Sanya Travel Information

Sanya (simplified Chinese: 三亚; traditional Chinese: 三亞; pinyin: Sān'yà) is a city in southern Hainan province of China. It has a population of 536,000 as of 2006. After Haikou, the capital, it is the second most populous city of the island. Sanya is renowned for its tropical climate and has emerged as a popular tourist destination. It is also the focus city for China's Utsul Muslims. It is the site for training of the Chinese national beach volleyball team.

The ancient name of Sanya is Yazhou (literally means cliff state). Its history can be dated back to Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC, more than 2,200 years ago). Since then, it is always within the territory of the following dynasties of China. Being the tropical Ultima Thule of China, it is so remote from the capital of China. Therefore it is always called Tianyahaijiao, which means the end of the sky and ocean in Chinese. Some Prime ministers in various dynasties were here in exile and an enlightened monk named Jiangzhen accidentally sailed here and used this place as one of his harbors for his long Buddhism-missionary journey to Japan. ^[1]