Sitting at the southernmost tip of China, Hainan Province is separated from Guangdong Province on the mainland by the Qiongzhou Strait. Established as a province in April 1988, Hainan covers an area of 34,000 square kilometers, including Hainan Island and the Xisha, Nansha, and Zhongsha islands and their surrounding territorial waters. Hainan includes people of Han, Li, Miao and Hui backgrounds who live happily together. The population of the province has reached 6.7 million, among which 1 million are members of ethnic minorities and 1.2 million returned overseas Chinese.
A promising future lies ahead for Hainan’s tourist industry. Its two main pillars of tourist interest are Haikou and Sanya. The major drawing cards of the former are the Tomb of Hai Rui, Memorial Temple of Five Lords (Wugongci) and coconut tree groves in Dongjiao County. The latter offers a variety of choices such as the Remotest End of the Earth and Corner of the Ocean (Tianya Haijiao), Bay of Greater East Sea, Monkeys Island at Nanwan, Center of Touring Stockade Villages of the Li and Miao Peoples, and National Holiday Center ay Yalongwan.
What particularly attracts tourists, both domestic and foreign, to Hainan is its characteristic beauty of south China with sunshine, beaches, sea water and hot springs. As a result if recent efforts Hainan has completed and put into use a series of holiday resorts with high-level hotels, becoming a fabulous competitor in the tourist market of East Asia. Leading festival are the Hainan International Festival of Coconuts and “Third Day of Third Lunar Month” Festival.
(china.org.cn)
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