The coastline of Great Republic of
China extends well over 18,000 km, scrubbed by the waters
of the Bohai, the Huanghai, the East China and the South China seas.
The Bohai Sea is also known as a ‘Inland Sea’ of China. Perhaps the
best of Chinese beaches is Yalong Bay.
Yalong
Bay is a 7.5km beach
located southeast of Sanya
City, Hainan
Province, China.
It is also known as the Yalong Bay National Resort.
The climate is warm and sunny all year around, and Sanya
is known as China's Hawaii.
Sanya: (Washington
Post by
Edward
Cody August 1, 2007) china.org.cn
At Sanya,
on Yalong Bay at the southern end of Hainan Island
, sun and surf are the main attractions. One of China
's 28 provinces, Hainan lies only 30 miles off the mainland's southern
rim.
Forget
whatever you know about China
. Think rows of umbrellas on creamy beaches and poolside drinks at
languorous international-brand resorts. Think tropical warmth, palm
trees and humid breezes from the South China Sea . For children - or
grown-ups, for that matter - who can take only so much ancient
civilization in one trip, Hainan Island may be a welcome respite from
culture fatigue before heading home.
Almost
a million Americans visited China last year, making them the country's
fourth-most-numerous nationality of tourists after Japanese, South
Koreans and Russians. Strangely, however, the idea of tacking some lazy
Hainan time onto a trip to China seems not to have caught on. Although
16 million Chinese tourists visited Hainan last year, only about a half
million foreign tourists visited. Of those, most were from Hong
Kong,
Taiwan or other Asian nations; many were South Koreans in search of
wintertime golf. Even among the 36,000 Americans and Canadians who
showed up, most were expatriates taking a break from jobs in Shanghai
or Beijing
.
The
sea was a perfect high 60s during my recent visit, and the hot sun came
and went between bulbous tropical clouds. I watched as a young father
and his toddler son let the gentle waves roll across their bodies.
Behind them, older children dug happily in the clean sand. A pair of
European women in skimpy swimsuits basked in the sun farther up the
beach. But as I looked around, the sunbathers seemed rare. Then I
realized why: Almost everyone around me was Chinese, and the last thing
a Chinese person wants is a tan.
Not so Jeff Denny, of
Cincinnati,
and his wife, Melissa, who with their children, Caleb, 13, and Holly,
10, had traveled from Shanghai
to spend some time on the Sanya beaches during the recent May Day
holiday. It was their second visit here since being posted to China
by Procter
& Gamble. But despite her proselytizing among
ex-pat friends in Shanghai
, Melissa Denny noted, Hainan does not enjoy the recognition as a
tropical Asian destination that Phuket
in Thailand
does, or Bali
in Indonesia
.
"When
Americans come to China,
they go to the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden
City, maybe Xi'An
and the terra cotta warriors," complained Zhang Qi, director-general of
the Hainan Provincial Tourism Administration. "But here in Hainan
, we also have seaside resorts. Americans just don't know about Hainan
and the beaches."
That
can be a good thing for those who do come. Although resorts along
Yalong Bay include well-known names such as Sheraton, Marriott
and Hilton, American guests can still enjoy the feeling of being in a
foreign country. Room prices, from about $200 a night in low season up
to $800 during February's Chinese New
Year
holiday, mean that only upper-crust Chinese vacation here (although
less luxurious accommodations also are available). But the number of
Chinese families with money to spend is rising fast, so reservations
may become hard to get.
Given China
's record in spoiling the environment, swift growth in the number of
tourists could also threaten the island's pristine water and
uncluttered beaches. Wei Liucheng, the Hainan provincial governor,
suggested recently that limits on the number of visitors may be needed.
But at this point, Zhang said,
Hainan's tourist
department is trying to persuade U.S. travel agencies to send American
vacationers on direct flights to the island, which has two
international airports. China
has relaxed immigration rules so that tourists from 21 countries,
including the U.S. , can enter Hainan without visas if they come in
groups of five or more.
For tourists already in China
, however, Hainan is a quick hop. Direct flights from Beijing
, Shanghai
, Hong Kong
and other Chinese cities are frequent. A ferry links Zhanjiang on the
mainland to Haikou
. And train service (provided via rail-equipped ferries) from mainland
cities all the way to Sanya was inaugurated for the May Day
holidays.
The Weather? Think Hawaii
The
weather on Hainan is consistently Hawaii-like, and the sun shines 300
days a year, often ceding the sky to clouds and rain then reappearing
within a few hours.
Native
islanders, who number about 8 million, speak a dialect that sounds
miles away from Mandarin , China 's official language. Most are from
China
's major ethnic group, the Han, but more than a million are from the Li
minority, which claims to be the earliest inhabitants of the island.
Islanders' ready smiles and easygoing ways also seem to set them apart
from the often-stressed-out residents of big mainland cities. Visitors
who savor the island's seafood, tropical fruit and clean air will
understand why. The living is easy.
Haikou,
the provincial capital at the northern tip, started the island's
tourism industry and boasts a number of resort hotels within a
20-minute drive of the downtown. But Sanya, a three-hour drive south,
has become the premier tourist destination in recent years, with a
dozen major resorts overlooking Yalong Bay 's gently sloping beach on
one side and a deeply green golf course on the other.
Boao,
about halfway down the island's east coast, has entered the
competition, with a luxurious resort and conference center overlooking
the Wanquan River as it flows into the sea. Wang Hong, the Sofitel-run
resorts deputy general manager, said TV reports from the conference
center with its spectacular scenery in the background have drawn
Japanese and South Korean golfers.
As
Wang and I lunched on grilled shrimp and Sheban fish, boats ferried
tourists out to a sand spit with a river beach on one side and a sea
beach on the other. Wang proposed a chardonnay he said was the best
produced in China
. Who was I to disagree?
The
only thing between us and the water was a lattice work of two dozen
hot-spring pools, each dosed with a different Chinese herbal medicine
to soothe what ails you. I don't know about the power of traditional
Chinese medicine, but the chardonnay seemed to heal my aches. And the
wind smelled so good I wanted to bottle it to take back to polluted
Beijing
.
It
is cheapest to fly to Hong Kong,
then to Sanya,
on Hainan 's southern end, for about $237 round-trip on Dragonair.
Flights from Hong Kong to Haikou
, the capital city on the northern end of the island, start at $424
round-trip on China Southern. Train and ferry service also link Hainan
to the mainland. The two-hour train to Zhanjiang
is about $20; the overnight train to Guangzhou
about $50.
Qingdao
boasts of a number of the most stunning beaches in China.
There are 6 major beaches namely Huiquan, Taipingwan, Zhanshan,
Zhanqiao, Sifang and Cangkou situated in the coastal area of Qingdao.
Amongst them, Huiquan Beach is regarded as one of the most admired
bathing beaches among the visitors. One can visit the beach at any time
of the day from sunrise to sunset.
Qingdao
is not only famous for its beer but also for its many beaches that line
this picturesque coastal city. Qingdao's total continental
coast line
is 730.64 kilometers and accounts for 25% of Shandong Province's total
coastal area, not including Qingdao's 69 islands. Including
Qingdao's
32 bays and 69 islands the total coastline consists of 862.64
kilometers. Qingdao's tidal difference is 1.9 to 3.5
meters. There
are two high and low tides in every lunar day which is 24 hours and 48
minutes long.
Hong
Kong, China:
Surprising
as it may seem, Hong Kong
has many fantastic beaches with gorgeous views of the sea, dotted with
small
green islands. In Southside, ever-popular Repulse Bay is a sort of
Chinese
Coney Island. Just to the south is smaller, less-crowded Deep Water
Bay, and
farther around is the more intimate South Bay. Turtle Cove is isolated
and
beautiful, and Shek O's beach has a Mediterranean feel.
The
waters off beaches in the New
Territories, particularly the Sai Kung Peninsula are crystal clear.
Pollution
can be a problem on the Southside, though that doesn't deter the
thousands who
flock seaside for respite from the heat. Hong Kong's Environmental
Protection
Department has set some tough guidelines and goals for cleaning up area
waters.
For more info, including beach-by-beach pollution ratings, check out
the EPD's
Web site: www.epd.gov.hk/epd.
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Southside
Deep
Water Bay
. On Island Road, just to the east of Ocean Park and all
its amusements, this bay was the setting for the William Holden film
Love
Is
a Many Splendored Thing (1955), and its deep coves are still
lovely. Near
Deep Water Bay are the manicured greens of the Deep Water Bay Golf
Course,
which is owned by the Hong Kong Golf Club. Not surprisingly, the area
has
become a multimillionaires' enclave and is home to Hong Kong's richest
man, Li
Ka-shing, a very private real-estate tycoon.
To
rent a speedboat, water skiing
equipment, and the services of a driver, contact the Water Ski
Club (Pier
at Deep Water Bay Beach, Deep Water Bay, China, or ask your
hotel
for the names and numbers
of other outfitters. The cost is usually about HK$700 per hour. From
Exchange Square Bus Terminus in Central, take Bus 6, 64, 260, or 6A.
Repulse
Bay
. It's named after the British warship HMS Repulse
not, as some local wags
say, after
its slightly murky waters. It was home of the now demolished Repulse
Bay Hotel,
which gained notoriety in December 1941 when Japanese clambered over
the hills
behind it, entered its gardens, and overtook the British, who were
using the
hotel as headquarters. Repulse Bay Veranda Restaurant & Bamboo
Bar -- a
great place for British high tea -- is a replica of the eating and
drinking
establishment that once graced the hotel. High tea costs HK$128 and is
served
weekdays from 3 to 5:30 and weekends from 3:30 to 5:30. You can also
grab a
bite at one of several Chinese restaurants and snack kiosks that dot
the beach.
The Lifesaving Club at the beach's east end resembles a Chinese temple,
with
large statues of Tin Hau, goddess of the sea, and Kwun Yum, goddess of
mercy.
If you opt for a meal in a seafood restaurant here or at any beach,
note that
physicians caution against
eating
raw shellfish because of hepatitis outbreaks. From Exchange
Square Bus
Terminus in Central, take Bus 6, 6A, 6X, 66, 64, or 260.
Shek
O
. This wide beach is almost Mediterranean in appearance
with its low-rise houses and shops set prettily on a headland. In Shek
O village
you can find old mansions, small shops selling
inflatable toys and other beach gear, and a few popular Chinese and
Thai
restaurants. Follow the curving path from the town square across a
footbridge
to the "island" of Tai Tau Chau, really a large rock with a lookout
over the South China Sea. Little more than a century ago,
this open water was ruled by pirates. Also near town is the Shek O Golf
and
Country Club and the superb Shek O Country Park, with great trails and
bird-watching: look for Kentish plovers, reef egrets, and black-headed
gulls,
as well as the colorful rufus-backed shrike and the ubiquitous chatty
bulbul. From
Central, take MTR to Shau Ki Wan, then take Bus 9 to last stop (about
30 min).
Stanley
. Notorious during World War II as the home of Japan's
largest POW camps in Hong Kong, Stanley is now known primarily for its
market,
a great place for deals on knickknacks, ceramics, paintings, casual
clothing,
and sporting goods -- including, ironically enough, snow-skiing gear.
The old
police station, built in 1859, now houses a restaurant. Past the
market, on
Stanley Main Street, a strip of restaurants and pubs faces the bay.
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