Hainan

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Introduction

Hainan

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Hainan (海南) is one of the newest provinces in China, only being split off from Guangdong province in 1988, and the smallest by land area. The province is made up of several different islands the largest being Hainan Island, which the province is named after. Hainan Island has been part of China for most of its history although Han Chinese migration has always been slow. Even today a large percentage of the population are minority groups. Large populations of people settled Hainan during the Song to the Ming dynasty. The local Li population rebelled but the Ming goverment brought in Miao soldiers a different minority group from Guizhou, to supress the rebellion. Many of the Maio people stayed in Hainan after the war was over.

During the 1920s and 30s the island was a center for communist activity. The communist allied themselves with the Li people to fight against the Japanese during the occupation. Even with the strong communist presences on the island it still was one of the last places the communist took control of in May of 1950. Many people thought Taiwan would fall quickly after Hainan fell but there was no internal rebels in Taiwan and the US 7th fleet arrived in the straights of Taiwan after the outbreak of the Korean War.

The resources of Hainan were not exploited until the 1980s after the liberalizing of the economy. Also Hainan has become a major point for domestic Chinese tourists. The island shares the same latitude with Hawaii and the same climate. There are many beautiful beaches and mountains to explore. Although with the economy of China getting better and it being easier for Chinese to travel to other countries, like Thailand or Malaysia, many of the newly built resorts have been hit by hard times. The middle class Chinese can't afford to make the trip to Hainan and the wealthy can afford to go to some place more exotic.

With that being said Hainan can be a higher end budget traveller dream come true. Lots of resorts with few visitors, except during the national holidays, makes for some great deals. There is also excellent diving, hiking and beaches to explore. Although not super expensive there is very little tight budget options or backpacker infrastructure, like in Thailand, in Hainan.

Geography

Cities

• Haikou - The capital of Hainan, is on the Northern coastline and handles most of the commerce with the mainland.
• Sanya - An attractive city, however mainly used as a transit point on route to the beaches.
• Bo'ao - Bo'ao, a well developed tourist town on the east coast of Hainan is the seat of the Bo'ao Forum for Asia. Bo'ao is somewhat over an hour from Haikou and about two hours from Sanya.

Sights and Activities

• Beaches
• Mountain Hikes
• Nanwan Monkey Island
• Minority Villages - There are 39 minority groups that occupy Hainan. The largest are the Li minority, who number around 1 million, and together with the Miao are the original inhabitants of the island and live in the tropical forests.

Events and Festivals

Weather

Hainan has great weather year round. Although a little more rainy during the winter months (December - February), it is possible to enjoy the ocean pretty much every day of the year. The summers (June - September) can get very hot and humid so make sure to spend plenty of time in the water in order to cool off.

Getting There

By Plane

Haikou (the capital of Hainan) and Sanya (the beach 'capital') are the two main towns on the island and both have airports. Haikou has a small number off international flghts to Bangkok, Taiwan, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Macau and daily domestic flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Kunming, Nanning and Shanghai. The only international flight that Sanya offers is to Hong Kong. It also serves the same domestic routes as Hainan.

By Train

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Getting Around

The main means of transport on Hainan is bus. Good roads link the biggest towns and cities, but they'll quickly turn into dirt roads if you stray away from the most used ones. There aren't any passenger trains.

By Car

Taxis are a common means of transport on Hainan, although few drivers will speak English. The standard metred rate is 10RMB for the first 3km and 2RMB for every km after that.

By Bus

By Boat

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Most of the hotels in Hainan are geared towards Chinese tour groups. A few youth hostels have started to pop up but most of them are Chinese hotels just saying they are youth hostels. The asking price for a room range in price from 100 rmb to 200 rmb depending on the quality. It is always possible to bargain except during a national holiday because that is the only time of year these hotels fill up. Therefore getting a cheap room might be hard to find but finding a good deal on a good room is very easy to find.