Sanya (The southmost city of China )

Sanya, anciently called Yazhou, has a long history and rich natural&cultural resource. The famous attractions such as Tianyahaijiao (the side of sky and the end of sea in literal English translation), Yazhou ancient town, Luobi Cave (Falling Writing-Brush Cave) and Sanya Palaeoanthropological Site are all the good destinations for travel. At the time of the Qin Dynasty, Emperor Qinshihuang set up three local administrative governments in southern China and Yazhou is one of them. In Tang dynasty, it was renamed to be Zhenzhou, and it was the south-most local administrative sector. Anciently, many famous officials or people were relegated and exiled here. Hence Sanya is also one of places with a long-standing cultural tradition. Traditionally Sanya was always considered to be the uncultivated area. Han Xi, a Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty, Jian Zhen, the famous monk who expanded the influence of Buddhism to Japan, and Huang Daopo, an ancient textile specialist were all stayed here and learnt a lot from the natives. In 1987, Sanya was approved to be the city, which is also one of the four China’s cities without districts. Sanya is China’s only tropical seaside tourist city. There are ten scenic resources comprised of sunshine, seawater, climate, forest, beach, animal, thermal spring, rock cave, custom and countryside landscape. In 2008, Sanya was the first city for Olympic torch relay in domestic China.

Sanya People

Sanya is a residential area lived by different ethnic groups such as Han people, Li Minority, Miao Minority and Hui Minority. The total population of Sanya is 554,100 calculated in 2007. Exactly the population of the minorities is 219,300, which covers 41.8 % of the total population. Thanks to these minorities, Sanya shows the different profile from other cities. The singing and dancing performance of Li Minority is the representative of performance characteristics in Sanya. The dancing performance of Li and Miao minorities is considered to be the preserved dancing performance of China’s Minorities. Sanya also has a long history of folk weaving and it is very famous. The local weaving could be summarized to be two kinds: cloth weaving and bamboo weaving. Sanya is a riverside garden city with the rich religious cultural resources. Islam here has more than 1000 year’s history. Mosques and Islamic ancient tombs add more to the native cultural enrichment. Sanya is also said to be the cultivation land of Kwan-yin Bodhisattva, so there are many themed attractions on Buddhism.

Sanya Transportation

Sanya has a complete transportation system. The road system is also in service, and Sanya Phoenix International Airport, 26 kilometers away from downtown of Sanya, is one of the large domestic airports and acts as the air transportation. Sanya is a seaside city, and traditionally the local live on the fishing and water transportation. Hence the ports are very important here, Sanya Port has witnessed the development process of water transport in Sanya. Actually, Sanya is located in the south-most part of China, while the railway transportation system development has been largely developed in the recent years. In 2006, Guangdong-Hainan Railway opened, which was a landmark of railway system development in Hainan Province. Since then visitors can leave Sanya directly across Qiongzhou Strait.