Expats in Haikou

Haikou car fair promises Hainan teachers up to 5,000 yuan off

The fair at Century Park on 13–15 November, expected to bring together more than 40 exhibitors including banks and insurers, is advertising cash discounts, zero-interest finance and trade-in deals to school and university staff and their direct relatives ...

Expats in Haikou

Expats in Haikou

Hainan Is Planning an Entirely New Transport Layer Between the Roads and Conventional Aviation

Hainan is planning a new low-altitude transport layer above its roads, from cargo drones to passenger eVTOLs. What will that look like over the next five years?
Expats in Haikou

Where Can You Fly Direct From Haikou in 2026?

Haikou has direct flights across Southeast Asia and selected long-haul routes. Compare destinations, operating days, frequencies and intermediate stops ...
Events

2026 Hainan Happy Island Festival: Dates, Major Events and Visitor Guide

The 2026 Hainan Happy Island Festival runs from 18 July to 18 August. Here are the events foreign visitors are most likely to use …

China Expat Briefing

Health and welfare

Does Your China Health Insurance Cover You When You Travel Home?

Does your China health insurance cover treatment when you travel home, or only emergencies inside your policy’s area of cover?
China Expat Briefing

Bringing Prescription Medication into China: Different Rules for Carrying and Mailing

How China treats prescription medicine carried in luggage or sent by post, including controlled drugs, documents and quantity limits …
China Expat Briefing

Death in China: The Foreigner’s Final Paperwork Problem

A practical look at what happens regarding a foreigner’s passport, funeral arrangements, bank accounts, phone and apps when a foreign national dies in China ...
Expats in Haikou

Lost Your Passport in China: The Emergency Document You Should Know About

Lost your passport in China? If your embassy, consulate, or relevant home-country institution in China cannot reissue a travel document, China has an Exit-Entry Permit for Foreigners …
China Expat Briefing

A Spouse on an S Visa: What They Can and Cannot Legally Do in China

What spouses on S visas in China can and cannot legally do, including work, tutoring, remote work, volunteering, tax, and permit risks ...
Expats in Haikou

How to Claim Your Housing Provident Fund Before You Leave China

Foreign employees in China may have a Housing Provident Fund account they have never checked. The balance, employer contributions included, can be withdrawn in full when you leave. Here is how to claim it before you go …

China Sci-tech

China’s Double 11 shoppers can now buy AI tokens like phone credit

Tokens, the units AI models are billed in, are on sale as their own category in China's annual shopping festival for the first time, though most listings have sold very few units ...

Chinese scientists switch off one gene to make cabbage smell of popcorn

Chinese scientists have made cabbage smell of popcorn by switching off one gene. Similar research at Hainan University suggests new possibilities for breeding vegetables with distinctive flavours ...

Bitten at home, a non-coder used AI to build a hotel bed bug map

Bitten in his new flat, a man who had never programmed used AI to build a WeChat map of hotels with reported bed bugs. Within a month, 200,000 people were using it ...

Robot dog climbs Mount Tai’s 3,100 steps in an hour, outpacing human hikers

A four-legged robot from China's Zhishen Technology climbed Mount Tai's 3,100 stone steps in about an hour, outpacing human hikers. The feat highlights advances in robotics but also the machines' reliance on pre-mapped routes ...

Your Chinese SIM Card: 6 Things Every Expat Should Know

China Mobile's monthly SMS tells you how much data you have left. It does not tell you your balance, how long old SIM numbers stay active, or the service costing less than 10 RMB a month that keeps a number protected. Here is what is worth knowing ...

The New Power Bank Rules Every China Expat Traveller Needs to Know

Power bank rules changed globally on 27 March 2026. Here's exactly what applies on international flights, and what CAAC says about domestic ones …

Hainan FTP Intelligence

Business News

From Internet Satellites to AI Workers: Five Technology Stories from Hainan

Satellite launches, AI-powered employees, industrial robots and pilotless aircraft are among the technologies being developed and tested across China's tropical island province ...
Business News

Hainan After Customs Closure: Which Sectors Have Real Commercial Traction?

Hainan’s first post-closure data separates sectors with measurable business activity from those supported by regulatory access and specialised platforms …
Business News

From Lecheng to Production: How Hainan Is Building a Medical Innovation Pipeline

Hainan is exploring whether Lecheng’s medical-access advantage can become the foundation of a new Free Trade Port industry. One drug has already moved from Lecheng use to production in Haikou, while new policies aim to help more innovative medicines and medical devices follow a similar pathway ...
Business News

How Hainan Is Turning Aircraft Maintenance Into a Free Trade Port Industry

The future of aviation business in Hainan is beginning to take shape in Haikou. Foreign airline maintenance, engine overhaul, parts supply and aircraft dismantling are now operating around the airport, with a major bonded-zone expansion planned to support the next stage of growth ...
Business Gateway Support for Hainan

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Events, notices and timely community updates from across Hainan.
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Explore Hainan

Go beyond the headlines with guides and features on Hainan’s minority traditions, historic towns, local temples, coastal communities, parks and places worth knowing.

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Sports and Outdoors

Wushu’s Best Come to Haikou: A Guide to the 4th Taolu World Cup, 4–9 July

Everything you need to know about the Haikou 4th Wushu Taolu World Cup, with dates, venue, tickets, entry rules and transport …
Expats in Haikou

Hainan to Host Eight Marathons in 2026

Hainan will host eight marathon events in 2026, including A‑level full and half marathons in Danzhou, Haikou, and Sanya. Dates and locations at a glance for runners ...
Sports and Outdoors

The Asian Beach Games, April 22–30 in Sanya, Here’s Everything you Need to Know

The 6th Asian Beach Games bring 1,790 athletes from 45 nations to Sanya from April 22 to 30, for an accessible, world-class sports event with low ticket prices and venues concentrated all in one coastal district ...

Historical Haikou

Historic sites, old streets and cultural landmarks in Hainan’s capital.

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Ancient Drum Tower: A Six-Century Guardian of Old Fucheng

For more than six centuries, Drum Tower has watched over old Fucheng, guarding the gates of Qiongzhou’s prefectural capital and enduring into modern Haikou ...