Haikou
capital of Hainan province, China

Haikou 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 2,280 square kilometres (880 sq mi). 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 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.
History
Haikou's Qilou Old Street (骑楼老街) features arcaded buildings blending Southern Chinese and colonial styles, reflecting its history as a treaty port.
The public source identifies “Haikou” as capital of Hainan province, China. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Haikou, capital and Hainan.
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The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q189823. VIAF identifies the subject as 234318094. Authority coordinates are 20.020, 110.320. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950.
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This entry incorporates text from “Haikou” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.