Hainan is China's most southerly province and the country's second largest island after Taiwan. Located in the South China Sea about 50 minutes south of Hong Kong by air, Hainan is separated from Leizhou Peninsula in China's Guangdong Province to the north by the Qiongzhou Strait, and Vietnam to the west by the Gulf of Tongkin. With a landmass of about 34,000 sq km, Hainan Province is made up of Hainan, Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha islands. The province has a total coastline of about 1,529 km and covers a sea area of about 2.1 million sq km.

If a single word can sum up Hainan's landscape, that word would be "green". Featuring a disparate mix of smooth beaches, rugged coastlines and jagged inland mountains, more than 50% of Hainan Island is covered with forest. In fact, the island is home to five primeval forest areas, being: Wuzhishan Forest Area, Bawangling Forest Area, Jiangfengling Forest Area, Diaoluoshan Forest Area and Limushan Forest Area.