Hainan Province (海南省 hǎinán shěng): Abbreviation 瓊 (qióng) (Fig. 10.1)

Fig. 10.1
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Hainan Island: Major cities and counties (Provincial Capital: Haikou City). (Drawn by the author after People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA 2020))

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Hainan Province: General Impressions

The shorthand character for Hainan is Qiong (瓊 qióng), a throwback to the name of an older prefecture on the island. (The PRC officially named a Hainan provincial government on 26 April 1988.) An island province located in the South China Sea, and as with the southernmost regions of China, Hainan had long been considered primitive and dangerous, inhabited by hostile natives, poisonous snakes, and wracked with disease, a “region of tropical miasmic plagues.” (瘴癘地區 zhànglì dìqū). Throughout China’s imperial past, when officials and otherwise troublesome intellectuals offended the court, these malcontents were often sent off to the southern boondocks, and the southern Lingnan region (to include Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan) was often their (final) destination. For example, Hainan is where the Song poet Su Shi (蘇軾 sū shì) was unceremoniously dispatched in ca. 1100 CE. But nowadays, when it comes to modern Hainan island, one thinks more often of swaying coconut palm trees along the beaches (椰林海灘 yēlín hǎitān), sprawling golf courses, a new, advanced space launch center (Wenchang), and Hainan traditional opera (瓊劇 qióngjù).

Prehistory

Approximately 20,000 years ago, during the glacial period, Hainan Island was linked to both mainland China (e.g., Guangxi Province) and Vietnam by land, then separated by water about six thousand years in the past. It is highly likely (although difficult to prove with certainty) that the Li (Hlai) people who lived in Hainan four millennia ago were its very first inhabitants, probably a result of south-to-north migrations from Southeast Asia. While many of Hainan’s more recent populations trace their origins back to Fujian province (ca. 1000 BCE), mitochondrial DNA testing of the Li (黎族 lízú) people showed them related to mainland Chinese in Guangxi (Peng et al. 2011). The Li ethnic group represents the largest segment (>15%) of Hainan’s minority population (1,172,181 in 2000, and 1,395,400 in 2009.) Other ethnic groups (non-Han) include Miao and Zhuang ethnic minorities (each less than 1% total).

Neolithic specimens of pottery shards and stone ware have been found dating back to 6000–3000 BCE in southeast Hainan at the Yingdun (英墩 yīngdūn) site in Haitang District (海棠區 hăitángqū), as well as Qiaoshan Mountain (橋山 qiáoshān) and Lianziwan Bay (蓮子灣 liánziwān) in Lingshui County (陵水縣 língshuǐ xiàn).

From about 110–46 BCE, the Han dynasty court had established a garrison at Zhuya prefecture (珠崖郡 zhūyá jùn), located near modern-day Haikou City. During the same time, another prefectural entity on the northeastern part of Hainan was named Dan’er Prefecture (儋耳郡 dàn’ĕr jùn). By 46 BCE, however, the Han decided to abandon Hainan due to its excessive administrative and logistical costs. During the Eastern Han (25–220 CE), Hainan Island was named Zhuya State (朱崖洲 zhūyá zhōu), but as of ca. 500 CE it was still not a fully-administered part of the empire. By the Tang Dynasty (631 CE), the imperial court had established Qiongzhou (瓊州 qióng zhōu) Prefecture, located near Haikou City (海口市 hăikŏu shì). Thus the modern-day shortened character for Hainan (瓊 qióng). As of 741 CE, Hainan was divided into four main prefectures:

  • Yazhou (崖州 yázhōu)

  • Wan’anzhou 萬安州 (wàn’ānzhōu)

  • Zhenzhou 振州 (zhènzhōu) and

  • Danzhou (儋州 dànzhōu)

The first major wave of Han Chinese migration from the mainland to Hainan occurred during the Song dynasty, increasing the island’s overall population to about 160,000. By the time of the Northern Song (1111 CE), Qiongzhou was placed under the jurisdiction of the Guangnan West Circuit (廣南西路 guăngnán xīlù). By the Ming Dynasty (ca. 1400), Hainan was home to nearly 300,000 people (CPU 1988). During the Yuan (ca. 1330), an inspectorate was established for Hainan called Yiweisi (宜慰司 yíwèisī). Centuries later, subordinate to Guangdong Province in the Qing Dynasty (ca. 1820), Hainan was named Qiongzhou Prefecture (瓊州府 qióngzhōufŭ).

Still administered by Guangdong province after the 1911 revolution, the Republic of China (ROC) established a Qiongya (瓊崖 qióngyá) Special Region in the 1930s. After the war with Japan, the ROC renamed Qiongya the Hainan Special Administrative RegionFootnote 1 in August 1947. Following the Chinese civil war, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) wrested control of Hainan from Kuomingtang (KMT) forces in spring of 1950, placing it under Guangdong’s jurisdiction.

Even after “liberation” by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), poor living conditions had long been the norm in Hainan. According to the Chinese Red Cross in 1952, Ledong County, with a population then of 15,989 recorded 489 deaths, and had a mortality rate of 30%, while, in Baisha county, of the 556 births only 232 infants survived (Hua 1982). Maoist social and economic policies in the late 1950s made life on Hainan even more unbearable. Because it was still under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province, data are scarce on the precise number of deaths that occurred in Hainan during the manmade famine of the Great Leap Forward (1958–1962). However, Hainan certainly lost at least tens of thousands to not only hunger and disease, but also to horrific violence. In Changjiang County during 1958 there were 61,704 people suffering from edema due to malnutrition, and 17,850 people died. During the first 8 months of 1960, at least 358 people died from unnatural causes, 73 committed suicide, eight were beaten to death, and eleven died from food poisoning at Chenghua County’s Ruixi communeFootnote 2 (Li 2002).

Table 10.1 shows Hainan historical population data. Census data, which includes both permanent and normal residents (常住人口 chángzhùrénkŏu), are shown in (Table 10.2). A more detailed breakdown of Hainan populations by subordinate districts are presented in Table 10.3. The official registered (hukou) number (戶籍人口 hùjírénkŏu) was 8,359,000 in 2010, and had risen to 9,250,000 by ca. 2020 (see Table 10.5 below).

Table 10.1 Hainan population data: Ancient to modern. (MCSEB 1993; HPBS 2021)
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Table 10.2 Hainan Province residential population (常住人口 chángzhù rénkŏu) census data. (HPBS 2021)
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Table 10.3 Hainan Province: Population data of cities and their subordinate sectors. (HPBS 2021)
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Today, Hainan is regionally (if not globally) famous for its scenery, beaches, and neatly manicured golf courses. Hainan is also host to China’s South Sea Fleet at Sanya as well as an important People’s Liberation Army Navy Air Force (PLANAF) base at Lingshui (陵水黎族自治縣 língshuĭ lízú zìzhìxiàn). On 1 April 2001, a PLANAF fighter jet accidentally collided with a United States Navy EP-3E reconnaissance aircraft, which had to make an emergency landing on Lingshui airfield.

The new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center (文昌衛星發射中心 wénchāng wèixīng fāshè zhōngxīn) in Wencheng city became fully operational when it successfully launched a Long March 7 (長征七號) on 25 June 2016. Wenchang is outfitted and geographically well-suited to launch China’s heaviest rocket launch vehicle, the Long March 5 (長征五號 chángzhēng wŭhào), which was successfully launched in November 2016.

Hainan’s Population and Economy

Given its relatively small population and limited industrial base, Hainan province has a relatively modest gross domestic product (GDP), although it has continued to increase over the last decade, registering USD $163 billion in 2015, and $277 billion in 2020. In percentage terms, its population has increased at a rapid pace from 2010 to 2020 (about 16%). While the per capita income on Hainan ranks low in mainland China at $4340 in 2020, this was an increase of 6% over the year prior (Zhang 2021).

China’s (and Taiwan’s) Contested Claims in the South China Sea

Going back to 1946, the Republic of China (ROC) has claimed islands, shoals and reefs spanning some two million square kilometers in the South China Sea (SCS). Today, not without controversy, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been doubling down on these claims, building upon and expanding its occupied islets in the Paracel and Spratly islands. Technically, the ROC (Taiwan) also makes the same claim on the region, but not with the same vehemence (nor with the extent of newly-built military infrastructure) of the mainland Chinese government.

We will not address the merits (or lack thereof) of China’s argument for sovereignty in the SCS, but chart out how the PRC officially names and administers these islands (at least on paper). While the region offers substantial natural resources, including fisheries and potential petroleum reserves, China’s main interest in securing the South China Sea has a great deal to do with maintaining its strategic sea lines of communication (Fig. 10.2).

Fig. 10.2
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Hainan Province subordinate districts (Government Seat: Longhua District). (Drawn by the author after People’s Republic of China, Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA 2020))

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On 21 June 2012, the PRC state council renamed and changed the administrative status of the Paracel (Xisha 西沙群島 xīshā qúndăo), Spratly (Nansha 南沙群島 nánshā qúndăo) and Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha 中沙群島 zhōngshā qúndăo including Scarborough Reef) island groups, putting these under the jurisdiction of Hainan province’s Sansha City (三沙市 sānshā shì), the latter’s government being located on Woody Island (永興島 yŏngxìng dăo). China has built, reclaimed, and established military outposts on the following islands in the Spratlys:

∙ Cuarteron Reef

華陽礁 (huáyáng jiāo)

∙ Fiery Cross Reef

永署礁 (yŏngshŭ jiāo)

∙ Hughes Reef

東門礁 (dōngmén jiāo)

∙ Subi Reef

渚碧礁 (zhŭbì jiāo)

∙ Johnson Reef

赤瓜礁 (chìguā jiāo)

∙ Mischief Reef

美濟礁 (mĕijì jiāo)

∙ Gaven Reef

南薰礁 (nánxūn jiāo)

Table 10.4 (below) provides Chinese-English names for South China Sea islands and atolls that China (and Taiwan, incidentally) claim to be sovereign territory:

Table 10.4 Chinese claimed islands/reefs in the Paracel Island Group
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Table 10.5 (below) shows the hukou (family registered) populations based on PRC Ministry of Civil Affairs data. (Districts listed directly under major cities are government seats, as are those in parentheses). One can compare these data with the census (usual residential populations based on 2010 and 2020 censuses in Tables 10.2 and 10.3 (above).

Hainan Province (瓊 qióng)

Provincial Capital: Haikou

Table 10.5 Hainan Province: Permanent registered (戶籍人口 hùjí rénkǒu) populations. (MCA 2020)
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