Haikou
Haikou Volcanic Cluster Global Geopark
Volcanic cones, craters, lava and lava tunnels offer a geological account of northern Hainan.
An island of crossings, craft and coastlines
Hainan.
From arcade streets and launch coasts to mountain villages and salt fields, Hainan’s stories follow the work that shapes an island.
Begin in Haikou’s arcades, where a sheltered street opens onto a port city, then follow the island’s stories east to a rocket’s careful transfer and fishing boats at Tanmen. Inland, Li weaving, village song and rainforest stewardship belong to distinct communities and places. On the western shore, salt flats and Dongpo’s academy trace work and memory without reducing Hainan to a beach.
Qilou Old Street
Start on Qilou Old Street, where shaded arcades hold the rhythm of an island port city. From this lived street, the route opens toward the coast, the mountain interior and the island’s other working shores.
Explore this placeFollow the island’s working edges
A volcanic rim, mangrove water, a launch site, a fishing harbour and an old salt field each reveal a different relation between people and sea. The island’s interior adds another scale through Li brocade and rainforest care.
Haikou
Dongzhai Port Mangroves
A tidal mangrove wetland in Yanfeng links coastal habitat, restoration work and public interpretation.
Wenchang
Wenchang Space Launch Site
A coastal launch complex whose orbit roles, fuel systems and wetland setting meet in one engineered landscape.
Wenchang
Wenchang Coconut Groves
A working landscape measured in groves, orchard soils and vegetation growing beneath young palms.
Qionghai
Tanmen and Paigang Village
A coastal settlement where inherited sea-route knowledge meets a fishermen’s manual in a museum collection.
Danzhou
Yangpu Ancient Salt Flats
Volcanic-stone pans turn seawater and sun into salt along Danzhou’s western coast.
Danzhou
Dongpo Academy and Zaijiu Hall
A teaching and meeting place established in 1098, when Su Shi and local associates built a hall at Li Ziyun's home in Danzhou.
Stories shaped by place
Read across six distinct threads: a launch-site transfer, a fishermen’s manual, Li weaving, a turtle’s return to rainforest, salt-making at Yangpu and the memory held by Dongpo Academy. Together they show how people make, remember and care for an island.
From the journal
The Launch Site on the East Coast
Wenchang’s launch complex couples heavy spacecraft operations with a setting of coconut groves and coastal wetlands.
From the journal
A Sea Route Kept in a Fishermen’s Manual
In Tanmen, a living Geng Lu Bu tradition and a Qing-era manual point to different generations of coastal knowledge.
From the journal
The Weaver and the Loom at Her Waist
A report on Liu Xianglan’s bodily technique, plant dyes and the family links through which her practice travelled.
From the journal
The Turtle Returned to the Rainforest
A villager's roadside encounter near Wuzhishan's Maoyang management station led to a careful assessment and return of a keeled box turtle to the rainforest.
From the journal
When the Tide Left Salt in Stone
Yangpu’s salt pans turn a shoreline material and the sun into a repeated craft of filling, waiting and scraping.
From the journal
A Hall Built After an Empty Schoolhouse
After seeing an old schoolhouse without students, Su Shi joined local companions in building Zaijiu Hall as a place for teaching and conversation.
Across Hainan’s many places
Follow Hainan from Haikou and Sanya to Wenchang’s launch coast, Qionghai’s fishing communities and the Wuzhishan highlands. Danzhou, Wanning, Lingao and Lingshui each keep their own coastlines and stories. Inland, BaoTing and Qiongzhong add two autonomous counties shaped by Li and Miao communities.
Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County
A southern highland county where the official Li bamboo-and-wood music bearer Huang Zhao'an teaches and performs.
All storiesDanzhou
A western Hainan city where Dongpo’s exile-era legacy, sung call-and-response traditions, salt-making and working coast meet.
All storiesHaikou
Hainan’s northern provincial capital gathers arcaded streets, a provincial museum, volcanic terrain, mangrove coast and an urban river in one city.
All storiesLingao County
A northwestern Hainan county where the Qiongzhou Strait’s western approach meets a lighthouse keeper’s night watch and a fishing-song tradition rooted around Xinying Port.
All storiesLingshui Li Autonomous County
Lingshui’s lagoon and island stories meet at Xincun Bay, where a protected seagrass meadow, working fishing boats and Danjia life share one water system.
All storiesQionghai
A lower-river and coastal city where a fishing port, a village route tradition and a global forum occupy the same maritime landscape.
All storiesQiongzhong
A high mountain basin between Limu Mountain and Yinggeling, where the village of Shihan entered the historical record as Dahan in 1841.
All storiesSanya
A southern Hainan city of four districts, coastal bays, island waters and hilltop views.
All storiesWanning
A southeastern Hainan city where bay forests, carved mountain histories and organized water-sports training meet along a 109-kilometre shore.
All storiesWenchang
A northeast-coast city where coconut groves, family archives, a launch site and a protected mountain tell different stories about land and memory.
All storiesWuzhishan
A named home for Li brocade and Miao ritual dance traditions in central Hainan.
All storiesPhoto credits and rights
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Qilou Old Street, Haikou.rheins · CC BY 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Downloaded original image file is retained; WebP display and thumbnail derivatives are resized as needed, without enlargement.
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Leiqiong Global Geopark, Hainan.Anna Frodesiak · CC0 1.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Downloaded original image file is retained; WebP display and thumbnail derivatives are resized as needed, without enlargement.
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Dongzhai Harbour Mangrove Forest, Haikou.Philg88 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Downloaded original image file is retained; WebP display and thumbnail derivatives are resized as needed, without enlargement.
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The Long March 5 Y2 rocket transferred to launch pad 101 on 26 June 2017; this is a transfer, not a launch.篁竹水声 · CC BY 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Retained source: Wikimedia standard 1280-pixel thumbnail; upstream full original was not downloaded. WebP derivatives were not enlarged.
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Dongjiao Coconut Forest, Wenchang.Zhangmoon618 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Downloaded original image file is retained; WebP display and thumbnail derivatives are resized as needed, without enlargement.
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Fishing boats at Tanmen Harbour, photographed 14 February 2013 from Paigang Village ferry landing.Zhangmoon618 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Retained source: Wikimedia standard 1280-pixel thumbnail; upstream full original was not downloaded. WebP derivatives were not enlarged.
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Yangpu Ancient Salt Field, Yantian Village, Danzhou.川号子 · CC BY 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Downloaded original image file is retained; WebP display and thumbnail derivatives are resized as needed, without enlargement.
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Entrance to Dongpo Academy, Zhonghe, Danzhou.STW932 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Downloaded original image file is retained; WebP display and thumbnail derivatives are resized as needed, without enlargement.