the ups and downs of the fluctuating mountain ridges, the steep and narrow valleys and cliffs, and the waterfall punching from high above making thundering roars.

At the middle reach, the river widens to form a flat, smooth, rippling lake surface, constituting a totally different drama. At the lower reach, the part, which flows through the Qionghai County, has already been developed into a tourist site. Accra trees mingled the cotton trees with red flowers. All these add great flavour to the charm of this tropical river. Jiaji Duck and Wanquan carps are famous local favourites produced abundantly in the area.

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