Hainan Island is China's most southerly province and the second largest island after Taiwan, the largest ocean island and the smallest land province in China, located in the South China Sea about 60 minutes south of Hong Kong by air. The closest city by flight to Hainan Island is Guangzhou (Canton), only 50 minutes to Haikou, the capital city of Hainan Island, and 70 minutes to Sanya.
With a landmass of about 34,000 sq km, Hainan Island is made up of Hainan, Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands. The province has a total coastline of about 1,529 km and covers a sea area of about 2.1 million sq km. Hainan Island is a vaulted mountain which is high in the middle with lower elevations on its surrounding areas. Its coastline is 1528 kilometers long with sandy beaches. Hainan Island is a combination of Mountains (25.4%), hills (13.3%), mesa (32.6%), and savanna (28.7%). Many swimming areas are less than 2 meters' deep, with bottoms full of sand, as far as 200 meters out from the shore.
Except the capital city Haikou, Sanya is the second largest city on Hainan Island, where is the key attraction of the island, most tourists congregate and there is the most beach and famous tourism attractions. If you will plan a holiday in Hainan Island, we will suggest you to have minimum 2/3 of your vacation in Sanya. We will discover the fantastic land to you. Please click here for more information about Sanya . Boao and Xinglong are also well-known.
Founded in April 1988, Hainan Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is one of the five SEZs in China. Over the past two decades, remarkable progress has been made in Hainan's economic and social development. The appearance of cities and villages has also undergone profound changes.
Provincial Capital:Haikou
Area: The size of Hainan (33,920 km2) is comparable to the size of Belgium. The PRC, however, regard it as the second largest island, since Taiwan (35,980 km2) is considered the largest. To the west of Hainan is the Gulf of Tonkin. Wuzhi Mountain (1,876 m) is the highest mountain on the island.
Geography: Hainan, separated by the Qiongzhou Strait from the Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong, is the largest island administered by the People's Republic of China.
Population: More than 8 million people live in Hainan, one of the famous overseas Chinese districts. There are Li, Miao, Hui and other ethnic minorities, more than 1,2million people. Various ethnic minorities still retain their unvarnished customs and living habits.
The population is density of Hainan is low compared to most Chinese coastal provinces. Compared to Taiwan, and to other islands of the Sinosphere, Hainan has both fewer mountains and more plains.
Administrative Division: In the official PRC territorial claim, Hainan Province includes not just one island, but also some two hundred South China Sea Islands. Whilst the containment of the South China Sea Islands means that Hainan Province has a very large water body, it has a disproportionally small land area. James Shoal (Zengmu Ansha), which is presently marked by the PRC, signifies the country's southernmost border. But Malaysia also claims that it is on their continental shelf.
Climate: Hainan has a tropical moist monsoonal climate. Its annual temperature change is less than 15 degrees Celsius. The coldest months are January and February when the temperatures drop to 16 to 21 degrees Celsius; the hottest months are July and August, and the temperatures are 25 to 29 degrees Celsius. Except for the mountainous regions in the central part of the island, the daily average temperature in Hainan is above 10 degrees Celsius, and the integrated temperature during the growing season of the crops reaches eight thousand to nine thousand degree Celsius-days. The summer in the north is hot and, for more than 20 days in a year, the temperature can be higher than 35 degrees Celsius. The average annual precipitation is 1500 to 2000 mm and can be as high as 2400 mm in central and eastern areas, and as low as 900 mm in the coastal areas of the southwest. The eastern part of Hainan lies in the path of typhoons, and 70% of the annual precipitation is derived from typhoons and the summer rainy season. Major flooding occurs due to the typhoons and they can cause many problems for the local residents.
Economy
Hainan's economy is predominantly agricultural, and more than a half of the island's exports are agricultural products. Hainan's elevation to province-level status (1988), however, was accompanied by its designation as China's largest "special economic zone", the intent being to hasten the development of the island's plentiful resources. Prior to this, the province had a reputation for being a "Wild West" area, largely untouched by industrialisation; even today there are relatively few factories in the province. Tourism plays an important part of Hainan's economy, thanks largely to its tropical beaches and lush forests. The central government has encouraged foreign investment in Hainan and has allowed the island to rely to a large extent on market forces.[35]
Hainan's industrial development largely has been limited to the processing of its mineral and agricultural products, particularly rubber and iron ore. Since the 1950s, machinery, farm equipment, and textiles have been manufactured in the Haikou area for local consumption. A major constraint on industrial expansion has been an inadequate supply of electricity. Much of the island's generating capacity is hydroelectric, and it is subject to seasonal fluctuations in stream and river flows.[36]
In December 2009, the government of China announced that it plans to establish Hainan as an "international tourist destination" by 2020.[37] This announcement contributed to a surge in the province's economy, with a year-on-year increase in investment of 136.9% in the first three months of 2010. Hainan's real estate sector accounted for more than one third of the province's economic growth.[38]
According to the Statistical Communiqué of National Economic and Social Development of the statistical authority, the GDP of Hainan Province in 2017 was 446.3 billion yuan (66.1 billion US dollars), up by 7.0 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the value added of the primary industry was 97.9 billion yuan (14.5 billion US dollars), up by 3.6 percent, that of the secondary industry was 99.7 billion yuan (14.8 billion US dollars), up by 2.7 percent and that of the tertiary industry was 248.6 billion yuan (36.8 billion US dollars), up by 10.2 percent. The value added of the primary industry accounted for 21.95 percent of the GDP; that of the secondary industry accounted for 22.34 percent; and that of the tertiary industry accounted for 55.71 percent. The per capita GDP in 2017 was 48,430 yuan (7,173 US dollars).[39]
Free trade zone
On April 13, 2018, Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping announced a plan to gradually make the island into a pilot free trade zone by 2020, and transform the entire island into a free trade port by the year 2025. This will involve inviting foreign and multi-national companies to set up their regional and international headquarters in Hainan.[58] Goods and services would be subject to low or even no tariffs. The zone will become China's largest free trade zone, and the first trade port since 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded.[59] Part of the plan is to establish exchanges in commodities and carbon trading, international energy, and shipping. Emphasis will also be placed on the development of service industries including tourism, the Internet, healthcare, finance, as well as conference and exhibitions hosting.[59]
Since the announcement in April 2018, Hainan had signed 159 contracts with major companies. In September 2018, China National Travel Service Group, China's biggest travel business conglomerate, relocated its headquarters from Beijing to Haikou. In October 2018, Baidu and Hainan signed a deal to built a 10-billion-yuan ($1.45 billion USD) eco-village.[60]
In September 2018, a symposium was held in Beijing on foreign investment projects in Hainan. During that gathering, the Hainan government signed contracts with 26 international companies including Globevisa Group, Merlin Entertainments Group, Viacom, Ikea Group, Mapletree Investments, Avis Budget Group, Star Cruises, and Boehringer Ingelheim.[60]
To bring talented workers to Hainan, in November 2018 the Hainan government held a recruitment fair in Beijing in an effort to bring 7,471 people to Hainan to work in government agencies, companies, and other institutions.[61]
Established prior to this announcement, and currently in existence, are the following economic and technological development zones:
- Haikou Free Trade Zone
- Haikou New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
- Yangpu Economic Development Zone
