Sanya, Hainan

Sanya 三亚市
Prefecture-level city
Sanya Bay
Location Sanya City jurisdiction in Hainan
Sanya Location of the city centre in Hainan
Coordinates: 18°15′12″N 109°30′13″E / 18.25333°N 109.50361°E / 18.25333; 109.50361Coordinates: 18°15′12″N 109°30′13″E / 18.25333°N 109.50361°E / 18.25333; 109.50361
Country	China
Province	Hainan
Landform	Hainan Island
Government
• CPC Municipal Secretary	Jiang Sixian
Area
• Total	1,919.58 km2 (741.15 sq mi)
Population (2010 Census)
• Total	685,408
• Density	360/km2 (920/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	572100
Area code(s)	0898
Licence plate prefixes	琼
Website	sanya.gov.cn

Sanya
"Sanya", as written in Chinese
Simplified Chinese	三亚
Traditional Chinese	三亞
Postal	Sama
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sānyà Wade–Giles San1-ya4 Southern Min Hainanese Romanization Tâ-ⁿa
Yaxian
Simplified Chinese	崖县
Traditional Chinese	崖縣
Postal	Ngaihsien (1912–1984)
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yáxiàn Wade–Giles Ya2-hsien4 Southern Min Hainanese Romanization Ngâi-kòan
Yazhou
Chinese	崖州
Postal	Ngaichiu (until 1912)
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yázhōu Wade–Giles Ya2-chou1 Southern Min Hainanese Romanization Ngâi-chiu

Sanya (Chinese: 三亚) is the southernmost city on Hainan Island, and one of the four prefecture-level cities of Hainan Province, in Southeast China.

According to the 2010 Census, the population of Sanya is of 685,408 inhabitants, living in an area of 1,919.58 square kilometres (741.15 sq mi). The city is renowned for its tropical climate and has emerged as a popular tourist destination, also serving as the training site of the Chinese national beach volleyball team. Sanya is home to small concentrations of Utsul people.

Known in ancient times as Yazhou, postal romanization: Aichow (崖州), literally "cliff state or prefecture", Sanya's history dates to the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE). Due to its remoteness from the political centers during the Imperial China eras on Mainland China, Sanya was sometimes called Tianya Haijiao (天涯海角), meaning "the end of the sky and ocean" or "the end of the earth". As a result, the city served as a place of exile for officials who found themselves out of favor with the country's rulers.

During the Tang dynasty, the Buddhist monk Jianzhen accidentally landed here, using Sanya as a staging post on his missionary journey to Japan.

In 1912, Yazhou became Yaxian (崖县; postal: Aihsien). Japan then occupied the area during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1941–1945) and renamed Sanya as Samah. The city then became a naval port for the Second Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the main embarkation point for the Japanese Invasion of Malaya and Thailand.