Sanya (Chinese pinyin: Sānyà) is the southernmost city in China and is a part of Hainan Province. In 2006, it had a population of 536,000, making it, after the provincial capital (Haikou), the second most populous city on the island. The city is renowned for its tropical climate and has emerged as a popular tourist destination, also serving as the training site of the Chinese national beach volleyball team. Sanya is home to small concentrations of Utsul people.

History

The ancient name of Sanya is Yazhou, which literally means "cliff state". Its history can be dated back to the Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC, more than 2,200 years ago). Since then, it has always been within the territory of the Chinese dynasties. Due to its remoteness, Sanya is sometimes called Tianyahaijiao, meaning "the end of the sky and ocean". Some prime ministers in various dynasties were exiled there and a monk named Jianzhen accidentally sailed there and used the place as one of his harbors for his long Buddhist missionary journey to Japan.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan occupied the area from 1941–1945 and Sanya was known as Samah, and was the home port for the Second Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the main embarkation point for the Japanese Invasion of Malaya and Thailand.

Geography and climate

Sanya lies at the southern tip of Hainan Island at Sanya Bay. Located at 18° 15' N latitude, it is about as far north of the Equator as the Island of Hawaii is. Though the administrative area (Sanya Prefecture) has a rough topography, the city itself is generally flat, lying on a parcel of land between low-level mountains to the north and the South China Sea. The area has a tropical wet and dry climate (K?ppen Aw),[2] featuring very warm weather all year around. Monsoonal influences are strong, with a relatively lengthy wet season and a pronounced dry season. The coolest month is January, at 21.6 °C (70.9 °F), while the hottest, unlike much of the rest of China, is June, at 28.8 °C (83.8 °F); the annual mean is 25.8 °C (78.4 °F). Water temperatures remain above 20 °C (68 °F) year-round