Haikou

Haikou (hai'kou; ), formerly Hoikow, 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. The Temple of the Five Lords is 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. 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 (1368–1644). 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.