Hainan
From Wikitravel
Contents
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. It has been popular with Russian tourists for decades. Now it is being promoted as "China's Hawaii". 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
Haikou at the North end and Sanya at the South end are connected by three highways — East coast, West coast and through the hilly center. More-or-less any significant place on the island is on, or at least close to, one of these highways. As anywhere in China, there are busses to almost anywhere.
[edit] Talk
As anywhere in China, Mandarin is the lingua franca; nearly everyone can speak it. Due to the proximity with Guangdong, many locals have a functional command of Cantonese as well.
As elsewhere in China, English is not widespread but some people speak it quite well. Staff at the main hotels and beach resorts will usually have a functional command of English. Hainan is a traditional destination for Russians escaping their winters, so many shop keepers and restaurant staff know some Russian, and much signage is in (bad!) Russian. However, trying to engage anyone in a conversation more often than not will prove fruitless.
The local Han Chinese speak Hainanese. It is a variant of Minnan, but differs significantly from other variants and is not mutually intelligible with them. Hainanese is considered difficult to learn even by speakers of other Minnan dialects as it employs many unusual consonants which have no equivalent 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.
The Li people, who are the largest non-Han minority on the island, speak a language that is distantly related to Thai and Lao.
[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
The Singapore-based firm Asia Pacific Breweries [2] have a brewery on Hainan and their Anchor beer is common all over the island. As anywhere is China, a range of both Chinese and imported beers are widely available as well. Hainan also has a number of locally-brewed pineapple-based beers, odd but worth a try.
See the drink section of the China article for information on other booze; Hainan is much like any other province for this.
[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
Zhanjiang is the nearest mainland city. For some routes through the region, see Overland Kunming to Hong Kong.
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