Wenchang

Northeast Hainan city famous for two things: the Wenchang chicken breed and the Wenchang Space Launch Centre. Also notable for coconut groves, the Tonggu Ridge beach area and the Qinglan Ancient Port.

Wenchang is a county-level city on the northeast coast of Hainan Island, historically a trading and emigrant community that sent merchants to Southeast Asia. The name is familiar throughout Hainanese Chinese communities in Malaysia, Singapore and beyond, where 'Hainanese chicken' — the pale-poached chicken dish central to Singapore and Malaysian Chinese food culture — is associated with the Wenchang breed raised on a diet of coconut dregs and sweet potato.

In recent years Wenchang has attracted a different kind of attention: the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on the coast east of the city is one of China's four main launch facilities and the only one close to the equator (maximising orbital efficiency). Launches are periodically visible from public viewing areas near the coast, and a space science exhibition facility has been developed to supplement visits. The launch schedule is published and managed by national authorities — not every launch is open to public viewing and the centre itself is a military installation.

Beyond the chicken and the rockets, Wenchang's appeal is coastal: the Tonggu Ridge area (Tonggu Ling) on the east coast has beaches backed by coconut plantations in a setting notably different from the more developed resort coastlines around Sanya. The beach infrastructure is limited, which keeps the area relatively quiet. The Qinglan Ancient Port and estuary area on the western side of the peninsula has fishing community character and traditional architecture.

Wenchang is also the hometown of the Song dynasty official Su Gongchai and many prominent overseas Chinese — ancestral halls and old clan homesteads are scattered through the surrounding villages for those interested in the emigrant Chinese heritage.