page_title: Hainan
section_title: Republic of China
hierarchical_section_title: Hainan / History / Republic of China
caption_attribution_description: 爱情海酒店
context_page_description: Hainan is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China, consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. The Hainan Island, the largest and most populous island under PRC administration, makes up the vast majority of the province. "Hainan", the name of the island and the province, literally means "south of the sea", reflecting its position south of the Qiongzhou Strait, which separates it from Guangdong's Leizhou Peninsula and the rest of the Chinese mainland.
  The province has a land area of 33,920 square kilometers, with Hainan Island occupying 32,900 square kilometers and the rest divided among over 200 islands scattered across three archipelagos, namely Zhongsha, Xisha and Nansha. It was administered as part of Guangdong from 1950 to 1988, when it became a separate province; around the same time, it was made the largest Special Economic Zone established by Deng Xiaoping as part of the Chinese economic reform.
  The Li people, a Kra–Dai-speaking ethnic group, are native to the island and are a significant minority group in the province, comprising 15% of the population. Their native languages include the Hlai languages.
context_section_description: Hainan was historically part of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces and as such was the Qiongya Circuit (瓊崖道) under the 1912 establishment of the Republic of China. In 1921, it was planned to become a special administrative region (瓊崖特別行政區); in 1944, it became Hainan Special Administrative Region with 16 counties, including the South China Sea Islands.
  During the 1920s and 30s, Hainan was a hotbed of Communist activity, especially after a bloody crackdown in Shanghai, the Republic of China in 1927 drove many Communists into hiding. The Communists and the indigenous Hlai people fought a vigorous guerrilla campaign against the Imperial Japanese occupation, the Hainan Island Operation (1939–45), but in retaliation the Japanese launched numerous massacres against Hlai villages. Feng Baiju led the Hainan Independent Column of fighters throughout the 1930s and 1940s. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Kuomintang reestablished control. Hainan was one of the last areas of the Chinese mainland controlled by Nationalist forces, lasting until March 1950.
caption: A beachside holiday resort in Sanya, the second largest city in Hainan
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