Reflections | How Hainan could become a golden egg at China’s feet
Once used to exile officials that had fallen out of imperial favour, President Xi Jinping has earmarked the tropical island for a renewal of fortunes
President Xi Jinping recently unveiled plans to turn the tropical island of Hainan into the mainland’s biggest free-trade port. One of China’s special economic zones and a major destination for domestic tourists, Hainan may even allow horse racing and sports lotteries as part of Beijing’s initiatives to develop its southernmost province.
Hainan (literally “south of the sea”, the “sea” being the Qiongzhou Strait) has had a relatively low profile in the course China’s history. While the Chinese might have settled on the island since ancient times, the first record of direct Chinese administration there was in 110BC, when Lu Bode, a military commander of the Western Han dynasty, crossed the Qiongzhou Straits with his troops and occupied Hainan. Two administrative units under the central government, the Zhuya and Dan’er Commanderies, were established on the island, marking the island’s formal inclusion as part of Chinese territory until the present day.
Its relative isolation and lack of any major cities of importance meant that Hainan was, for most part, a remote outpost of the Chinese empire. It served as an excellent location for the exile of nobles or officials who had fallen out of imperial favour, the most famous of whom was Su Shi (1037–1101), a poet and statesman of the Northern Song dynasty.
