Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, all but three percent of its land mass is on Hainan Island (Hainan Dao), from which the province takes its name. To say "Hainan" in China usually refers to Hainan Island itself. The PRC government claims Hainan's territories to extend to the southern Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands and other disputed marine territory. Hainan is also the largest Special Economic Zone laid out by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in the late 1980s.
Hainan Island is located in the South China Sea, separated from Guangdong's Leizhou Peninsula to the north by a shallow and narrow strait. It has an area of 33,920 square kilometers and is China's southernmost province. For centuries Hainan was part of Guangdong province, but in 1988 this resource-rich tropical island became a separate province. The capital is Haikou.
