title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Interstate 95, which splits Wilmington roughly into eastern and western halves, provides access to major markets in the Northeast and nationwide. Interstate 495 is a bypass just east of the city, and Interstate 295 is south of the city, crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey on the Delaware Memorial Bridge. U.S. Route 13 passes north–south through the eastern part of Wilmington, entering the city from the south along Dupont Highway before following Heald Street, the one-way pair of Church Street northbound and Spruce Street southbound, and Governor Printz Boulevard. U.S. Route 13 Business passes north–south through the center of Wilmington, entering the city from the south on Market Street before splitting into Walnut Street northbound and Market Street southbound, following Walnut Street northbound and King Street southbound in the downtown area, and following Market Street northeast out of the city to Philadelphia Pike. U.S. Route 202 follows I-95 through Wilmington before heading north onto Concord Pike through a business area to the north of the city. State routes serving Wilmington include Delaware Route 2, which follows the one-way pair of Lincoln Street eastbound and Union Street westbound in the western part of the city before heading west out of the city along Kirkwood Highway; Delaware Route 4, which heads southwest from the downtown area along Maryland Avenue; Delaware Route 9, which enters the city from the south along New Castle Avenue before crossing the Christina River and heading west through the center of the city along 4th Street; Delaware Route 9A, which provides access to the Port of Wilmington; Delaware Route 48, which heads west from the downtown area along Lancaster Avenue; Delaware Route 52, which follows Delaware Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue northwest out of the city to Kennett Pike; and Delaware Route 202, which follows Concord Avenue through the northern part of the city to connect to US 202 at Concord Pike.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: In Wilmington, streets are laid out in a grid, with north–south streets named and east–west streets north of Lancaster Avenue/Front Street numbered from 2nd Street and increasing to the north, while east–west streets south of Lancaster Avenue/Front Street are named. Lancaster Avenue/Front Street serves as the divider between north and south while Market Street serves as the divider between east and west. There are 34 red light cameras in the city of Wilmington situated at 31 intersections. Parking in downtown Wilmington is regulated by on-street parking meters along with commercial parking lots and parking garages operated by the Wilmington Parking Authority, Colonial Parking, and SP Plus Corporation.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Wilmington is served by the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Wilmington Rail Station, with frequent service between Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., via Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. SEPTA Regional Rail provides frequent additional local commuter rail service to Philadelphia along the Wilmington/Newark Line. Amtrak has a major maintenance shop and yard in northeast Wilmington that maintains and rebuilds the agency's Northeast Corridor electric locomotive fleet. The Amtrak Training Facility is also located in Wilmington, as well as Amtrak's Consolidated National Operations Center (CNOC).


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Two freight railroads, CSX and Norfolk Southern, also serve Wilmington. Norfolk Southern serves Wilmington along trackage rights on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, the Shellpot Secondary line heading through the eastern part of Wilmington as a bypass of the Northeast Corridor, and the New Castle Secondary line heading south to New Castle and Porter. CSX serves Wilmington along its Philadelphia Subdivision line running between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Both CSX and Norfolk Southern have a major freight-yard in the area; CSX operates the Wilsmere Yard to the west of the city in Elsmere and Norfolk Southern operates the Edgemoor Yard to the northeast of the city in Edgemoor.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: DART First State (Delaware Authority for Regional Transit) operates public bus service with approximately 40 bus lines serving the city and the surrounding suburbs as well as inter-county service to Dover, the state capital, and seasonal service to Lewes and Rehoboth Beach. Many DART First State bus routes operating in Wilmington serve Wilmington Transit Center and/or Rodney Square, the main bus transit hubs in the city. DART First State also offers RideShare Delaware, a program which links commuters looking for carpools or vanpools. In addition, the site offers transit riders, walkers or bikers a Guaranteed Ride Home in the event of a work emergency. Greyhound Lines operates interstate bus service out of the Wilmington Bus Station at the rail station.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The closest major airport is Philadelphia International Airport. A few miles south of Wilmington is Wilmington Airport, which serves as a base for both the Delaware Army National Guard and Delaware Air National Guard.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Wilmington is also served by the Port of Wilmington, a modern full-service deepwater port and marine terminal handling over 400 vessels per year with an annual import/export cargo tonnage of 5 million tons. The Port of Wilmington handles mostly international imports of fruits and vegetables, automobiles, steel, and bulk products.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Delmarva Power, a subsidiary of Exelon, provides electricity and natural gas to Wilmington. The city's Department of Public Works provides water and sewer service to Wilmington and some surrounding unincorporated areas. The city's water supply comes from the Hoopes Reservoir to the northwest of the city and from a dam along the Brandywine Creek in the city, with water mains pumping the water from these sources to facilities in the city, where the water is treated and stored or distributed to customers. The city's Department of Public Works also provides trash collection and recycling to Wilmington.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Christiana Care Health System, a health network headquartered in Wilmington, runs Wilmington Hospital on the edge of downtown Wilmington and Christiana Hospital in suburban Christiana, as well as various satellite health centers throughout the area. St. Francis Hospital, a member of Trinity Health, is located in the west end of Wilmington. The Nemours Foundation runs Nemours Children's Hospital, Delaware in North Wilmington, just outside the city proper.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The city has one of the highest per capita rates of HIV infection in the United States, with disproportionate rates of infection among African-American males. Efforts by local advocates to create needle exchange programs to reduce the spread of infection were obstructed for several years by downstate and suburban state legislators but a program was finally approved in June 2006.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The Wilmington Blue Rocks, a Minor League Baseball team affiliated with the Washington Nationals, plays at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Since their founding in 2015, the USA Rugby League expansion club Delaware Black Foxes have been based in the city at Eden Park Stadium.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: In 2013, Bearfight FC of Wilmington was founded as the only United States Adult Soccer Association hailing from Delaware, qualifying them as the sole representative of The First State in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: In 2010, "Sporting News" ranked Wilmington 351st on its list of the 400 Best Sports Towns, behind two smaller Delaware cities, Newark (218) and Dover (208).


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The Wilmington State Parks are a group of four parks in Wilmington operated by the Delaware State Park system. The four parks are Brandywine Park, including the Brandywine Zoo and Baynard Stadium, Alapocas Woods Natural Area, H. Fletcher Brown Park and Rockford Park. Admission to the parks is free, but a fee is charged for admittance to the zoo. The parks, within minutes of each other, are open year-round from sunrise to sunset. The zoo is open daily from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm, May through November. Rockford Tower and Rockford Park is open from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm on Saturdays and Sundays, from May 1 until October 31. The parks are patrolled by Delaware State Park Rangers whose headquarters office is in Brandywine Park.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The Delaware Distance Classic is a 15K road race held in October by the Pike Creek Valley Running Club (PCVRC). The course has rotated every few years based on sponsorship and is currently located in nearby Delaware City. The event began in 1983 as a fundraiser for the PCVRC, and the Mike Clark Legacy Foundation has been the beneficiary for the last few years.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The Caesar Rodney Half Marathon is a road race held annually since 1964 on the second Sunday in March. Billed by race organizers as the "granddaddy of Delaware road races", it generally draws more than 1,000 runners from 20 states and several countries. From the starting line at Wilmington's Rodney Square, runners flow past the scenic revitalized riverfront, through Rockford Park and back to Rodney Square at the Caesar Rodney statue. Proceeds benefit the American Lung Association of Delaware.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The Run for the Buds 1/2 Marathon, 1/2 Marathon Relay, and 5K Run/Walk is held annually at Rockford Park in mid-October. Proceeds benefit people with intellectual disabilities through the Down Syndrome Association of Delaware.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The Wilmington Grand Prix is held annually and is considered one of the premier criterium-style bike races in the country. Now in its 11th year, it is part of USA Cycling's National Race Calendar, a collection of only the most elite races. Weekend festivities include a street festival, a time trial on Monkey Hill, criterium races in downtown Wilmington at both the amateur and pro level, a 50 km Media Fondo, a 100 km Gran Fondo, and a leisurely Governor's Ride.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Additionally, the East Coast Greenway passes through Wilmington and its immediate suburbs for 10.4 miles as part of the scenic Northern Delaware Greenway, which includes steep hills, heavily forested sections and paved portions that lead through downtown.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: The Wilmington Country Club is a country club and golf course located just outside of the city in a suburb known as Greenville. .


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Wilmington is served by the Brandywine, Christina, Red Clay, and Colonial school districts for elementary, junior high, and high school public education. Of those four, Colonial is the only one which has no schools located in the Wilmington city limits. Cab Calloway School of the Arts of the Red Clay district is in the Wilmington city limits. The New Castle County Vocational-Technical School District operates Howard High School of Technology in the city of Wilmington.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Wilmington also hosts several charter schools. there were 11 charter schools in the city limits. These include the Charter School of Wilmington, Great Oaks Charter School, Kuumba Academy Charter School, East Side Charter School, and a magnet school, Cab Calloway School of the Arts which focuses on the performing arts. The Charter School of Wilmington and Cab Calloway School of the Arts are housed in the building of the former Wilmington High School. Great Oaks Charter School and Kuumba Academy are housed in the Community Education Building (a/k/a "C.E.B"), formerly known as Bracebridge IV, acquired by Bank of America from MBNA Corp. in 1997 and donated to The Longwood Foundation in 2012.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: Historically Wilmington High School, in the west of the city, and P.S. du Pont High School, in the north of the city, were schools for white children while Howard High School, in the east of the city, was the segregated school for black children. In 1954, the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision by the U.S. Supreme Court forced the then segregated schools of New Castle County to desegregate. However, the subsequent eleven school districts that were created in the county, including the Wilmington School District, soon became de facto segregated, as the Wilmington School District became predominately black, and the districts outside the city remained overwhelmingly white. A 1968 law from the Delaware General Assembly prevented a merger between the Wilmington district and other districts as the law prevented a merger involving a school district with over 12,000 pupils. In 1969 Wilmington, du Pont, and Howard were the three comprehensive high schools in Wilmington.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: In response to the segregation, the 1976 U.S. District Court decision "Evans v. Buchanan" implemented a plan by which students in Wilmington would be bused to attend school in the suburbs for certain grades, while suburban students would be bused into the City of Wilmington for other grades. By 1981, the four current districts in northern New Castle County, Brandywine, Christina, Colonial, and Red Clay, each composed of city and suburban areas, were established, all of which were majority white at the time. The idea was that no one district would be majority poor, black, and disadvantaged. Wilmington High remained in operation under the Red Clay district until 1999 and it now houses Calloway School of the Arts. Howard High became Howard High School of Technology, and P.S. du Pont became an elementary school of the Brandywine district. University of Delaware public policy professor Leland Ware wrote that Wilmington parents were divided, with many African-Americans preferring children be educated in the city while others liked the idea of their children attending integrated schools. According to Ware suburban parents generally disliked their children being bussed into Wilmington for desegregation as suburbanites perceived Wilmington as being unsafe.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: In 2015 Mark Murphy, Delaware's secretary for Education, expressed support for re-establishing a comprehensive high school in Wilmington. In 2020 there were persons in Wilmington, including the mayor Mike Purzycki, advocating for this as well. Such a school would be majority African-American. Purzycki stated that fear of racial resegregation is the issue that causes community stakeholders to be reluctant to do so.


title: Wilmington, Delaware

text: There are many private elementary and secondary schools in Wilmington: Salesianum School, Serviam Girls Academy, Nativity Preparatory of Wilmington, Ursuline Academy, The Tatnall School, Tower Hill School, St. Elizabeth High School, and Padua Academy. With 17.6% of the area students enrolled in private schools, the Wilmington area ranks as one of the top ten metropolitan areas in the country for the percentages of students in private school.


title: Scrub Daddy

text: Scrub Daddy is a cleaning product company best known for an eponymous sponge it manufactures in the shape of a smiley face. The product is made of a polymer which changes texturefirm in cold water and soft in warm water. As of 2019, Scrub Daddy had the highest revenue of any product successfully pitched on the ABC reality show "Shark Tank".


title: Scrub Daddy

text: After damaging the exterior of a vehicle when cleaning the outside, detailer Aaron Krause invented a line of buffing and polishing pads. The company was acquired by 3M in August 2008. 3M did not purchase a line of sponges Krause had invented, leaving them to sit in his factory. Five years later, Krause used the remaining sponges to clean his dishes and lawn furniture. According to Krause, this is when he "realized his multi-million dollar idea."


title: Scrub Daddy

text: According to the company's website, Scrub Daddy, Inc. was founded in 2012 with grassroots marketing. On the "Shark Tank" episode originally airing in October 2012, Lori Greiner made a 20% equity stake deal with Krause for $200,000. The following day, Greiner and Krause sold out of 42,000 sponges in under seven minutes on QVC. Greiner then helped Scrub Daddy to be sold in retail stores such as Bed, Bath & Beyond. In January 2017, Scrub Daddy's total revenues surpassed $100 million – the highest of any Shark Tank product. As of October 2019, the company's lifetime sales were $209 million.


title: Scrub Daddy

text: Scrub Daddy is made from a strong "high-tech polymer", which is likely to be polycaprolactone based on prior patent filings. The texture changes in water: firm in cold water, soft in warm water. The original Scrub Daddy is a yellow circular sponge with a smiling face punched into it. Krause has two patents on its design.


title: Scrub Daddy

text: The brand consists of more than 20 products, including scouring pads, dual-sided sponges, sink organizers, soap dispensers and household erasers.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China, makes up the vast majority (97%) of the province. The name means "south of the sea", reflecting the island's position south of the Qiongzhou Strait, which separates it from Leizhou Peninsula.


title: Hainan

text: The province has a land area of , of which Hainan the island is and the rest is over 200 islands scattered across three archipelagos: Zhongsha, Xisha and Nansha. It was part of Guangdong from 1950–88, after which it resumed as a top-tier entity and almost immediately made the largest Special Economic Zone by Deng Xiaoping as part of the then-ongoing Chinese economic reform program.


title: Hainan

text: Indigenous peoples like the Hlai, a Kra–Dai-speaking ethnic group, are native to the island and comprise 15% of the population. Their native languages include the Hlai languages. They are recognized by the Chinese government as one of the country's 56 ethnic groups. The Han population, who compose a majority of the population at 82%, speak a wide variety of languages including Standard Chinese, Hainam Min, Yue Chinese, Cantonese, Be language, Hakka Chinese, etc.


title: Hainan

text: There are ten major cities and ten counties in Hainan Province. The capital of the province is Haikou, on the northern coast of Hainan Island, while Sanya is a well-known tourist destination on the southern coast. The other major cities are Wenchang, Sansha, Qionghai, Wanning, Wuzhishan, Dongfang and Danzhou.


title: Hainan

text: According to China's territorial claims, several territories in the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands ("Nansha") and Paracel Islands ("Xisha"), are administered under Sansha city of the province.


title: Hainan

text: In 2020, a large-scale plan was announced by the Chinese government to transform the entire island province into a free trade port, with the aim of turning it into the largest special economic zone in China.


title: Hainan

text: The provincial name derives from its major island, Hainan, in Hainanese "Hai Nam", which is named after its position south of the Qiongzhou Strait. (To the north of the strait, the Leizhou Peninsula in Guangdong is also known as "Haibei/Hai Bac" or "North of the Sea".) Former names for Hainan Island include Zhuya, Qiongya, and Qiongzhou. The latter two gave rise to the provincial abbreviation or ("Qióng/Kheng").


title: Hainan

text: During the 17th and 18th centuries, explorers referred to the island as "Aynam", which remains the pronunciation of its name in the local Hainanese dialect.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan was originally attached to the Northeastern part of what is now Vietnam; however, the island was formed after it physically broke away from Vietnam due to a volcanic eruption and drifted southeast near China after the Mesozoic, millions of years ago.


title: Hainan

text: The Baiyue people are among the earliest Kra-Dai residents to arrive on Hainan island. They are believed to have settled there at least 2 to 6 thousand years ago, and carry genetic markers from ancient people who reached the island between 7 and 27 thousand years ago.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan Island was recorded by Chinese mandarin officials in 110 BC, when the Han dynasty of China established a military garrison there following the arrival of General Lu Bode. In 46 BC the Han court decided that the conquest was too expensive and abandoned the island. Han Chinese people together with military personnel and officials began to migrate to Hainan Island from the mainland. Among them were the offspring of those who were banished to Hainan for political reasons.


title: Hainan

text: After the 10th century AD, Cantonese peasants and Henghua colonists colonised Leizhou peninsula and Hainan island, pushing the Li into the highlands in the southern half of the island.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan was historically part of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces and as such was the Qiongya Circuit () under the 1912 establishment of the Republic of China. In 1921, it was planned to become a special administrative region (); in 1944, it became Hainan Special Administrative Region with 16 counties, including the South China Sea Islands.


title: Hainan

text: During the 1920s and 30s, Hainan was a hotbed of banditry, many opposition politicians were hanged, therefore opposition politicians went into hiding. The Communists and the indigenous Hlai people fought a vigorous guerrilla campaign against the Japanese that were only able to occupy some Hainan territories, but in retaliation the Japanese launched numerous massacres against Hlai villages. Feng Baiju led the Hainan Independent Column of fighters throughout the 1930s and 1940s. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Kuomintang reestablished control. Hainan was one of the last areas to eventually come under the administration of the People's Republic, having been under the control of ROC forces until March 1950. The People's Republic attacked Hainan on April 10, 1950 and attained complete control on May 1.


title: Hainan

text: On 1 May 1950, under the People's Republic of China, the Hainan Special Administrative Region became an Administrative Region Office (), a branch of the Guangdong provincial government. During the mid-1980s, when Hainan Island was still part of Guangdong Province, a fourteen-month episode of marketing zeal by Hainan Special District Administrator Lei Yu put Hainan's pursuit of provincial status under a cloud. It involved the duty-free imports from Hong Kong of 90,000 Japanese-made cars and trucks at a cost of ¥ 4.5 billion (US$1.5 billion), and exporting them – with the help of local naval units – to the mainland, making 150% profits. By comparison, only 10,000 vehicles were imported into Hainan since 1950. In addition, it involved further consignments of 2.9 million TV sets, 252,000 videocassette recorders & 122,000 motorcycles. The money was taken from the 1983 central government funds destined for the construction of the island's transportation infrastructure (roads, railways, airports, harbors) over the next ten years.


title: Hainan

text: On 1 October 1984, it became the Hainan Administrative Region (), with a People's Government, and finally as province separate from Guangdong four years later. In 1988, when the island was made a separate province, it was designated a Special Economic Zone in an effort to increase investment.


title: Hainan

text: The central government funds were deemed insufficient by the Hainan authorities for the construction of the island's other infrastructures (water works, power stations, telecommunications, etc.) and had taken a very liberal interpretation of the economic and trade regulations for Hainan and thirteen coastal cities; the regulations did not mention on prohibiting the re-selling of second-hand goods. Some of the proceeds, from unsold units, were later retrieved by the central government to re-finance the special district.


title: Hainan

text: In June 2020, China announced a master plan for Hainan's free trade port system. Announced by state-owned media Xinhua News Agency, "Hainan will “basically establish a free trade port system by 2025 and become more mature by 2035.” South China Morning Post described such an initiative as an effort of PRC to "replace Hong Kong as the trading entrepôt" while Cheng Shi, of "ICBC International" has refused to accept such a claim. Additionally, experts have raised concern about the question of compliance of global trading practices particularly for this project.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan, separated by the wide Qiongzhou Strait from the Leizhou Peninsula of Guangdong, is the largest island administered by the People's Republic of China and the 42nd largest in the world. The area of Hainan Island (, 97% of the province) is similar to that of Belgium or slightly smaller than that of Taiwan. To the west of Hainan Island is the Gulf of Tonkin. Wuzhi Mountain is the highest mountain on the island at .


title: Hainan

text: The northern half of Hainan is covered with the ancient Hainan Volcanic Field. Beneath the topsoil is volcanic rock while the topsoil itself contains small pieces of this vesicular rock.


title: Hainan

text: Wetland covers 320,000 hectares, 78,000 hectares of which were created artificially. Most of this is located in the eastern and northern part of Hainan.


title: Hainan

text: Most of the rivers in Hainan originate in the central area of the island and flow radially in different directions. The Nandu River in the northern part of the island is long, and its tributary, the Xinwu River, is long. Other major rivers include the Wanquan River at -long in the east, Changhua River in the west, and the Sanya River in the south. Evaporation during the dry season around the coastal areas greatly reduces the flow of the rivers.


title: Hainan

text: There are very few natural lakes in Hainan. However, there are numerous reservoirs, the largest of which is the Songtao Reservoir in the central-north area.


title: Hainan

text: A number of small islands, which are located hundreds of kilometers to the south, are claimed and administrated by Sansha as part of Hainan Province. Sovereignty of these islands is however disputed. These islands include:


title: Hainan

text: Compared to most of mainland China, the air quality of Hainan is significantly better since it is not affected by factory pollution, which has adversely affected the air on the mainland. Throughout 2012, Hainan had the highest air quality in the country for 351 days.


title: Hainan

text: The provincial government's environmental protection campaign has taken action against a number of industrial plants. During 2012, several outdated manufacturing facilities had their business licenses revoked, and 175 cases related to illegal sewage discharge were handled.


title: Hainan

text: Total sulfur dioxide emissions for the province were 34,000 tons in 2012, a 3 percent year-on-year reduction. In 2011, smog emissions were reduced 6.3 percent to 15,000 tons.


title: Hainan

text: From 2015 to the present, a widespread program to improve cities and other settlements in Hainan island has been taking place. It includes the removal of litter from towns, villages, and many roadsides. Small, illegal dumps are being removed. However, illegal dumping of construction debris still occurs on rural roads. Large, plastic dumpsters have been put in place within villages and at countryside road intersections. Towns are being improved with new road and sidewalk surfaces, landscaping features are being created, and many buildings are receiving new façades.


title: Hainan

text: This initiative in Haikou has seen entire neighborhoods demolished and rebuilt, sanitation improved, illegal structures used for business removed, roadside vendors banned, roads and sidewalks replaced, and new street crossings with traffic lights installed.


title: Hainan

text: The climate of Hainan is mostly tropical. The island's two largest cities, Haikou and Sanya, both possess a tropical Köppen climate. The coldest months are January and February when temperatures drop to ; the hottest months are July and August, and the temperatures are . Except for the mountainous regions in the central part of the island, the daily average temperature in Hainan in all months is well above .


title: Hainan

text: The summer in the northern part is hotter and, ). The average annual precipitation is and can be as high as in central and eastern areas, and as low as in the coastal areas of the southwest. Parts of Hainan lie in the path of typhoons, and 70% of the annual precipitation is derived from typhoons and the summer rainy season. Major flooding occurs due to typhoons, which can cause many problems for local residents.


title: Hainan

text: From January to February, the island of Hainan is often affected by thick fog, particularly in coastal areas and the northern part of the island. This is caused by cold winter air from the north coming into contact with the warmer sea, causing the moisture that evaporates from the sea to be condensed into fog. The fog remains from day to night, and is evenly distributed. Visibility may be reduced to for days at a time. During this period, residents normally keep windows shut. The moisture in the air is so extreme that the walls in homes weep, and floors often accumulate a layer of water.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan has over of tropical forest, in which live 4,600 kinds of plants and more than 570 species of animals. However, due to an invasion of exotic species, human impact from tourism, deforestation, and the release of pollutants, many species are under threat. A report from the Department of Land, Environment and Resources of Hainan Province states that 200 species are near extinction, with 6 species, such as "Maytenus hainanensis" and "Sciaphila tenella" already extinct.


title: Hainan

text: The majority of Hainan's land mass is forest with 61.5 percent coverage (210,000 hectares) reported at the end of 2012, an increase of since 2011. A further grass and trees were planted along the province's highways.


title: Hainan

text: There are 53 genera in 29 families of wild and cultivated fruit growing on Hainan Island. There are few large trees on the island; coconut palms are very common along with other smaller trees. Most of Hainan Island is however covered by forest.


title: Hainan

text: There are numerous protected areas and wildlife preserves on the island. Animals that are ubiquitous throughout the island include frogs, toads, geckos, skinks, and butterflies. Present, but less commonly observed, are snakes (Asian palm pit vipers, red bamboo snake, and occasionally cobras), Siberian chipmunks, squirrels, and the masked palm civet. Almost no large animals remain in the wild. The lakes are largely populated with carp and catfish.


title: Hainan

text: There are 362 known bird species. Seabirds such as gulls are not generally seen. Egrets and Black-winged kites are common in agricultural areas. Similar to many subtropical areas, insect species are diverse, and mosquitoes are very common.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan island has rich bio-diversity of cetaceans and is the site of studying these in Chinese waters. Many whales such as North Pacific right whales, western gray whales, humpback whales, and blue whales (all of these are almost extinct in Chinese waters) were historically seen in the winter and spring to mate and calve. These gentle giants of the sea had been hunted heavily and were wiped out by Japanese whalers (established whaling stations on various sites on Chinese and Korean coasts including Hainan and Daya Bay). A few Bryde's whales and minke whales may still occur in the adjacent waters along with on Leizhou Peninsula and the Gulf of Tonkin. Smaller species of whale and dolphins, such as short-finned pilot whales and pantropical spotted dolphins, but most notably the endangered Chinese white dolphin. Declared sanctuary for the species extends along the coasts. These dolphins may appear among clearer waters such as vicinity to Sanya.


title: Hainan

text: In 2000, the ethnic groups of Hainan included the Han-Chinese Hainanese, who are the majority (84% of the population) and speak the Min language, the Li (Hlai) (14.7% of the population); the Miao (0.7%) and the Zhuang (0.6%). The Li are the largest indigenous group on the island in terms of population. Also found on the island are the Utsuls, descendants of Cham refugees, who are classified as Hui by the Chinese government because of their Islamic religion. There is a Tanka community that live at Sanya Bay.


title: Hainan

text: The Li people mainly reside in the nine cities and counties in the middle and southern part of Hainan – the cities of Sanya, Wuzhishan and Dongfang, the Li autonomous counties of Baisha, Lingshui, Ledong, Changjiang, and the 'Li and Miao Autonomous Counties of Qiongzhong and Baoting'. Some others live elsewhere on Hainan with other ethnic groups in Danzhou, Wanning, Qionghai, Lingshui and Tunchang. The area inhabited by the Li ethnic group totals , about 55 percent of the province's total.


title: Hainan

text: Although they are indigenous to the island and do not speak a Chinese language, the Limgao (Ong-Be) people near the capital (8% of the Hainan population) are counted as Han Chinese by the Chinese government.


title: Hainan

text: Most of the Hainanese population practices Chinese folk religion and Chinese Buddhism. The Li population has a Theravada Buddhist minority. Most of the Utsuls of the island, a branch of Cham people living near Sanya, are Muslims. Because Hainan was a point in the travel route of missionaries, there are some Christians. According to the Chinese General Social Survey of 2009, Christians constitute 0.48% of the province's population.


title: Hainan

text: Nanshan Park is the center of Buddhism on Hainan. Encompassing more than of forest. The site includes countless grand temples, statues and spiritual gardens the likes of Savior Garden and Longevity Valley, with intricately trimmed hedges and abundant in lotus flowers, a venerated symbol in Buddhism meaning virtue or purity.


title: Hainan

text: At the heart of the valley is the grand Nanshan Temple, its gates flanked by stone figures of Buddha in front of the Tang dynasty-style entrance. The interior displays images of the Four Heavenly Kings amid statues of other deities enshrined in renderings of stone, gold and jade.


title: Hainan

text: Perhaps the most popular site within the Nanshan Buddhist Cultural Zone is the awe-inspiring stone rendering of the Bodhisattva Guan Yin, emerging out of the South China Sea to stand at 108 meters, taller than the statue of liberty.


title: Hainan

text: The Nanshan Buddhist Cultural Zone is visited by thousands of tourists and pilgrims each year who come pay homage to the site that plays a significant role in the religion in China and to sample some of the finest Buddhist vegan cuisine on the island.


title: Hainan

text: Most people in Hainan speak a variety of Min Chinese known as Hainanese. Other Chinese varieties and non-Chinese languages are spoken as well:


title: Hainan

text: Standard Mandarin serves as a "lingua franca" between different ethnic groups. Adults who are members of a minority also have quite high literacy skills in Chinese. Most adults speak several Chinese dialects, and some also speak Li.


title: Hainan

text: When Chams interact with the Hainanese dialect speakers from within Hainan Province, they use the Hainanese dialect, though youngsters generally use Mandarin. Not many can communicate in Li, so the Hainanese dialect or Mandarin is often used.


title: Hainan

text: In the market place and within the Sanya Municipality, the Cham speakers use Cham among themselves, and with others mostly use the Hainanese dialect. However, in the market places near the government seat of Yanglan Township, the Chams either use the Hainanese dialect or the Mai dialect.


title: Hainan

text: The people of Hainan live longer than those on the mainland. At the end of 2017, there were 1,565 centenarians in Hainan. For every 100,000 people in the province, 17.13 were centenarians. As of 8 March 2018, there were 287,700 residents over 80 years of age, making up 3.15% of the population.


title: Hainan

text: Even while Hainan Island was a part of Guangdong it had a considerable amount of local autonomy; the southern half of the island was an autonomous prefecture. Hainan's elevation to provincial level in 1988 increased its accountability to the Central People's Government, but by designating the new province a special economic zone the central government expressed its intent to allow Hainan maximum flexibility in devising programs to facilitate foreign investment and economic growth. Administratively, the province has been divided into five economic major districts.


title: Hainan

text: The politics of Hainan is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China.


title: Hainan

text: The Governor of Hainan is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Hainan. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor has less power than the Hainan Chinese Communist Party Provincial Committee Secretary or CCP Party Chief.


title: Hainan

text: On 13 April 1988, the First Session of the Seventh National People's Congress decided to establish Hainan Province, and at the same time granted the Hainan Provincial People's Congress and its Standing Committee special legislative power.


title: Hainan

text: After the 2019 free trade port plan is proposed, Hainan can enact legislation in economic, cultural, local affairs, social management, etc., and implement it in the Hainan Free Trade Zone (port).


title: Hainan

text: Per the research conducted by Information Warfare Monitor, Hainan is the physical location of GhostNet. The Chinese government has officially denied the existence of a cyber war and intelligence apparatus.


title: Hainan

text: In the official PRC territorial claim, Hainan Province includes not just one island, but also some two hundred South China Sea Islands. While the containment of the South China Sea Islands means that Hainan Province has a very large water body, it has a disproportionally small land area. James Shoal (, Zēngmǔ Ànshā), which is presently marked by the PRC, signifies the country's southernmost border. But Malaysia also claims that it is on their continental shelf.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan Province uses a slightly different administrative system than the other provinces of China. Most other provinces are divided entirely into prefecture-level divisions, each of which is then divided entirely into county-level divisions. County-level divisions generally do not come directly under the province. In Hainan, nearly all county-level divisions (the eight districts excepted) come directly under the province. This method of division is due to Hainan's relatively sparse population, totaling 9.26 million as of 2017.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan Island is home to the People's Liberation Army Navy Hainan Submarine Base and strategic nuclear submarine naval harbor at Yalong Bay. The naval base is estimated to be high, built into hillsides around a military base. The caverns are capable of hiding up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites. The harbor houses nuclear ballistic missile submarines and is large enough to accommodate aircraft carriers. The U.S. Department of Defense has estimated that China will have five type 094 submarines operational by 2010 with each capable of carrying 12 JL-2 ballistic missiles. Two piers and three smaller ones would be enough to accommodate two carrier strike groups or amphibious assault ships.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan's economy is predominantly agricultural, and more than a half of the island's exports are agricultural products. Hainan's elevation to province-level status (1988), however, was accompanied by its designation as China's largest "special economic zone", the intent being to hasten the development of the island's plentiful resources. Prior to this, the province had a reputation for being a "Wild West" area, largely untouched by industrialization; even today there are relatively few factories in the province. Tourism plays an important part of Hainan's economy, thanks largely to its tropical beaches and lush forests. The central government has encouraged foreign investment in Hainan and has allowed the island to rely to a large extent on market forces.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan's industrial development largely has been limited to the processing of its mineral and agricultural products, particularly rubber and iron ore. Since the 1950s, machinery, farm equipment, and textiles have been manufactured in the Haikou area for local consumption. A major constraint on industrial expansion has been an inadequate supply of electricity. Much of the island's generating capacity is hydroelectric, and it is subject to seasonal fluctuations in stream and river flows.


title: Hainan

text: In December 2009, the government of China announced that it plans to establish Hainan as an "international tourist destination" by 2020. This announcement contributed to a surge in the province's economy, with a year-on-year increase in investment of 136.9% in the first three months of 2010. Hainan's real estate sector accounted for more than one third of the province's economic growth.


title: Hainan

text: According to the Statistical Communiqué of National Economic and Social Development of the statistical authority, the GDP of Hainan Province in 2017 was 446.3 billion yuan (66.1 billion US dollars), up by 7.0 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the value added of the primary industry was 97.9 billion yuan (14.5 billion US dollars), up by 3.6 percent, that of the secondary industry was 99.7 billion yuan (14.8 billion US dollars), up by 2.7 percent and that of the tertiary industry was 248.6 billion yuan (36.8 billion US dollars), up by 10.2 percent. The value added of the primary industry accounted for 21.95 percent of the GDP; that of the secondary industry accounted for 22.34 percent; and that of the tertiary industry accounted for 55.71 percent. The per capita GDP in 2017 was 48,430 yuan (7,173 US dollars).


title: Hainan

text: Owing to Hainan's tropical climate, paddy rice is cultivated extensively in the northeastern lowlands and in the southern mountain valleys. Leading crops other than rice include coconut, palm oil, sisal, tropical fruits (including pineapples, of which Hainan is China's leading producer), black pepper, coffee, tea, cashews, and sugarcane.


title: Hainan

text: The hot Hainan yellow lantern chili, a variety similar to the scotch bonnet, is unique to the island, and is grown in the southeast and southwest.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan is a major rubber producer. In the early 20th century Chinese emigrants returning from then British Malaya, introduced rubber trees to the island; after 1950, state farms were developed, and Hainan now produces a substantial amount of China's rubber. Natural rubber is now grown on 246,000 hectares of land. This ranks 6th in the world in harvest area and 5th in terms of output.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan has almost 93,000 hectares of areca palms. The product, the areca nut, is consumed locally and also sent to the mainland. Ninety-five percent of China's production of this nut is produced in Hainan.


title: Hainan

text: Grouper, Spanish mackerel, and tuna constitute the bulk of the catch from offshore fishing grounds. Scallops and pearls are raised in shallow bays and basins for local use and export.


title: Hainan

text: Shrimp production is estimated to have been in 2007, more than 50% of which was exported. Hainan has over 400 hatcheries, most being located between Wenchang and Qionghai.


title: Hainan

text: Tilapia production in 2008 was . The island has an estimated 100,000 local, commercial fish farming families.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan Island is often divided into eight regions for tourism purposes: Haikou and area (Haikou, Qiongshan, Ding'an); the Northeast (Wenchang); the Central East Coast (Qionghai, Ding'an); the South East Coast; the South (Sanya); the West Coast also called the Chinese Riviera (Ledong, Dongfang, Xianghsui, Changjiang); the North West (Danzhou, Lingao, Chengmai); and the Central Highlands (Baisha, Qiongzhong, and Wuzhishan/Tongzha).


title: Hainan

text: Popular tourist destinations include the beaches and resorts in the southern part of the province. Inland is Five Finger Mountain, a scenic area. Tourists also visit the capital of Haikou with area visitor attractions such as Movie Town Haikou and Holiday Beach.


title: Hainan

text: In 2000, the province initiated a visa-upon-arrival policy for foreign tourist groups. It is available to citizens of twenty-six different countries, and was established in order to attract visitors.


title: Hainan

text: Beginning 1 May 2018, citizens of 59 countries will be able to visit Hainan for 30 days without requiring a visa, provided that they come on a tour via a travel agency. Countries included among the 59 are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.


title: Hainan

text: During 2008, 20.6 million tourists visited Hainan, producing total revenues of 19.23 billion yuan (US$2.81 billion). Of these tourists, 979,800 were from overseas with the largest numbers coming from South Korea, Russia and Japan.


title: Hainan

text: In 2010, the amount of overnight tourists visiting Hainan was 25.87 million, 663,000 of which came from outside China.


title: Hainan

text: During 2011, more than 30 million tourists visited Hainan, mostly from mainland China. Of the 814,600 overseas tourists, 227,600 of them came from Russia, a 53.3 percent a rise year-on-year. Total revenue during that year was 32 billion RMB ($4.3 billion US), up 25 percent from 2010.


title: Hainan

text: In the first quarter of 2012, the Hainan Provincial Tourism Development Commission reports that Hainan received 208,300 overnight visitors, 25 percent of whom came from Russia.


title: Hainan

text: During 2018, the province received over 76 million domestic and overseas tourists, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%. Revenue also increased 14.5% compared to the previous year for a total of 95 billion RMB (US$14 billion).


title: Hainan

text: The government of Hainan is expanding the province's medical tourism industry. The provincial government has established the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in the Bo'ao area. The zone is located six kilometers from the Boao Forum for Asia and covers 20 square kilometers. This was announced at the Boao Forum for Asia in 2011. The State Council has approved the development of Lecheng Island as a medical tourism-themed destination. Lecheng Island is a small island in the Wanquan River about west of the coastal town of Bo'ao on the west coast of the province. Construction on the 20 km. The zone was begun in December 2014 and will cost a projected 1.5 billion yuan. It was scheduled for completion in 2016 and is the first special zone for medical travel in China. As part of the zone, the Boao Super Hospital opened in 2018.


title: Hainan

text: Haikou is the province's capital and contains interesting historic sites. Also known as Coconut City, Haikou is a major port. The Five Officials Temple (, ) consists of five traditional temples and halls that were built in honor of five officials of the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. These officials were banished to Hainan for periods ranging from 11 days to 11 years for speaking out against what they felt were wrong practices by the emperors. (It is perhaps significant that the establishment of the Five Officials Temple in the late 19th century coincides with a time when China's territorial integrity was under threat, and that several of the officials honored here were exiled for espousing aggressive policies on the recapture of the north of China from the Jurchens during the Southern Song dynasty.)


title: Hainan

text: Xiuying Fort was built in 1891 to defend the southeastern corner of China during the Sino-French War. The Xiuying Fort Barbette covers about a third of an acre. Its five large cannons are still intact and viewable at the site.


title: Hainan

text: The Tomb of Hai Rui () is a key national cultural protection site. Hai Rui was a compassionate and popular official of Hainanese origins who lived during the Ming dynasty. He was famous for his lifelong honesty and his willingness to speak out on behalf of local people. In later life, Hai Rui was persecuted and fell out of favor with the emperor. His admirers built the Hai Rui Tomb after his death to commemorate his great works. Construction of the tomb began in 1589.


title: Hainan

text: The Yangpu Ancient Salt Field is a heritage site in Yantian village on Yangpu Peninsula. The area comprises more than 1,000 stones, cut flat on top, used to dry seawater to produce salt.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan Island has a number of beaches, hot springs and other attractions. Some top scenic sites include Yalong bay National Resort; Dadonghai Tourist Resort; Qizhi Shan (Seven Finger Mountain), Nuilin mountain tropical botanical reserve in Lingshui county, Guantang Hot Spring Resort, Shishan Volcanic Garden; the Wanquan River, Baishi Ridge Scenic Zone and Baihua Ridge.


title: Hainan

text: To encourage the international yachting community, new regulations now allow foreign yachts to stay for a total of 183 days each year, with a maximum single stay duration of 30 days. 13 additional ports will be built around the island to accommodate this market.


title: Hainan

text: On 13 April 2018, Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping announced a plan to gradually make the island into a pilot free trade zone by 2020, and transform the entire island into a free trade port by 2025. This will involve inviting foreign and multi-national companies to set up their regional and international headquarters in Hainan. Goods and services would be subject to low or even no tariffs. The zone will become China's largest free trade zone, and the first trade port since 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded. Part of the plan is to establish exchanges in commodities and carbon trading, international energy, and shipping. Emphasis will also be placed on the development of service industries including tourism, the Internet, healthcare, finance, as well as conference and exhibitions hosting.


title: Hainan

text: Since the announcement in April 2018, Hainan had signed 159 contracts with major companies. In September 2018, China National Travel Service Group, China's biggest travel business conglomerate, relocated its headquarters from Beijing to Haikou. In October 2018, Baidu and Hainan signed a deal to built a 10-billion-yuan (US$1.45 billion) eco-village.


title: Hainan

text: In September 2018, a symposium was held in Beijing on foreign investment projects in Hainan. During that gathering, the Hainan government signed contracts with 26 international companies including Globevisa Group, Merlin Entertainments Group, Viacom, Ikea Group, Mapletree Investments, Avis Budget Group, Star Cruises, and Boehringer Ingelheim.


title: Hainan

text: To bring talented workers to Hainan, in November 2018 the Hainan government held a recruitment fair in Beijing in an effort to bring 7,471 people to Hainan to work in government agencies, companies, and other institutions.


title: Hainan

text: Established prior to this announcement, and currently in existence, are the following economic and technological development zones:


title: Hainan

text: On 20 April 2011, a pilot duty-free program commenced with the aim of increasing luxury goods purchases. It permits domestic Chinese visitors to claim tax refunds on imported luxury items purchased within the province. The maximum value is set at 5,000 yuan (US$762), with lowered tax rates on purchases over 5,000 yuan. In October 2012, duty limits were raised to 8,000 yuan ($1,273), and became available to both domestic and international tourists.


title: Hainan

text: During 2018 Spring Festival, Hainan recorded a 25% increase in duty-free revenue, with 450 million yuan ($71 million) in sales. The two duty-free shops, located in Sanya and Haikou, received about 99,000 customers, a 32% gain.


title: Hainan

text: During 2018, the two duty-free shops had sales of more than 10 billion RMB and received 2.88 million customers.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan has commercially exploitable reserves of more than 30 minerals. Iron, first mined by the Japanese during their occupation of the island in World War II, is the most important. Also important are titanium, manganese, tungsten, bauxite, molybdenum, cobalt, copper, gold, and silver. There are large deposits of lignite and oil shale on the island, and significant offshore finds of oil and natural gas have been discovered. Virgin forests in the interior mountains contain more than 20 commercially valuable species, including teak and sandalwood.


title: Hainan

text: In 1990, Hainan province was the site of the largest property bust in modern Chinese history With 2009 and the announcement of the Chinese Government's plan to develop the province into a major international tourist location, property sales rose by 73%, creating the possibility of another bubble in Hainan's property market.


title: Hainan

text: Since March 2010, commercial and residential property values in some parts of Hainan have slowed down since the market peaked in February.


title: Hainan

text: In March, average month-on-month transaction prices dropped 12.82% to 12,280 RMB per square meter, with a reduction in volume to , a 19.05% decline. Later in April, prices declined 2.84% to 11,932 yuan per square metre, with a 57.59% decline in volume to . Then in May prices declined a further 29.74% from the previous month to 8,483 yuan per square metre, with a 57.95% decline in volume to . However, property prices in the tourist resort of Sanya remain strong as of January 2011, with prime developments selling at prices of up to 80,000 RMB per square metre.


title: Hainan

text: Data for 2016 data shows that Hainan saw an increase in house sales of 44%. Volume in sales was 129 billion RMB ($18.82 billion) which is a rise of 51.2 percent year-on-year. During that year in November, commercial apartments in Sanya sold for 20,695 RMB per square meter a rise of 15.75% year-on-year. The total amount of Sanya real estate sold during that time was 212,400 square meters.


title: Hainan

text: In the beginning of 2017, the price for a house in Haikou was approximately 8,000 RMB ($1,170) per square meter and $20,000 RMB ($2,977) per square meter in Sanya.


title: Hainan

text: On 23 April 2018, new rules came into effect regarding home purchases in Hainan. To be able to buy a house, non-Hainan residents must prove that they have a minimum of one family member who has been paying taxes or social security for at least 2 years.


title: Hainan

text: Those non-Hainan residents who wish to purchase a house in Haikou, Sanya and Qionghai must prove that they have a minimum of one family member who has been paying taxes or social security for at least 5 years.


title: Hainan

text: In Wuzhishan, Baoting, Qiongzhong and Baisha (the "central ecological core areas"), houses may only be purchased by local residents.


title: Hainan

text: When non-residents do buy a property, the down payment must be at least 70 per cent. In order to curb speculation, owners may not sell their property for five years after receiving their ownership certificate.


title: Hainan

text: This industry is expanding in Hainan, with numerous courses being constructed, including Mission Hills Haikou, which is one of the largest golf complexes in the world. The golf industry attracts foreign investment and overseas golfers from such countries as Australia, South Korea, and Japan.


title: Hainan

text: Automotive manufacturing is one of Eight industrial pillar industries. Hainan's automotive output was 39,600 in 2017, down by 41.1 percent over the previous year. Domestic Chinese manufacturer, Haima Automobile has its global headquarters in Haikou.


title: Hainan

text: As of 2017, the total value of imports and exports of goods reached 70,237 million yuan (10,403 million US dollars). Of which, the value of goods exported was 29,566 million yuan (4,379 million US dollars), the value of goods imported was 40,671 million yuan (6,024 million US dollars).


title: Hainan

text: Asean was Hainan's largest export trade partner in 2017, the value of goods exported to Asean was 12,289 yuan (1,820 million US dollars), accounted for 41.56 per cent of the total value of goods exported. Its second-largest foreign trade partner was Hong Kong, the value of goods exported to Hong Kong was 2,966 yuan (439 million US dollars), accounted for 10.03 per cent of that. the 3rd largest partner was EU, the value of goods exported to EU was 2,186 yuan (324 million US dollars), accounted for 7.39 per cent of that.


title: Hainan

text: Before 1950 there were practically no transport links with the interior of the island. The first roads were built in the early 20th century, but no major road construction was undertaken in the mountains until the 1950s. Parallel north–south roads along the east and west coasts and through the interior of the island constitute most of Hainan's road network.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan is the only province in China that does not have highway toll stations. This is due to the 1994 "fee-to-tax" reform. Instead, road maintenance costs are raised through a 60% tax on fuel.


title: Hainan

text: There are several major highways and expressways linking Haikou on the north coast with Sanya on the south coast. The G224 is 309 kilometers long and runs through the middle of the province. The Hainan Ring Highway has three parts: The G225 is long and is the western part. For most of its length, the G225 runs parallel to the Hainan western ring railway. The G223 is the eastern part, running from Haikou to Sanya. It is 323 kilometers long. The G98 is a 612.8-kilometer-long orbital expressway that encircles the island. Hainan Highway 1, a new 1,040-km-long scenic highway, will be built around the island, along the coast starting in May 2019.


title: Hainan

text: There are also numerous rural roads within the province. These are typically two-way asphalt roads and connect larger towns. Connecting the thousands of villages to one another and to farms, are concrete roads about 6 meters wide. Many of these were built from roughly from the year 2000 onward, and as of 2019, are still being built.


title: Hainan

text: While a bridge connecting Hainan to the Leizhou peninsula on the mainland was planned in the early 2000s it never came to fruition. A bridge or tunnel received continued consideration in 2018, as travel by air or ferry can leave residents and visitors isolated when bad weather sets in.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan Province has two international airports (Haikou Meilan International Airport and Sanya Phoenix International Airport) and two domestic airports (Qionghai Bo'ao Airport and Danzhou Airport, the latter is under construction.)


title: Hainan

text: Today's Hainan is ringed by standard-gauge railways. Since 2004, a rail ferry connects the island's railroad network to Guangdong, mainland China. In 2005, Ministry of Communications allocated 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million) to set up a committee to research and study the possibility of a bridge or tunnel link connecting the island to the mainland. From the ferry terminal, located near Haikou railway station (west of Haikou), freight and passenger trains arriving from the mainland can proceed on the Hainan western ring railway along the island's west coast, via Dongfang to Sanya. This railway line has been developed over several decades, starting with a few short narrow gauge lines constructed during the Japanese occupation in the early 1940s.


title: Hainan

text: There is a high-speed railway ring around the island, formed by the eastern ring and western ring along the island's coast. Both high-speed railways are connected with Haikou and Sanya. There are 15 stations along the east coast, and 16 stations along the west coast. Trains are designed to travel at on the east ring, and on the west ring. The total length of eastern ring is , while the western ring is . The first eastern ring high-speed train run started on 30 December 2010, and the Hainan western ring high-speed railway started its operation in 2015.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan received 11,000 tons of products via ports November 2010, up 90.1 percent month-on-month. Between January and November 2010, 102,000 tons of products were exported via Hainan, 34,000 tons of which were exported to the US, and 14,000 tons sent to the EU.


title: Hainan

text: The level of primary and secondary education has improved since 1949, but facilities for higher education remain somewhat inadequate.


title: Hainan

text: As a frontier region celebrated by such exiled poets as Su Dongpo, Hainan acquired an air of mystery and romance. The influx of large numbers of mainlanders after 1950 – particularly in the 1970s, when young Chinese from southern Guangdong were assigned to state farms to help develop Hainan, and in the 1980s, when thousands more came to take advantage of the economic opportunities offered – has perpetuated the frontier atmosphere on the island .


title: Hainan

text: As well as programs from Central China Television (CCTV), Hainan has a number of local TV stations including Hainan TV and Haikou TV. The Chinese language "Nanguo Metropolis Daily", "Haikou Evening News", and "Hainan Daily" newspapers are published in Haikou.


title: Hainan

text: A large film studio is located in the south part of Haikou. Movie Town Haikou comprises several studio buildings and an artificial town used as filming sets and a visitor attraction.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan cuisine is said to be "lighter, with mild seasonings." A lot of local taste is mixed with the Han Chinese taste. Seafood predominates the menu, as shrimp, crab, fish and other sea life are widely available.


title: Hainan

text: Wenchang chicken is a dish known throughout the province of Hainan. Although there are many varieties of this dish, the name is usually used to define a type of small, free-range chicken from Wenchang, located on the east coast of the province. As opposed to battery chickens, its meat has more texture and is somewhat drier.


title: Hainan

text: Hainan chicken rice / Coibui is a famous dish in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Malaysia, bearing the region's name. However, while many restaurants use chicken fat to quickly add flavor to the dish, the proper local method is to 'marinate' the rice with chicken soup to add a more full flavor.


title: Hainan

text: One of China's satellite launch centers is located in Hainan east of the city of Wenchang. The Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, a facility, is the closest Chinese launch center to the equator. The construction plan was first announced in October 2007. The new launch center began operations on 3 November 2016 with the Long March 5 rocket making its maiden flight.


title: Hainan

text: The poet Su Shi (1036–1101) popularized Hainan's isolation and exoticism when he was exiled there under the Song dynasty. The Dongpo Academy was built on the site of the residence where he lived in exile.


title: Hainan

text: Hai Rui (1514–1587) was a famous Chinese official of the Ming dynasty. His name has come down in history as a model of honesty and integrity in office.


title: Hainan

text: Chih-Ping Chen (1906-1983) was a distinguished diplomat and statesman for the Republic of China, who served to build the Yunnan-Burma Road, and a diplomatic career that spanned four decades.


title: Hainan

text: The most well-known native of Hainan is Chinese-American Methodist minister turned businessman, Charlie Soong, father of the Shanghai-born Soong sisters: Soong Ai-ling, wife of H. H. Kung (once China's richest man); Soong Ching-ling, wife of Sun Yat-Sen; and Soong Mei-ling, wife of former ROC President Chiang Kai-shek.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Shamil Salmanovich Basayev (; ; 14 January 1965 – 10 July 2006), also known by his kunya "Abu Idris", was a senior military commander in the Chechen independence movement and terrorist. As a military commander in separatist armed forces of Chechnya, one of his most notable battles was the separatist recapture of Grozny in 1996, which he personally planned and commanded together with Aslan Maskhadov.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against Russian forces for years, as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians, with his goal being the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from Chechnya. Beginning in 2003, Basayev used the "nom de guerre" and title of ""Emir" Abdullah Shamil Abu-Idris". In 1997–1998 he also served as vice-Prime minister of Chechnya in Aslan Maskhadov's government.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: As Basayev's ruthless reputation gained notoriety, he became well revered among his peers and eventually became the highest ranking Chechen military commander and was considered the undisputed leader of the Chechen insurgency as well as being the overall senior leader of all other Chechen rebel factions. This position was assumed by Akhmed Yevloyev in July 2007, one year after the death of Basayev.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: He ordered the Budyonnovsk hospital raid, Beslan school siege and was responsible for numerous attacks on security forces in and around Chechnya and also masterminded the 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis and the 2004 Russian aircraft bombings. ABC News described him as "one of the most-wanted terrorists in the world." Despite his aura, he has been described in international media as "almost unassuming in the flesh", being "of medium height, with a bushy beard and high forehead worthy of a Moscow intellectual, and a quiet voice."


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev was killed in a truck explosion during an arms deal in July 2006. Forensic evidence suggests that his death was caused when a landmine he was examining exploded, but Russian officials have also claimed that one of the Kamaz trucks used was booby-trapped and detonated to destroy the arms shipment, also killing Basayev.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Shamil Basayev was born in the village of Dyshne-Vedeno, near Vedeno, in south-eastern Chechnya, in 1965 to Chechen parents from the Belghatoy teip. He was named after Imam Shamil, the third imam of Chechnya and Dagestan and one of the leaders of anti-Russian Chechen-Avar forces in the Caucasian War.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: His family is said to have had a long history of involvement in Chechen resistance to foreign occupation, especially Russian rule.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In the 14th century an ancestor fought Timur, a great-great-great-grandfather served as Imam Shamil's deputy and died fighting the Czar, while a great-grandfather died fighting the Bolsheviks. His grandfather fought for the abortive attempt to create a breakaway North Caucasian Emirate after the Russian Revolution.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: The Basayevs, along with most of the rest of the Chechen population, had been deported to Kazakhstan during World War II on the orders of the NKVD leader Lavrenti Beria as a means of cutting off support to the 1940–44 insurgency in Chechnya. They were only allowed to return when the deportation order was lifted by Nikita Khrushchev in 1957.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev, an avid football player, graduated from school in Dyshne-Vedeno in 1982, aged 17, and spent the next two years in the Soviet military serving as a firefighter. For the next four years, he worked at the Aksaiisky state farm in the Volgograd region of southern Russia before moving to Moscow.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: He reportedly attempted to enroll in the law school of the Moscow State University but failed, and instead entered the Moscow Engineering Institute of Land Management in 1987. However, he was expelled for poor grades in 1988. He subsequently worked as a computer salesman in Moscow, in partnership with a local Chechen businessman, Supyan Taramov. Ironically, the two men ended up on opposite sides in the Chechen wars, during which Taramov sponsored a pro-Russian Chechen militia ("Sobaka magazine"s dossier on Basayev reported that Taramov apparently equipped or "outfitted" this group of pro-Russian Chechens; they were also known as "Shamil Hunters"). In later interviews, Taramov would claim he hired Basayev as a favor for a family friend, and that the latter was an ineffectual worker.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: When some hardline members of Soviet government attempted to stage a coup d'état in August 1991, Basayev allegedly joined supporters of Russian President Boris Yeltsin on the barricades around the Russian White House in central Moscow, armed with hand grenades.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: A few months later, in November 1991, the Chechen nationalist leader Dzhokhar Dudayev unilaterally declared independence from the newly formed Russian Federation. In response, Yeltsin announced a state of emergency and dispatched troops to the border of Chechnya. It was then that Basayev began his long career as an insurgent—seeking to draw international attention to the crisis. Basayev, Lom-Ali Chachayev, and the group's leader, Said-Ali Satuyev, a former airline pilot suffering from schizophrenia, hijacked an Aeroflot Tu-154 plane, en route from Mineralnye Vody in Russia to Ankara on 9 November 1991, and threatened to blow up the aircraft unless the state of emergency was lifted. The hijacking was resolved peacefully in Turkey, with the plane and passengers being allowed to return safely and the hijackers given safe passage back to Chechnya.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev moved to Azerbaijan in 1992, where he assisted Azerbaijani forces in their unsuccessful war against Armenian fighters in the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. He was said to have led a battalion-strength Chechen contingent. According to Azeri Colonel Azer Rustamov, in 1992, ""hundreds of Chechen volunteers rendered us invaluable help in these battles led by Shamil Basayev and Salman Raduyev"". Basayev was said to be one of the last fighters to leave Shusha (see Capture of Shusha).


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Later in 1992, Basayev traveled to Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia, to assist the local separatist movement against the Georgian government's attempts to regain control of the region. Basayev became the commander-in-chief of the forces of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus (a volunteer unit of pan-Caucasian nationalists, people from the Caucasus). Their involvement was crucial in the Abkhazian war and in October 1993 the Georgian government suffered a decisive military defeat. It was rumored that the volunteers were trained and supplied by some part of the Russian army's GRU military intelligence service. According to "The Independent" journalist Patrick Cockburn, "cooperation between Mr Basayev and the Russian army is not so surprising as it sounds. In 1992–93 he is widely believed to have received assistance from the GRU when he and his brother Shirvani fought in Abkhazia, a breakaway part of Georgia." No specific evidence was given.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: The Russian government newspaper "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" reported that Basayev was an agent of GRU, and another publication by journalist Boris Kagarlitsky said that "It is maintained, for example, that Shamil Basayev and his brother Shirvani are long-standing GRU agents, and that all their activities were agreed, not with the radical Islamists, but with the generals sitting in the military intelligence offices. All the details of the attack by Basayev's detachments were supposedly worked out in the summer of 1999 in a villa in the south of France with the participation of Basayev and the Head of the Presidential administration, Aleksandr Voloshin. Furthermore, it is alleged that the explosive materials used were not supplied from secret bases in Chechnya but from GRU stockpiles near Moscow." The Russian newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" stated that the Basayev brothers "both recruited as agents by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU) in 1991–92." The Russian newspaper "Versiya" published the GRU file on Basayev and his brother, which revealed that "both Chechen terrorists were named as regular agents of the military intelligence organization." In a July 2020 interview, the former Russian Federal Security Service chief Sergei Stepashin admitted that Basayev cooperated with military intelligence while fighting against Georgian government in Abkhazia.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Russian special forces joined with the Chechens under Basayev to attack Georgia. A GRU agent, Anton Surikov, had extensive connections with Basayev. Russian military intelligence had ordered Basayev to support the Abkhaz.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev received direct military training from the GRU since the Abkhaz were backed by Russia. Other Chechens also were trained by the GRU in warfare, many of these Chechens who fought for the Russians in Abkhazia against Georgia had fought for Azerbaijan against Armenia in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: According to Paul J. Murphy, "Russian military intelligence turned a blind eye to the 1991 terrorist arrest warrant against Basayev to train him and his detachment in Abkhazia, and the Russians even helped direct Basayev's combat operations" and "long after the war, Basayev praised the professionalism and courage of his Russian trainers in Abkhazia – praise that led some of his enemies in Grozny, even President Maskhadov, to later call him a "longtime GRU agent".


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In 1993 Basayev lead the CMPC corps of North Caucasian volunteers, according to allegations made by Georgian tabloids, the volunteers led by Shamil had decapitated Georgian civilians. After an investigation by a commission composed of Russian deputies, as well as a commission led by UNPO lawyer and investigator Michael van Praag, they could not find any proof for such an incident ever taking place. The tabloid in question also admitted in November that they had no proof to confirm that such an incident had taken place.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Having already been noticed in Afghanistan, where he fought as a young man, and then in Abkhazia in Georgia, Basayev would further attract the attention of Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, the ISI : under Pakistani command, and after meeting many powerful personalities of the army, including the DG ISI Javed Ashraf Qazi, he would be one of the 1,500-strong Afghan mujahideen contingent which fought the Armenians during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and in April 1994, the ISI would eventually arrange "a refresher course for Basayev and some of his NCOs in guerrilla warfare and Islamic learning in the Amir Munawid Camp in Khost province in Afghanistan", with Basayev also having further specialized training in Pakistan proper, in cities like Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Muridke, near Lahore. They were also given Stingers, anti-tank rockets and advanced explosives, which would be later used to shoot down Russian combat airplanes and dozens of helicopters. Ultimately, hundreds of Chechens would be trained in Khost, under the ISI as well as the Pakistan-based Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Ansar, and one of its commanders, Abu Abdullah Jaffa, once in Pakistan's Northern Light Infantry, would work closely with Basayev over the years, as for instance he's supposed to be the one who planned the invasion of Dagestan.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: The First Chechen War began when Russian forces invaded Chechnya on 11 December 1994, to depose the government of Dzhokhar Dudayev. With the outbreak of war, Dudayev made Basayev one of the front-line commanders. Basayev took an active role in the resistance, successfully commanding his "Abkhaz Battalion." The unit inflicted major losses on Russian forces in the Battle of Grozny, Chechnya's capital, which lasted from December 1994 to February 1995. Basayev's men were among the last fighters to abandon the city.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: After capturing Grozny, the momentum changed in favor of the Russian forces, and by April Chechen forces had been pushed into the mountains with most of their equipment destroyed. Basayev's "Abkhaz Battalion" suffered many casualties, particularly during battles around Vedeno in May and their ranks sank to as low as 200 men, critically low on supplies.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Around this time, Basayev also suffered a personal tragedy. On 3 June 1995, during a Russian air raid on Basayev's hometown of Dyshne-Vedeno, two bombs targeted the home of Basayev's uncle, killing six children, four women as well as his uncle. Basayev's wife, child and his sister Zinaida were among the dead. Twelve additional members of Basayev's family were also seriously wounded in the attack. One of his brothers was also killed in fighting near Vedeno.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In an attempt to force a stop to the Russian advance, some Chechen forces resorted to a series of terrorist attacks directed against civilian targets outside the area that they claimed. Basayev led the most infamous such attack, the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis on 14 June 1995, less than two weeks after he lost his family in the air raids. Basayev's large band seized the Budyonnovsk hospital in southern Russia and the 1,600 people inside for a period of several days. At least 129 civilians died and 415 were wounded during the crisis as the Russian special forces repeatedly attempted to free the hostages by force. Although Basayev failed in his principal demand for the removal of Russian forces from Chechnya, he did successfully negotiate a stop to the Russian advance and an initiation of peace talks with the Russian government, saving the Chechen resistance by giving them time to regroup and recover. Basayev and his fighters then returned to Chechnya under cover of human shields.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 23 November, Basayev announced on the Russian NTV television channel, that four cases of radioactive material had been hidden around Moscow. Russian emergency teams roamed the city with Geiger counters, and located several canisters of Caesium, which had been stolen from the Budennovsk hospital by the Chechen militants. The incident has been called "the most important sub-state use of radiological material."


title: Shamil Basayev

text: By 1996 Basayev had been promoted to the rank of General and Commander of the Chechen Armed Forces. In July 1996 he was implicated in the death of the rogue Chechen warlord Ruslan Labazanov.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In August 1996, he led a successful operation to retake the Chechen capital Grozny, defeating the Russian garrison of the city. Yeltsin's government finally moved for peace, bringing in former Soviet–Afghan War General Aleksandr Lebed as a negotiator. A peace agreement was concluded between the Chechens and Russians, under which the Chechens acquired "de facto" independence from Russia.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev stepped down from his military position in December 1996 to run for president in Chechnya's second (and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria's first and only ever internationally monitored) presidential elections. Basayev came in second place to Aslan Maskhadov, obtaining 23.5% of the votes. Allegedly Basayev found the defeat very painful.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In early 1997 he was appointed deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya by Maskhadov. In January 1998 he became the acting head of the Chechen government for a six-month term, after which he resigned. Basayev's appointment was symbolic because it took place on the eve of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of his renowned namesake. Basayev subsequently reduced the government's administrative departments and abolished several ministries. However, the collection of taxes and the Chechen National Bank's reserves shrank, and theft of petroleum products increased seriously.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Maskhadov worked with Basayev until 1998, when Basayev established a network of military officers, who soon became rival warlords. As Chechnya collapsed into chaos, Basayev's reputation began to plummet as he and others were accused of corruption and involvement in kidnapping; his alliance with Khattab also alienated many Chechens. By early 1998 Basayev emerged as the main political opponent of the Chechen president, who in his opinion was "pushing the republic back to the Russian Federation." On 31 March 1998, Basayev called for the termination of talks with Russia; on 7 July 1998, he sent a letter of resignation from his post as the Chechen Prime Minister. During these years he wrote "Book of a Mujahiddeen", an Islamic guerilla manual.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In December 1997, after Movladi Udugov's Islamic Nation party had called for Chechnya to annex territories in


title: Shamil Basayev

text: neighbouring Dagestan, Basayev promised to "liberate" neighbouring Dagestan from its status as "a Russian colony."


title: Shamil Basayev

text: According to Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko's book "Death of a Dissident", Kremlin-critic Boris Berezovsky said that he had a conversation with the Chechen Islamist leader Movladi Udugov in 1999, six months before the beginning of fighting in Dagestan. A transcript of the phone conversation between Berezovsky and Udugov was leaked to one of Moscow tabloids on 10 September 1999. Udugov proposed to start the Dagestan war to provoke the Russian response, topple the Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov and establish new Islamic republic of Basayev-Udugov that would be friendly to Russia. Berezovsky asserted that he refused the offer, but "Udugov and Basayev conspired with Stepashin and Putin to provoke a war to topple Maskhadov ... but the agreement was for the Russian army to stop at the Terek River. However, Putin double-crossed the Chechens and started an all-out war."


title: Shamil Basayev

text: It was also alleged that Alexander Voloshin, a key figure in the Yeltsin administration, paid Basayev to stage the Dagestan incursion, and that Basayev was working for the Russian GRU at the time. According to the BBC, conspiracy theories are part of the staple diet of Moscow politics.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In August 1999, Basayev and Khattab led a 1,400-strong army of Islamist fighters in unsuccessful attempt to aid Dagestani Wahhabists to take over the neighboring Republic of Dagestan and establish a new Chechen-Dagestan Islamic republic. By the end of the month, Russian forces had managed to repel the invasion.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In early September, a series of bombings of Russian apartment blocks took place, killing 293 people. The attacks were blamed on terrorists with Chechen links. Basayev, Ibn Al-Khattab and Achemez Gochiyaev were named by Russia as key suspects. Gochiyaev's group was trained at Chechen terrorist bases in the towns of Serzhen-Yurt and Urus-Martan, where the explosives were prepared. The group's "technical instructors" were two Arab field commanders, Abu Umar and Abu Djafar, and Al-Khattab was the bombings' brainchild. Two members of Gochiyayev's group that carried out the attacks, Adam Dekkushev and Yusuf Crymshamhalov, have been sentenced to life term each in a special-regime colony. According to FSB, Basayev and Al-Khattab masterminded the attacks. Al-Khattab has been killed, but Gochiyaev remains a fugitive.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Although Basayev and Khattab denied responsibility, the Russian government blamed the Chechen government for allowing Basayev to use Chechnya as a base. Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov denied any involvement in the attacks, and offered a crackdown on the renegade warlords, which Russia refused. Commenting on the attacks, Shamil Basayev said: "The latest blast in Moscow is not our work, but the work of the Dagestanis. Russia has been openly terrorizing Dagestan, it encircled three villages in the centre of Dagestan, did not allow women and children to leave." Al-Khattab, who was reportedly close with Basayev, said the attacks were a response to what the Russians had done in Karamakhi and Chabanmakhi, two Dagestani villages where followers of the Wahhabi sect were living until the Russian army bombed them out. A group called the Liberation army of Dagestan claimed responsibility for the apartment bombings.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: The new Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, famously promised a harsh crackdown on "Chechen terrorists": "We'll get them anywhere. If we find terrorists in the shithouse, then we'll waste them in the shithouse. That's all there is to it." By the end of September the Second Chechen War was underway.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Michael Radu of the "Foreign Policy Research Institute" said "Basayev managed to radically change the world's perception of the Chechen cause, from that of a small nation resisting victimization by Russian imperialism into another outpost of the global jihad. In the process, he also significantly modified the very nature of Islam in Chechnya and Northern Caucasus, from a traditional mix of syncretism and Sufism into one strongly influenced by Wahhabism and Salafism—especially among the youth. With Wahhabism came expansionism."


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev stayed in Grozny for the duration of the siege of the city. His threats of "kamikaze" attacks in Russia were widely dismissed as a bluff.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: During the Chechens retreat from Grozny in January 2000 Basayev lost a foot after stepping on a land mine while leading his men through a minefield. The operation to amputate his foot and part of his leg was videotaped by Adam Tepsurgayev and later televised by Russia's NTV network and Reuters, showing his foot being removed by Khassan Baiev using a local anaesthetic while Basayev watched impassively.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Despite this injury, Basayev eluded Russian capture together with other Chechens by hiding in forests and mountains. He welcomed assistance from foreign fighters from Afghanistan and other Islamic countries, encouraging them to join the Chechen cause. He also ordered the execution of nine Russian OMON prisoners on 4 April 2000; the men were killed because the Russians had refused to swap them for Yuri Budanov, an arrested army officer accused of raping and killing an 18-year-old Chechen girl.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: According to the US State Department, Basayev trained in Al-Qaida's terrorist camps in Afghanistan in 2001. The US also alleges that Basayev and Khattab sent Chechens to serve in Al-Qaeda's "055" brigade, fighting alongside the Taliban against the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 2 June 2001, it was reported General Gennady Troshev, then-commander-in-chief of Russian forces in Chechnya, had offered a bounty of one million dollars to anyone who would bring him the head of Basayev.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In August, Basayev commanded a large-scale raid on the Vedensky District. A deputy commander of Russian forces in Chechnya claimed Basayev was wounded in a firefight.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In January 2002, Basayev's father, Salman, was reputedly killed by Russian forces. This has not been independently confirmed. Shamil's younger brother, Shirvani, was reported killed by the Russians in 2000, but is, according to numerous accounts, actually living in exile in Turkey where he is involved in coordination of the activities of the diaspora.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In May, the Russian side declared Basayev "dead". The Russian military had also made several claims about Basayev's alleged death in the past.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Around 2 November 2002, Basayev claimed on a terrorist website that he was responsible for the Moscow theater hostage crisis (although the siege was led by Movsar Barayev) in which 50 Chechens held about 800 people hostage; Russian forces later stormed the building using gas, killing the Chechens and more than 100 hostages. Basayev also tendered his resignation from all posts in Maskhadov's government apart from the reconnaissance and sabotage battalion. He defended the operation but asked Maskhadov for forgiveness for not informing him of it. The answer to who was behind the hostage taking, however, is not so clear – some dissidents claim, including Alexander Litvinenko, was that the FSB was behind the Moscow theater incident.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 27 December 2002, Chechen suicide bombers rammed vehicles into the republic's government headquarters in Grozny, bringing down the four-story building and killing about 80 people. Basayev claimed responsibility, published the video of the attack, and said he personally triggered the bombs by remote control.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 12 May 2003, suicide bombers rammed a truck loaded with explosives into a Russian government compound in Znamenskoye, northern Chechnya, killing 59 people. Two days later a woman got within six feet of Akhmad Kadyrov, the head of the Moscow-appointed Chechen administration, and blew herself up killing herself and 14 people; Kadyrov was unhurt. Basayev claimed responsibility for both attacks; Maskhadov denounced them.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: From June until August 2003 Basayev lived in the town of Baksan in nearby Kabardino-Balkaria. Eventually, a skirmish took place between the terrorists and policemen from Baksan, who came to check what turned out to be Basayev's safehouse. Basayev escaped, killing a local police official.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 8 August 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell designated Shamil Basayev a threat to U.S. security and citizens.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In late 2003, Basayev claimed responsibility for terrorist bombings in both Moscow and Yessentuki in Stavropol Krai. He said both attacks were carried out by the group operating under his command.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 9 May 2004, the pro-Russian Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov was killed in Grozny in a bomb attack for which Basayev later claimed responsibility. That explosion killed at least six people and wounded nearly 60, including the top Russian military commander in Chechnya, who lost his leg; Basayev called it a "small but important victory".


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev was accused of commanding the 21 June raid on Nazran in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. In fact, he was shown in a video made of the raid, in which he led a large group of militants. Around 90 people died in this attack, mostly local servicemen and officials of the Russian security forces including the republic's acting interior minister. The Ministry building was burned down.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In September 2004 Basayev claimed responsibility for the Beslan school siege in which over 350 people, most of them children, were killed and hundreds more injured. The Russian government put up a bounty of 300m rubles ($10m) for information leading to his capture. Basayev himself did not participate in the seizure of the school, but claimed to have organized and financed the attack, boasting that the whole operation cost only 8,000 euros. On 17 September 2004, Basayev issued a statement claiming responsibility for the school siege, saying his Riyadus-Salihiin "Martyr Battalion" had carried out this and other attacks. In his message, Basayev described the Beslan massacre as a "terrible tragedy" and blamed it on Russian President Vladimir Putin.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev also claimed responsibility for the attacks against civilians during the previous week, in which a metro station in Moscow was bombed (killing 10 people), and two airliners were blown up by suicide bombers (killing 89 people). Basayev dubbed these attacks "Operation Boomerang". He also said that during the Beslan crisis he offered Putin "independence in exchange for security".


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 3 February 2005, UK's Channel 4 announced that it would air Basayev's interview. In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the broadcast could aid terrorists in achieving their goals and demanded that the Government of the United Kingdom call off the broadcast. The British Foreign Office replied that it could not intervene in the affairs of a private TV channel and the interview was aired as scheduled. The same day, Russian media reported that Shamil Basayev had been killed; it was the sixth such report about Basayev's demise since 1999.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In May 2005, Basayev reportedly claimed responsibility for the power outage in Moscow. The BBC reported that the claim for responsibility was made on a web site connected to Basayev, but conflicted with official reports that sabotage was not involved.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Even though Basayev had a $10 million bounty on his head, he gave an interview to Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky in which he described himself as "a bad guy, a bandit, a terrorist ... but what would you call them?", referring to his enemies. Basayev stated each Russian had to feel war's impact before the Chechen war would stop. Basayev asked "Officially, over 40,000 of our children have been killed and tens of thousands mutilated. Is anyone saying anything about that? ... responsibility is with the whole Russian nation, which through its silent approval gives a 'yes'." This interview was broadcast on U.S. television network ABC's "Nightline" program, to the protest of the Russian government; on 2 August 2005, Moscow banned journalists of the ABC network from working in Russia.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 23 August 2005, Basayev rejoined the Chechen separatist government, taking the post of first deputy chairman. Later this year Basayev claimed responsibility for a raid on Nalchik, the capital of the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. The raid occurred on 13 October 2005; Basayev said that he and his "main units" were only in the city for two hours and then left. There were reports that he had died during the raid, but this was contradicted when the separatist website, Kavkaz Center, posted a letter from him.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: In March 2006, Prime Minister of Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, claimed that upwards of 3,000 police officers were hunting for Basayev in the southern mountains. On 15 June 2006, Basayev repeated his claim of responsibility for the bombing that killed Akhmad Kadyrov, saying he had paid $50,000 to those who carried out the assassination. He also said he had put a $25,000 bounty on the head of Ramzan, mocking the young Kadyrov in offering the smaller bounty.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 27 June 2006, Shamil Basayev was appointed by Dokka Umarov as the Vice President of Ichkeria. On 10 July 2006, in his last statement at 1.06 pm Moscow time, Kavkaz Center quoted him as thanking the Mujahideen Shura Council for executing the three captured Russian diplomats in Iraq and calling it "a worthy answer to the murder by Russian terrorists from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation of the Chechen diplomat, ex-president of CRI, Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev".


title: Shamil Basayev

text: On 10 July 2006, Basayev was killed near the border of North Ossetia in the village of Ekazhevo, Ingushetia, a republic bordering Chechnya.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: According to the Interior Ministry and Prosecutor of Ingushetia, a group of three cars and two KAMAZ trucks (one pulling the other by a rope) gathered at the spot of an unfinished estate on the outskirts of the village in the early morning hours of 10 July. According to a handful of witnesses, men in black uniforms came in and out from the wooded area adjacent to the estate that runs to the border of North Ossetia; the men were carrying boxes, shifting them from one vehicle to another, when a massive explosion occurred.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: It is believed that the partially completed estate, which contained empty new buildings, was being used as an insurgent reception and distribution point for large quantities of weapons purchased from abroad. It is also believed that the most "anticipated" part of the incoming shipment was located in the KAMAZ trucks, but because one of them broke down the weaponry had to quickly be transferred into the cars.


title: Shamil Basayev

text: Basayev is assumed to have been the main recipient of the arms, and thus in charge of distributing them. With the back tailgate of one of the trucks open, Basayev allegedly asked that a mine be placed on the ground for inspection, at which point it exploded. An Ossetian forensic specialist who examined Basayev's remains stated that, "The man…died of mine-blast injuries. The explosive device was quite powerful…and the victim was in close proximity to the epicenter. Most likely, the bomb lay on the ground, and the victim was bending over it."