Hainan

• Chinese: 海南 (Hǎinán)

Hainan is an island in the South China Sea. Located immediately south of the western-most parts of Guangdong province, it lies between Vietnam to the west, and Macao and Hong Kong along the coast to the east. A province unto itself, its provincial capital is at the northern "entrance" or "mouth" of the island, and is appropriately called Hǎikǒu. The province's single-character abbreviation is Qióng (瓊).

By the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, Hainan had been incorporated into the empire, and was administered by a provincial governor. As late as the 1580s, however, Han Chinese settlers on the island were still clashing with indigenous peoples there. The waters around Hainan were also home to many wakô pirates/smugglers/raiders.