Photos

This is my compilation from the Hainan trip.

Hainan 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, all but three percent of its land mass is on Hainan Island (Hainan Dao), from which the province takes its name. To say "Hainan" in China usually refers to Hainan Island itself. The PRC government claims Hainan's territories to 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 located in the South China Sea, separated from Guangdong's Leizhou Peninsula to the north by a shallow and narrow strait. It has an area of 33,920 square kilometers, making China's southernmost province also its smallest. For centuries Hainan was part of Guangdong province, but in 1988 this resource-rich tropical island became a separate province. The capital is Haikou. The Island is home to a new strategic naval harbor that has been dug through the mountainside.
Hainan Island was called the Pearl Cliffs, Fine Jade Cliffs,and the Fine Jade Land. The latter two gave rise to the province's abbreviation, Qióng, referring to the greenery cover on the island.

(from Wikipedia, edited by serp2000)