Dongfang

Dongfang is a county-level city on Hainan's dry western coast, historically built around Basuo Port, one of the busiest deep-water harbors in the Beibu Gulf region and still home to nearly half the city's population. Its economy is driven by natural gas, drawing on offshore fields piped ashore to a large petrochemical and fertilizer industrial park, alongside salt production, aquaculture and fishing along the Changhua River estuary. The city has no university of its own, and most students travel to Haikou or Sanya for higher education, but Dongfang runs vocational training tied closely to its energy and fishing industries. Dongfang is best known for its rare dry, sunny climate compared with the rest of tropical Hainan, for the endangered Hainan Eld's deer protected at the Datianpo National Nature Reserve, and for the rock-top lighthouse landmark overlooking Basuo Port.