Sanya Hotels

Hainan (Chinese: 海南) meaning: “South of the Sea”)located in the South China Sea, is the smallest province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, 97% of its land mass is Hainan Island (Hainan Dao), from which the province takes its name. The name “Hainan”, to the people of China, usually refers to Hainan Island itself; however the PRC government claims Hainan’s territories extend to the southern Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, and other disputed marine territory. Hainan is also the largest Special Economic Zone laid out by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the late 1980s.

Hainan Island is separated from Guangdong’s Leizhou Peninsula to the north by the shallow and narrow Qiongzhou Strait. It covers an area of 33,920 square kilometres (13,100 sq mi) and is China’s southernmost province. For centuries Hainan was part of Guangdong province, but in 1988 this resource-rich tropical island became a separate province.

There are a total of eight major cities and ten counties in Hainan. Haikou on the northern coast is the capital whilst Sanya is a well-known tourist destination on the south coast. The Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands, south of Sanya,[2] are claimed by the People’s Rebublic of China and thus considered to form an administrative district of Hainan by them. Sovereignty of the islands is however disputed. The Paracel Islands are claimed by Vietnam, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) whilst the Spratly Islands are subject to claims by Vietnam, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Malaysia, The Philippines, and Brunei.

Hainan Island History
Although human habitation on Hainan Island can be traced back 6,000 years, the island’s first recorded history is found in the Qin Dynasty when the area was administered as Xiang Prefecture. In the West Han Dynasty (100 BC), Xiang Prefecture was divided into the Zhuya and Dan’er prefectures and, in 46 BC, Emperor Yuan combined the two prefectures into Zhulu County. In the Nanbei Dynasty, Emperor Liangwu established the “zhou” system in Hainan and called the area Ya Zhou. Two prefectures, Linzhen and Zhuya, were established in the Sui Dynasty and, in the Tang Dynasty, Yazhou, Qiongzhou, Zhenzhou, Danzhou and Wanzhou were founded. In the Ming Dynasty, Hainan was called Qiongzhoufu, with Danzhou, Wanzhou, Yazhou and 10 counties under administration.