Hainan

Hainan is an island and the southernmost province of China, consisting of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. Its name literally means "South of the Sea". The province has a land area of 33,920 square kilometers (13,100 sq mi), of which Hainan Island is 32,900 square kilometers (12,700 mi2) and the rest is over 200 islands scattered across three archipelagos: Zhongsha, Xisha and Nansha. It was part of Guangdong from 1950 to 1988. After 1988, Hainan was made a province of its own. As part of the reform and opening up program, it was designated as a special economic zone by Deng Xiaoping. The Han population, who compose a majority of the population at 82%, speak a wide variety of languages including Be, Hainam Min, Standard Chinese, Yue Chinese, Cantonese, Hakka Chinese, etc. Indigenous peoples such as the Hlai, a Kra–Dai-speaking ethnic group, are native to the island and compose 15% of the population. Their native languages include the Hlai languages. The Hlai are recognized by the Chinese government as one of the country's 56 ethnic groups. Speakers of Be, despite speaking a Kra-Dai language, are reckoned officially as ethnically Han Chinese. Hainan is also home to the Jiamao language, of disputed provenance. There are ten major cities and ten counties in Hainan Province. The capital of the province is Haikou, on the northern coast of Hainan Island, while Sanya is a well-known tourist destination on the southern coast. The other major cities are Wenchang, Sansha, Qionghai, Wanning, Wuzhishan, Dongfang and Danzhou. According to China's territorial claims, several disputed territories in the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands (Nansha) and Paracel Islands (Xisha), are administered under Sansha city of the province. While the Paracels are fully under China's...