Known as the ‘edge of the world’, Hainan plays a special part in China’s history
The old myths about the area may have faded, but it still retains its charm, and the people there never forget their seafaring origins
Hainan has always been an outlier, and no city on the island more so than Sanya. Throughout history, Hainan and Sanya were referred to as the “edge of the world”, where civilisation dropped off and wonders that were beautiful and terrible were to be found. As time went on, the myths faded away, but Hainan remained a special part of China.
Like their Cantonese neighbours to the north, the Hainanese are seafaring folk, fisherfolk and people who are content to live high in the tropical mountains, far from the seething masses. As the southernmost city of Hainan, nowhere is further from the capital than Sanya.
Just outside of Sanya is Tianya Haijiao, the official “edge of the known world”, famous for the many romantic couples who make the pilgrimage here each year to swear their undying love to each other.
On the other side of the city, to the east, are Yalong and Haitang bays, where locals fished and dived for pearls. To the north, are the impenetrable mountains and the tropical rainforest that defied explorers for centuries. The old pirate den of Sanya, with its pearl beds and fish filled reefs, poets and forgotten adventurers, has become a thriving metropolis perched at the northern end of the South China Sea, with millions of visitors each year and a booming economy.
Yet, the beauty of Chinese civilisation, and Sanya’s in particular, is its ability to remain rooted despite dramatic and lasting change. Sanya is still a city of fisher folk, people who take to the seas as often as not to gather the fruit of the oceans to sell and eat and trade.
The seafaring folk are accustomed to the whims of a mercurial ocean, and seem to sway like sea grass with the waves of change that have affected the city in the past three decades. Despite more access to capital, jobs and education, the people of Sanya have maintained their intrinsic character: open and friendly, quick to enjoy an afternoon by the ocean and just as quick to jump to the hard work of hauling in a day’s catch.
