Important: Wikitravel is exploring a license upgrade to CC by-sa 3.0, please give your consent or refusal here.

From Wikitravel

Hainan (海南) is an island province at the southernmost part of China, just across the Gulf of Tonkin from Vietnam. "Hainan" literally means "South of the Ocean."

[edit] Understand

At one point, Hainan was considered a backwater and used as a place of exile for failed officials.

Today, it is undergoing heavy tourist-oriented development with various international hotel chains establishing resorts, especially in the Sanya area. The entire island has been declared a Special Economic Zone.

[edit] Regions

• The hilly center of the island is home to various ethnic minorities, with many involved in the tourist industry.
• Much of the coast has beaches.

[edit] Cities

• Haikou - in the North, the capital
• Baoting - toward the South, in the hills
• Bo'ao - on the East coast
• Sanya - in the South, main tourist destination
• Wenchang (文昌市) - in the north-east coast of Hainan Island
• Wuzhishan - in the central highlands

[edit] Other destinations

• Yalong Bay - resort area near Sanya

[edit] Get in

Haikou and Sanya have airports with regular flights to various Chinese cities. There are also some flights from Southeast Asia.

Trains run daily from Guangzhou and Beijing (the trains are loaded onto ferries to cross the sea) with stops at both Haikou and Sanya.

You can also reach Hainan by boat. Buses take the ferry.

[edit] Get around

[edit] Talk

The local Han Chinese speak a variant of Minnan known as Hainanese. This variant differs significantly in pronunciation with the more well known Amoy/Taiwanese variant or the Teochew variant, and is not mutually intelligible with either of them. Hainanese is considered difficult to learn even by speakers of other Minnan dialects as it employs many unusual consonants which have no equivalant in any other Chinese "dialects" or Western languages, and has an odd tone structure. Nevertheless, learn a little of the language if you can, as locals are very proud of their language, and even knowing a few basic greetings will get you acquainted with the locals much more easily. They realise that Hainanese is difficult even for native speakers of other Chinese "dialects", and much more so for foreigners, so they'll politely correct any pronunciation errors you make. Due to the proximity with Guangdong, many locals have a functional command of Cantonese as well. The Li people, who are the largest non-Han minority on the island, speak a language that is distantly related to Thai and Lao.

As Hainan is a major tourist destination for Chinese tourists, all educated people, include all those you will most likely meet as a tourist, will be fluent in Mandarin. English is not commonly spoken, though staff at the main hotels and beach resorts will have a functional command of English.

The volume of Russian tourists mean that many shop keepers and restaurant staff know enough Russian to sell you goods, but trying to engage anyone in a conversation more often than not will prove fruitless. Much signage is in (bad!) Russian.

[edit][add listing] See

• Sanya Beach - the best and most touristic beach area in all of China
• South Mountain - a large Shaolin Buddhist temple complex along the southernmost point of the island
• Gusong Village in Wenchang - an ancient, unique, beautiful, non-commercial traditional Hainanese village

[edit][add listing] Do

• Cycling - Hainan Bike Tours [1] is run by ex-pats and offers cycling tours around Hainan.

[edit][add listing] Eat

• Hainan Chicken Rice - although it is one of the most famous Hainan dish, Hainanese who moved to other countries probably made it better than the original

[edit][add listing] Drink

[edit][add listing] Sleep

[edit] Stay safe

Be very careful with water sports on Hainan. Government regulation of activities such as parasailing, diving, and boating on Hainan is lax, so staff often provide little or no training to customers, and the equipment can be shoddy. Without adequate safety precautions, these activities can be dangerous, and even fatal.

[edit] Get out