Haiyang's claim to fame comes from its extensive sea beaches, national forest parks, wetland reserves, as well as its beautiful beach and yachting opportunities. On 2 December 2006 the Olympic Council of Asia in Doha announced the selection of Haiyang as the host city for the 2012 Asian Beach Games. Haiyang is the site of the new Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant. Haiyang is the hometown of writer Sun Junqing (), whose 1962 work about the hope for a better year of farming in 1963 after the Great Chinese Famine is part of the Putonghua Proficiency Test.