Keywords: tropical island, coastal zone, landuse, tourism, agriculture

In the last two to three decades China has undergone rapid modern development in every field, including infrastructures, industries, tourist facilities, and agriculture. The Hainan Province, which is the largest maritime one of the country, has fully participated in this revival with mixed experiences. Hainan Island is the largest island of this province. The narrow, shallow Quiongzhou Strait separates it from the mainland. It is located in the tropical region, subjected to a monsoon regime modified by typhoon activities. The island can geologically, geomorphologically and climatically be subdivided into a northeastern-eastern generally wet lowland, a western lowland dry because of orographic effects, a central mountainous region locally affected by cold winter spells, and a southern hilly country with well defined wet and dry seasons. The island is geologically stable, generally experiencing only minor earthquakes (the last major earthquake of magnitude 8, occurred in 1605), and its coast is affected by relatively low tides, frequent typhoons (5 per year on average for the last half a century), but, to living memory, not by tsunami. The landscape and generally mild to hot climate make the southern region of the island ideal for agricultural and tourism development. A narrow shoreface and few scattered islands with reef development occur in the near offshore zone. Rocky promontories alternating with sandy embayments characterize the inshore zone. Relatively narrow costal plains have formed in these embayments, which are backed by terraced foothills and steeply sloped high mountains. The principal landuse of this landscape is as follows.

AREA	MAN LANDUSE	SECONDARY
High mountains	natural, plantations (rubber, pepper)	agriculture, tourism
Steep mountain slopes	natural	-
Hills and terraces	plantations (rubbers, eucalyptus)	agriculture
Bars	traditional villages, roads, railways, towns)	agriculture
Lagoons	agriculture (traditional, cash crop)	salterns, natural
Shoreline	natural, recreational	aquaculture
Shoreface	natural, recreational	aquaculture, fishing
slands	natural	agriculture, recreational
Offshore	fishing	petroleum

Potential tourism development exists everywhere, for various activities. These include aquatic activities on the islands and shores, resort areas in some embayments, communal activities in towns and high-density hotel areas, ecotourism in the hills and mountains, cultural tourism related to traditional activities and native peoples in the coastal plains and parts of the hills and mountains.

Hainan Island has experienced an economic boom periods in the late 1980s early 1990s, followed by an economic busts due to econo-political reasons. The boom period led to some development, particularly along the coastal sandy bars near Sanya where basic environmental, ecological principles were disregarded. All this has given away to the present sensible, more gradual development that follows principles of informed, ecological-sensitive planning. This includes intense, necessary activities in towns such as Sanya, planned resort development such as in Yalong Bay, cash crops agriculture and limited controlled aquaculture in coastal areas.