SANYA LIVNG ENVIRONMENT

Tropical climate
Being on a lower line of latitude, Sanya's climate is tropical coastal monsoon and is known as "a big natural hot house," a place that is very suitable for many crops, especially tropical ones here, the annual average temperature is 25.4° C. the highest average temperature monthly ranges from 26.4° C to 28.8° C, and the lowest reaches 5.1° C. the highest temperature is up to 35.8° C, while the lowest reaches 5.1° C. There are 2,563 sunshine hours all the year-round and the annual rainfall is 1,279mm. The main crops produced here are rice, sweet potatoes, peanuts and sugarcane, and tropical crops and fruits include rubber, coconut, areca, banana, mango and pineapple. Sanya is also known as the Country's production base froe winter melons and vegetables as well as seed cultivation.

Tourist
Sanya is superior in geography climate and natural resources. It is known as " the oriental Hawaii" and " Sunshine City" because of its special tropical scenes as well as its attractive nature. Sanya's tourist resources, richly endowed by nature, are not only special in China, but also rare in the world. It is a most fashionable place where tropical marine tourist resources are closely concentrated and lovers of swimming can enjoy their holidays in winter.
Within the city, well-known tourist spots are dotted everywhere--the national Yalong Tourist Area, the Tianyahaijia, the Great Eastern Sea, the Luhuitou Peninsula, Sanya Bay and the Luobi Grotto. Besides these, there remain the ancient Yazhou City and relics and a sculpture of the Monk Jianzhen of the Tang Dynasty, who landed ashore to avoid the storm when he was sailing eastwards to Japan. Now the Buddhist Cultural Sightseeing spot has been partly completed and opened to the public. The Nation Hot Springs area is now under construction. It is rare that a city can concentrate all such resources: sunshine, seawater, beaches, climate, forest, animals, hot springs, grottos, customs and countryside. According to statistics, the average per capita life span of Sanya people has risen to 74.5 year old, the highest in China.

Marine Recourses
Sanya has a coastline of 209.1 kilometers, which covers about 1/7 of the coastline of Hainan Island. Its sea area is 5,000 square kilometers, area for fishing is 16,000 square kilometers, 100.000 mu (6mu=1 acre) of sea area can be opened up for seawater aquaculture. Here the water is fertile and moderate in salt and is suitable for the growth of fishes, shrimps shellfish and aquatic plants. Among over 800 species, more than 40 species of fishes are of great economical value. In particular the harvest time of pearl aquaculture can be one year shorter. The shark, the sea cucumber, and the abalone are looked upon as the "three races of Yazhow". There are still 27,500 mu of undeveloped land. Every year over 3,000 fishing boats from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macao gather to fish off Sanya. Because Sanya belongs to the South China Sea, it is a golden sea area with great potential in developing he marine catch and seawater aquaculture and processing.

Land Resources
The earth of the city consists of sandy loan and powder sandy loam. There are all together 2.45 million mu of land for agriculture and 74,700 million mu of land for development. Among these 28,600 mu are suitable for farming; 27,500 for tropical crops, 200,000 mu for rubber planting. 430,000 for forestry for developing farming. forestry, animal husbandry, sideling production and fisheries there.

Mineral Resources
Sanya abounds in mineral resources, it has been verified that it holds more than thirty kinds of minerals including rock crystal, granite, quartz, limestone, phosphorus, titanium and gold. In particular, the deposits of limestone, quartz and granite are all over one billion tons. Granite and quartz have been exported in great quantity of Singapore, Japan and South Korea, Apart from this, Sanya is also rich in natural gas. The Ya13-1 Gas Field has gas deposits of 1,077 billion cu. meters and 700 billion cu.metres can 178 billion cu. metros, respectively. On January 1, 1996, gas was brought ashore to Nanshan and since then it has been used to generate power and sent to Hong Kong and eight fertilizer bases in Hainan. It has provided a great prospect for the development of industry in Sanya.

Ethnic Groups

There are many ethnic groups living in Sanya. Of them, the Li, Miao, Hui, and Han have been living here for many generations. The Han has the largest population, while the Li is the most populous minority. The Li people are the earliest residents of the island. The Miao most live deep in the mountains. Christianity seems to have some influence on their customs. The Hui has inhabited in Sanya for more than 700 years, mainly living in Yanglan Town of Sanya City. The Hui people keep Islamic customs.

Local Culture

Customs of local minorities and cultures brought by immigrants from different districts collide and fuse together, engendering Sanya’s multiplicate and colorful cultural life. Festivals that are special to Sanya include, the Sanyuesan Festival of the Li people, Hainan Carnival and Sanya International Wedding Festival, etc. These cultural activities and festivals give expression to Hainan’s tropical island features and its passionate and rustic customs.