Hainan

beach on Wuzhizhou Island

Hainan province, China

Hainan, Wade-Giles romanization Hai-nan, sheng (province) in southern China. Its name means “south of the sea.” The main land territory of the province is coextensive with Hainan Island and a handful of nearby offshore islands located in the South China Sea and separated from the Leizhou Peninsula of southern Guangdong province to the north by the shallow and narrow Hainan Strait (Qiongzhou Haixia). The west coast of Hainan Island is some 200 miles (320 km) east of northern Vietnam, across the Gulf of Tonkin.

In addition, China has claimed three island groups south of Hainan—the Paracel Islands (Xisha Qundao), Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Qundao), and the Spratly Islands (Nansha Qundao)—and their surrounding waters and has designated them as part of the province. However, ownership of those islands (most of which consist of uninhabited islets and rocky shoals) is contested by several countries in the region, and there is no international recognition of sovereignty for any group of them.

Hainan is the southernmost province of China and is also the smallest in terms of land area. For centuries Hainan was part of Guangdong province, but in 1988 this resource-rich tropical region became a separate province. The capital is Haikou, on Hainan Island’s northern coast. Area (excluding disputed island areas) 13,200 square miles (34,300 square km). Pop. (2020) 10,081,232.