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Haikou

The history of Haikou originates from Han Dynasty. In 110B.C. (the first year of Western Han Dynasty), General Lu Bode of Fubo conquered Baiyue, and set two prefectures-Zhuya and Zhan'er-and 16 counties in Hainan. Haikou was under Zhuyadaimao County. In Tang Dynasty, Haikou became a port of Qiongzhou, and it was the transportation hub to the mainland. In Song Dynasty, in order to consolidate the frontier, Haikoupu was established, hence the name. In 1858 (the eighth year of Emperor Xianfeng), Haikou was opened up to be a trading port, the name was changed into Qiongzhou kou. After that, the consulates of various countries were set up here gradually. In the early days of the People's Republic of China, its name was changed to Haikou. It was liberated on 23, April 1950, and the People's Government was founded on June 1, the same year. After liberation, Haikou was a city under the jurisdiction of the provincial government of Guangdong, and was the capital of Hainan administrative. In March 1983, it was declared to be an open city. In 1988, it became the capital city of Hainan Province.

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Geography

Haikou lies in 19°57′04″-20°05′11″ North Latitude and 110°10′18″-110°23′05″ East Longitude, and in the north of Hainan Island. It borders on Qiongzhou Strait in the north, and is separated from the mainland for about 18 nautical miles. It is contiguous to Qiongshan (a city) in the southeast, and is close to Chengmai County in the west. The longest part is 25.6km from east to west, and the widest part is 15.1km from north to south. The circumference of the border is 84.75km, and the total area is 244.55sq km. The planned area is 1127sq km, and construction area of modern city is 34sq km. Haikou is plain of the seashore for the most, and mainly consists of new and old deposits. High in the south and low in the north, it is low and flat.

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Climate

Haikou is at the northern edge of the torrid zone, and it belongs to the monsoon tropical zone. The annual temperature is 23.8C° on average. Summer is long and winter is short. There is no obvious change in different seasons. Daytime is long, so it is rich in sunlight. The rainfall here is plentiful, and the wind is a little bit strong. Every year, from April to October is the active period of tropical storm and typhoon, and most of them occurred between August and September. May to October is the rainy season, and most of the rainfall comes in September, and the average precipitation is 300.7mm. July and august are the hottest months with the average temperature about 29C°, and January, the coldest, with the temperature about 17.2C°. It is suitable for tourism in all seasons, and the golden period is from October to the next April. When the north is covered with white snow, Haikou is still in green.

　The Annual Average Temperature and Precipitation of Haikou

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Natural Ecological Environment

The ecological environment in Haikou is perfect. The air pollution index is only 28, and it is superior to the first grade of the country's standard. It is the No.1 of all the large and medium sized cities in the country in terms of air quality. The quality of the groundwater in Haikou is fine, and it is basically mineral water. It is of the first class in the world, and the drinking water in city is up to the standard. Nowadays, 36.7% of the city area are covered with green. The a forestation rate is 40%, and the average public green belt is 8.5sq km. When you are walking in Haikou, you will find lines of green trees and beautiful flowers, and people can feel that there is life everywhere.

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Economy

Ever since China carried out its reform and opening-up policy, especially during the 10 years of development after the establishment of Hainan Special Economic Zone, the economy in Haikou has made dramatic progress by taking advantage of the preferential policy of special economic zone, complying with international practice, adhering to reform, attaching great importance to creation, rapidly establishing the mechanism of a market economy, strengthening communications at home and abroad, attracting foreign capital widely and increasing investment. By now, Haikou has been upgraded to one of the leading cities in China. Economic development has consolidated the foundation since the adjustment of the economic structure in 1998. The economic growth rate reached 8.6% and GDP amounted to RMB 11.009 billion in 1998. Compared with the statistics in 1978 before reform and opening up, Haikou realized 17.7 times growth in GDP, 5.8 times in per capita GDP, 301 times in fixed assets investments, 46 times in fiscal revenue, 25 times in industry and 4.2 times in agriculture. Compared with the statistics in 1987 before the founding of the Special Economic Zone, Haikou achieved 47.5 times growth in electricity generation, 5 times in citizen's income. The actual amount of foreign capital investment reached US$4.57 billion from 1987 to 1998.

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Culture

Hainan culture is the combination of traditional culture of mainland China, the culture of the border areas of south China and foreign cultures. On one hand, it maintains its traditional culture forms, such as Qiong Opera, Junpo Festival, Huanghua Festival, dragon and lion dances. On the other hand, it absorbs modern culture forms, such as Karaoke, KTV, singing and dancing performance, golf, bowling, sailing and surfing. Tourists can not only appreciate bamboo pole dance and coconut shell dance, but also play golf and go sailing on the sea.

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A Survey of Tourist Industry

Haikou, also known as Coconut City, lies in the northernmost end of Hainan Island, which is the second largest island in China. It is the capital city of the largest special economic zone in China. It is at the western bank of the estuary of Nandu River, which is the largest river on the island. Hence the name Haikou. Tourism in Haikou develops at the same speed with the growth of Hainan Special Economic Zone. Haikou is unique in tourism resources. It lies in the northern part of tropical belt, and it belongs to Tropical Island Monsoon Climate. It is suitable for tour all year round. Facing sea on 3 sides, Haikou enjoys fresh air and is selected to be a Trial City of Health by World Health Organization of the United Nations. It is one of the few coastal cities with unpolluted ecological environment.

Along the coastline stretching 27.25 kilometers long, Haikou has a lot of sea bathing beach land and resorts with nice sand and picturesque views, such as Holiday Beach, Xixiu Beach, Baishamen Beach, Xinbu Beach, among which Holiday Beach is the best place for sea swimming, bathing and sightseeing of the city, while Xixiu Beach is the training and racing base for Chinese National Sailing Team. Haikou is rich in tourist resources. It has Wugong Temple, which is the famous tourist attraction in Haikou, Tomb of Mr. Hai Rui, and Xiuying Ancient Cannon Fort, which is one of the 4 ancient cannon forts. Huanhua Festival, usually on January 15 in Chinese Lunar Calendar, is an important folk activity. Hainan International Coconut Festival has gained its popularity at home and abroad. Newly built wanly park, Jinniuling Park, and Seaside Park are attractive to tourists.

At present, Haikou boasts 73 hotels for tourists with 10,813 guestrooms and 20,587 beds. 24 hotels are star-rated. There are two 5-star hotels, three 4-star hotels, fourteen 3-star hotels, and five 2-star hotels in Haikou. Haikou owns 174 travel agencies, among which 39 are international travel agencies and 135 are domestic ones. 560 tourist buses with over 15 seats and 1,800 tour guides with certificates issued by China National Tourism Administration are in service in Haikou. In 1998, tourists arrivals reached 2.5678 million, of which 0.1462 million were overseas tourists, and Haikou received 21,900 same-day tourists, who are mainly from Hong Kong by cruises.

Haikou Meilan International Airport has already been put into operation with a passenger capacity of 6 million each year. It will sustain its position as one of the top 10 airports in China. Expressways going west to Yangpu and east to Sanya from Haikou and a ring road on the island will be completed by the end of 1999. The Yuehai Underground Railway Tunnel, which is 18km long below Qiongzhou Qiongzhou strait, is under construction now. Its completion in 2001 will ultimately solve the transportation problem of Hainan Island with the Mainland.

Haikou has convenient facilities for food, entertainment and shopping. It owns a lot of restaurants at various levels and you will find all kinds of local flavors in the food streets. Coconut series and 4 kinds of famous Hainan dishes with local flavors (Wenchang Chicken, Dongshan Mutton, Jiaji Duck, and Hele Crab) are available to tourists in hotels and restaurants. Nightlife is colorful in Haikou. You can easily get access to amusement programs, recreational parks, nightclubs and shopping centers.

With the project of becoming one of the Top Tourist Cities in China, Haikou makes unremitting efforts to improve its level of service in terms of food, accommodation, transportation, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment. The tourist market is disciplined and the tourist industry is transforming form supplying sightseeing products alone to an integration of sightseeing, vacation and convention. Haikou now has become one of the most popular tourist cities in South China.

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City Tree

Coconut palm is the symbol of Hainan and it has typical characteristics of the south. Coconut palms can be found everywhere in Haikou. Standing straight and exuberant all year round, coconut palm represents the straightforwardness, union and hardworking of Haikou people. With sea on 3 sides, Haikou is no doubt a pleasant land with bright sunshine, blue seawater, nice beach land, fresh air and green coconut palms. Coconut palm is approved to be the city tree of Haikou on the First Session of the Ninth Haikou People's Congress on July 31, 1987.

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Tourism Logo

Symbolizing an eye of a tourist, the logo of Haikou tourism is round. The sun indicates the sunshine, the coconut palms refer to Coconut City, the seawater indicates Haikou is a coastal city and the construction outline indicates it's being new. The pattern implies the overall image of Hainan tourism and it reflects the unique feature of the tropical and coastal city. H.K.T stands for the abbreviation of "Haikou Tourism"

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Local Culture

• Drama and Opera
  Qiong Opera
  Qiong Opera is the main kind of opera in Hainan. It originated from the tune of Geyang, Jiangxi. In Ming Dynasty, it was introduced to Hainan Island by Minnan and Chaoshan. Qiong Opera then came into being after having absorbed the folk ditty. Qiong Opera has a history of 360 years. The traditional repertoire of opera are very rich. Each type of its role has it own traditional performance art and different mask, different tune. The types of role are comparatively complete. Qiong Opera has strong local characteristics. It is a popular artistic form in Hainan area, Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong and Southeast Asian countries with overseas Chinese with family origin in Hainan.
  
  Puppet plays actors with human
  Hainan's Puppet Plays with Human Actors is originated in Lingao County, a neighboring county of Haikou. Much different from the puppet plays of other places, the stage of Lingao Puppet Play is the same with that of an ordinary theatre: there's no curtain on the stage, the puppet and its manipulator play the same role. The chief accompanying music is produced by double suona horn. The actor makes himself up and then appears on the stage with the puppet. The puppet is finely made. With moving eyes and mouth, the puppets look as if they have life. Sometimes the actor and the puppet coordinates in the play. The actor manipulates the puppet and performs his own role at the same time. Because of its special local color and different presentation, this kind of puppet play has been much liked by people both at home and abroad.
   

• Holidays and Festival Celebrations
  Hainan International Coconut Festival
  From the ancient times, Hainan was known as "Coconut Island", and the coconut palm is the symbol of Hainan. During April 3rd-7th, 1992, the first Hainan International Coconut Festival was held. After that, from every end of March to the beginning of April, there will be the coconut festival. And the festival has 8-year history. It has become an influential celebration in Hainan. Coconut Festival is the combination of touring, culture, customs, physical sports and trade. The aim of the festival is "developing tourist industry, culture exchange, trade promotion, and further opening up". It attracts lots of tourists and businessmen at home and abroad with the characteristic of Hainan folk customs and culture. It fulfils the function of "let the world know Hainan and let Hainan go to the world step by step". In 1993, the General Secretary Jiang Zemin attended the Second Hainan International Coconut Festival and the Fifth Anniversary of Economic Zone of Hainan, and he delivered an important speech at the meeting.
  
  Junpo Festival
  After the spring festival, in the February of lunar calendar, people in Hainan will be in Junpo Festival. Having Junpo Festival is a typical custom in Hainan. Junpo is divided into "Gong Period" and "Po Period" according to the sex of the consecrated gods. It is mainly a custom to offer sacrifices to ancestors and historic figures. Because of the difference between the consecrated gods, the "Gong Period" and "Po Period" of different villages are not the same. When there is Junpo Festival, people usually form a unit in a county or village. They will make large offering sacrifices, shoulder the ancestor of Gong and the ancestor of Po to look around the village, and invite the friends to home. The scale is very large, and the food is superior to that of Spring Festival. Dragon and lion team will go to every family to visit. In the evening, the families in the village collect the money together to invite the opera troupe to perform Qiong Opera. The earliest record of the festival is in Song Dynasty. Now the grandest celebration is the "Po Period" in Xinpoliangsha, Qiongshan. Liangsha Po is Mrs. Xian in Sui Dynasty. The "Po Period" of Liangsha is during February 9th-12th of the lunar calendar. At that time, the ancestor of Po will look around the village, and Taoist Priest will make folk dance. It will fascinate you by some mysterious customs.
  
  Flower Exchanging Festival
  Every evening of January 15th of lunar calendar, the city of Qiongshan, which is near Haikou, is in the sea of flower. This is a unique Flower Exchanging Festival, which is held once a year. Flower Exchanging Festival is a folk festival in Qiongshan, and it has a long history. It is said that it began from Tang Dynasty. At the very beginning, it exchanged incense, not flower, and it meant the descendant would follow generation after generation. After the founding of the special zone in Hainan, traditional incense is taken place by flowers. The scale, range and the region are enlarged year by year. On January 15th of lunar calendar, with all the lights on, streams of people gather in Fucheng, Qiongshan. The streets are full of flowers. Many people in Haikou, especially the youths, holding flowers, walking along the Haifu Road, form a flower exchanging groups. The understandings of flower exchanging people are different. Most of them want to bless each other by exchanging the flowers at the beginning of spring while the youths take this festival to be a good chance to make friends. They want to use flowers as matchmaker to find their future spouse. Nowadays, the area of flower exchanging extends to Wanly Garden, and the influence of Flower Exchanging Festival will become larger and larger.

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Transportation

Expressway
The expressway in Haikou measures 618.23km as a total. The East Road running from Haikou to Sanya is 268.25km and the West Road is 349.98. the expressway between Haikou and Yangpu is 89.3km. on each square kilometer, there is 449 meter expressway and the rate is higher than the average level of China. Started in 1991, the East Road was compieted in 1994. It runs from Wugong Temple in IvHaikou to Sanya City via Qiongshan, Anding, Qionghai, Wanning, and Lingshui. The extension of the road from Haikou to Qionghai is in use now. the expressway from Haikou to Wenchang is still under construction. The West Ring Road of the island from Haikou to Yangpu starts at the western end of the Haikou industry Avenue, and ends at the Ancient City in Chengmai County through 10.64km-long highway. It is 52.75km from Sanya to Jiusuo, and 98km from Yangpu to Basuo, which is 4-lane expressway and had been put into operation by the end of 1998. Besides, the Middle Road and the expressway from Qionghai, Haikou to Meilan are also in planning. The highway networkof the island has 3 main lines of east, west and middle road. The expressway transportation network is convenient.

Water Transport
Haikou Port
Haikou Port, also known as Xiuying Port, lies in the south of Haikou Bay, facing Leizhou Peninsula across Qiongzhou Strait. It has the strategic importance of holding the strait between Beibu Bay and South China Sea, hence the name "the Gateway of Qiongzhou". With a handling capacity of 4 million tons each year, it has 2 piers for 10,000 tons, 2 piers for 5,000 tons and 24 piers for below 5,000 tons. The port has 23 domestic routes and 47 international routes leading to almost all domestic ports and over 30 countries and regions including: Hong Kong, Japan and the United States. Besides passenger transportation, Haikou Port can also deal with domestic containers and containers with international standard.
Haikou New Port
Haikou New Port lies in the estuary of Haidianxi River. It has dams to the north and flat beach land to the west. The port has good condition with calm water. It has links with Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhenjiang, Nantong, Zhangjiagang, Jiujiang, Anqing, Shanghai. And ports along the coast line of Guangdong Province, and it also has business relations with Hong Kong, Macao, and Zhuhai, the voyage routes around the island can reach Basuo, Sanya, Qinglan, Xincun, and Baimajin. The key task of the port is the ferrying work of passengers and vehicles between Haikou and Hai'an Port in Guangdong Province.

Railway
Haikou Railway Station
Liuzhou Railway Station Haikou Office was founded on August 1, 1990. It is a branch of the Liuzhou Railway Station. Its business includes: cargo transportation from Hainan to any part of China, selling tickets of the trains departing from Zhanjiang Railway Station, conducting connecting tickets to any other railway stations via Liuzhou, and handling cargoes of 1, 6, 10 tons and containers of 20 feet.
Yuehai Railway
Yuehai Railway starts at Zhanjiang in the north, going through Leizhou Peninsula, Qiongzhou Straits and joins with the existent railways in Chahe leading to Sanya. It is one of the key projects in 1998 and also the first railway over strait. It consists of 3 parts: railway from Zhanjiang to Hai'an in Guangdong Province, ferrying waterway across Qiongzhou Strait, and railway from Haikou to Chahe in Hainan Province.
Measuring 345km long, Yuehai Railway is expected to be put into operation in 2001.

Air Transport
International, Domestic Air Routes (Charter) Airport
Covering a total area of 583 hectares, Haikou Meilan Airport is an important domestic airport. With an investment of ￥ 2.304 billion, it was constructed with 4E standard of International Civil Aviation Organization. The airport is designed to handle 6 million passengers and 150,000 tons of cargo yearly. The taking-off ground is 3,600 meters long and 45 meters wide. The parallel ground is 3,600meter long and 34-meter wide. The main facilities can meet the needs of the taking off and landing of Boeing 747-400. The waiting hall takes up 60,200 square meters coverage, while the aircraft parking area covers 128,600 square meters. It has 7 parking aprons close to terminal and 8 relatively far. The ground is equipped with world leading lighting system and computer supervision system, while the controlling tower is equipped with the second-rated landing system. 18km away from the downtown area of Haikou, Mailan Airport lies in Mailan Town, Qiongshan Prefecture, Hainan Province. The Airport Expressway is linked with Haiyu Expressway (from Haikou to Sanya), Haiwen Expressway (from Haikou to Wenchang) and the to-be ring road of the island in the future. Shuttle buses enable the transportation to Haikou convenient. By now, cities with direct flights to Haikou are: Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Harbin, Hefei, Nanjing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shantou, Shenzhen, Guiyang, Wuhan, Nanchang, Beihai, Lanzhou, Nanning, Xiamen, Changchun, Dalian, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Taiyuan, Shenyang, Fuzhou, Haikou, Changsha, Kunming, and Bangkok.

Urban Traffic
Ships

Taxis
Taxis in Haikou totaled 4,100, belonging to 91 taxi companies. 80% of the taxis are under taxi companies, and 20% are private ones. There is no problem to satisfy the needs of passengers in terms of quantity. Taxi models are as following: 30 Honda 2.0, 60 Mazda 323 made in Hainan, 150 Santana made in Shanghai, 2,300 Xiali, 100 Mazda made in Japan, 100 Bluebird, etc. Taxis are roughly balanced in terms of different standards. The prime price for luxurious taxi is 15 yean, 12 yuan for taxi in category a, 10 yuan for taxi in category B, and 8 yuan for taxi in category C. the price is basically suitable for the consumption ability of the citizens and tourists at home and abroad. The taxi industry in Haikou features in enthusiastic service, reasonable charge, practicable under any kind of weather condition and equal treatment, which win its fame among citizens and tourists at home and abroad.

Public Transportation

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Shopping and Food

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  Information provided by China National Tourism Administration.

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