Atlas of China
Wenchang 文昌Wénchāng
Coconut palms, overseas-Chinese houses and a spaceport on the coast
- Type
- County-level Cityadministered directly by Hainan
- Region
- Hainan
- Listed sites
- 83 rated 4A · 5 national heritage
About Wenchang
Wenchang, a county-level city governed directly by the province, lies on Hainan's north-east coast, a land of coconut palms and the home of Wenchang chicken. Its villages hold courtyard houses built with money earned in South-East Asia, such as the Han Family House, and the Song Family Ancestral Home is linked to Charlie Soong, born in Wenchang. Since 2016 the Wenchang Space Launch Site has operated on the coast, where Longlou, the 'space town', draws visitors who come to watch the launches.
What to eat in Wenchang
- Wenchang chicken (文昌鸡)
- Baoluo rice noodles (抱罗粉)
Listed sites in Wenchang
8 sites in Wenchang are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Coconut Grand View Garden 椰子大观园 4A scenic area · on the map
A coconut-themed park of 443 mu (about 30 hectares) that grew out of a palm germplasm collection of the Coconut Research Institute and has been open to visitors since 1980. - Song Family Ancestral Home 宋氏祖居 4A scenic area
A courtyard house in Changsa town linked to the family of Charlie Soong (Song Jiashu), the father of Song Qingling and Song Meiling, who married Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek. - Tonggu Ridge 铜鼓岭 4A scenic area · on the map
A coastal ridge at the north-eastern tip of Hainan, surrounded by sea on three sides, with 18 linked peaks and a main summit of 338 metres. - Doubing Pagoda 斗柄塔 National heritage site · on the map
An eight-sided, seven-storey brick pagoda about 20 metres high on the main peak of Qixing Ridge above Puqian, built in the Ming dynasty as a feng shui tower that also served as a navigation mark. - Fu Family House, Wenchang 文昌符家宅 National heritage site · on the map
A compound of three two-storey blocks in a village in Wencheng town, built in the 1910s by brothers who had made their money in Singapore, using local fired brick and imported Thai hardwood. - Han Family House, Wenchang 韩家宅 National heritage site · on the map
A four-courtyard family house built in 1936–38 in Fuzhai village by Han Qinzhun, a Wenchang merchant based in Thailand. - Wenchang Confucian Temple 文昌学宫 National heritage site · on the map
The former county Confucian temple and school of Wenchang, founded in the Northern Song dynasty and moved to its present site in 1375, early in the Ming. - Xibei Academy 溪北书院 National heritage site · on the map
A Qing-dynasty academy begun in 1893 in Puqian town on the initiative of the calligrapher and scholar Pan Cun, with funding from the governor-general Zhang Zhidong, though Pan died just before it was finished.
On the map
Open Wenchang on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Wenchang on the map