Haikou
Haikou is the capital and most populous city of the Chinese province of Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River. The northern part of the city is on the Haidian Island, which is separated from the main part of Haikou by the Haidian River, a branch of the Nandu. Administratively, Haikou is a prefecture-level city, comprising four districts, and covering. There are 2,046,189 inhabitants in the built-up area, all living within the four urban districts of the city.
Haikou was originally a port city, serving as the port for Qiongshan. During the Chinese Civil War, Haikou was one of the last Nationalist strongholds to be taken by the Communists with the Battle of Hainan Island in 1950. Currently, more than half of the island's total trade still goes through Haikou's ports with the Temple of the Five Lords located to the southeast of the city.
The city is home to Hainan University, a comprehensive research university under the Project 211 and the Double First Class University Plan in certain disciplines, which has its main campus on Haidian Island.
History
Haikou's Qilou Old Street features arcaded buildings blending Southern Chinese and colonial styles, reflecting its history as a treaty port.The hanzi characters comprising the city's name,, mean ocean/''sea and mouth/port'', respectively. Thus, the name "Haikou" is also a word for "seaport" – similar to Portsmouth in Britain. Haikou originally served as the port for Qiongshan, the ancient administrative capital of Hainan island, located some inland to the south east. During its early history Haikou was a part of Guangdong province. In the 13th century it was fortified and became a military post under the Ming dynasty. The port is located west of the mouth of the Nandu River, Hainan's principal river. When Qiongshan was opened to foreign trade under the Treaty of Tianjin in 1858, Haikou started to rival the old administrative city. It was formerly known internationally as 'Hoihow', based on the Cantonese pronunciation by the British Raj officers. In 1926, Haikou overtook Qiongshan in population and it was declared a separate administrative city.
The city and island of Hainan stayed under the control of the Nationalists until April 1950, when it fell to the Communists during the Landing Operation on Hainan Island.
Since 1949, Haikou has maintained its position as Hainan's main port, handling more than half of the island's total trade. It has replaced Qiongshan as the island's administrative capital. In 1988, Haikou was made a prefecture-level city as well as the capital of the newly created Hainan Province.
Haikou old town contains a small portion of the oldest buildings in Haikou city that returnees from overseas built. The houses are a mixture of styles, including Portuguese, French, and Southeast Asian. The streets used to be divided into different areas selling Chinese and Western medicine, for silk and bespoke clothes, one for fresh fish and meat, and others for the sale of incense, candles, paper, ink, and other goods.
Various projects are currently under discussion to decide the best way to restore and preserve these historical buildings.
Geography
Haikou is situated on the north coast of Hainan Island, by Haikou Bay, facing the Leizhou Peninsula across the Qiongzhou Strait that stretches west from Beibu Bay near Vietnam to the James Shoal bordering the South China Sea to the west. Most of the city is almost completely flat and only a few metres above sea level. It has an area of. The Meishe River winds through the east side of the city flowing northward to the Haidian River.The northern part of Haikou City, the district of Haidian Island, is separated from the main part of Haikou by the Haidian River, a tributary of the Nandu River. The district is accessed by one of four bridges, the largest being Haikou Century Bridge, which connects the Guomao district with Haidian Island at the estuary of the Haidian River. From east to west the remaining three road connections are provided by the Renmin, Heping and Xinbu Bridges.
Directly to the northeast of Haikou and to the east of Haidian Island is Xinbu Island.
Climate
Haikou is on the northern tropical zone, and is part of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. April to October is the active period for tropical storms and typhoons, most of which occur between August and September. May to October is the rainy season with the heaviest rainfall occurring in September. The city has a tropical wet and dry climate. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from on 12 January 1955 to on 30 April 2024.Environment
, Haikou has the second best air quality among major cities nationally, preceded only by Lhasa, Tibet. However, since approximately 2009, due to an increase in the number of automobiles, there has been somewhat worsening air pollution.According to the 2005 statistical book issued by the National Bureau of Statistics, Haikou scored the highest among China's main cities in air quality, with 366 days of ambient air quality equal to or above grade II, with only 0.033 milligrams/m2 of particulate matter, 0.003 milligrams/m2 of sulphur dioxide, and 0.013 milligrams/m2 of nitrogen dioxide.
In 1995, the Haikou city government began an initiative to improve the quality of life for its residents. With the approval of the World Health Organization, and Ministry of Health, a ten-point plan was undertaken to address such issues as:
- Community health care
- Vaccinations for children
- Waste recycling
- Green belts and urban trees
- Environmentally friendly construction
- Public toilets
- Sewage treatment
- Communications
- Noise pollution
By 2004, the city had established 43 new community health service centers reaching 85 percent of the population. The initiative has increased the size of Haikou's green spaces to 2,000 hectares, with trees lining 40 percent of its roads. Noise pollution has dropped from 61.1db to 58.2db and 300 public toilets have been built. All industrial effluents, industrial waste water and solid waste, and all live sewage, is now processed through centralized treatment centers, and is disposed of without environmental impact. These improvements and others have increased life expectancy in Haikou to 78.26 years.
Haikou city has also built 163 model ecological villages. Now, over 200,000 villagers in 933 villages have tap water in their homes.
Comprehensive city-improvement campaign
During 2015 and 2016, large-scale city improvements have taken place as part of a province-wide initiative called "double create". It is described by government sources as a campaign to create a cleaner city and create a more civilized city. It is focused on traffic and commerce, but has also improved the overall appearance of the city, tackling air pollution from industry emissions, aiming to ensure the safety of drinking water sources, improving public security in such places as hospitals, schools, malls, and visitor attractions. Details of these improvements include:- Traffic: Many new street crossings with traffic lights were installed around the city to improve two-wheel vehicles and pedestrian travel. Throughout the city, teams of police have been stationed at major intersections to ensure that two-wheel vehicles obey the law. Although there are many side lanes for these bikes, the actual pedestrian sidewalks serve as legal, one-way routes. Police at intersections stop vehicles either going the wrong way, or running red lights and the offenders may be forced to wear a red sash, stop other offenders, and lecture them.
- Commerce: Around August 2015, teams of officers physically removed nearly all illegal structures used for business in the city which were commonly made of corrugated metal or cinderblocks and were shop extensions or simply unused space that had been built upon. Street vendors were banned, as was the night operation of roadside BBQ sites and the placement of tables onto the sidewalks by restaurants. These night time food operations were once common throughout the city.
- Roads and sidewalks: Many small roads have been repaved including narrow lanes in old neighbourhoods. Also, many sidewalks have been upgraded with new brick. Bricks are used as sidewalk material in Haikou because of the large amount of ficus trees, the roots of which deform the surrounding sidewalk.
- Demolition and reconstruction: A number of entire neighbourhoods within the city have been, and are being, entirely demolished with new buildings and roads being built.
- Starting around the beginning of 2018, the city government funded painting and cladding of a number of buildings in the city centre.
Water and sewage treatment
Demographics
According to the 2010 Census, the prefecture-level city of Haikou has a registered population of 2,046,189 inhabitants, 537,848 more than the population declared on the past census in 2000. The average annual population growth during the period 2000–2010 was of 3.1 percent.Most of the population of Haikou are Han Chinese.