Danzhou

Danzhou is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Hainan Island, upgraded from a county-level city in 2015 and now the second most populous city on the island. Its economy rests on natural rubber and tropical agriculture, together with the fast-growing Yangpu Economic Development Zone, a bonded port and petrochemical hub on the coast. The city carries deep cultural memory: the great Song dynasty poet Su Dongpo was exiled here and founded the Dongpo Academy, where he taught local scholars and helped spread learning across the region. Danzhou is also known for its distinctive folk tradition of tiaosheng call-and-response singing and for its fist-sized rice dumplings made with volcanic-field glutinous rice and black pork. Higher education is anchored by a campus of Hainan University, built on the former South China University of Tropical Agriculture.