The Simple Life of Sanya People

The Tropical relaxing or somewhat lazy from a point view of the big city visitor

The local life of Sanya reflects the richness in ethnic diversity of Hainan Island. The traditional costumes, music, dance, food and handicrafts of the Li, Miao and Hui minorities add lively color to Sanya's cultural landscape. The local people honor the practices of their ancestors through festivals, including the Junpo Festival (held in respect of the heroine Madam. Xian), the Fucheng Flower Exchange Festival and the Sanyuesan Festival where young people search for a loved one.

Away from the hustle and bustle of the big city, island life is on a time of its own. Local residents don't have much and live lives of “measured maintenance” - caring for what they have and engaging in some of life's most simple pleasures.

Locals take great pride in the meticulous care of their possessions. They may only have one pair of shoes, but they are always newly polished and more times than not by someone else. It is common that while locals are eating, their shoes are replaced with slippers and polished elsewhere. 

More an element of local social life than notable cuisine, are the numerous street food stalls. Vendors barbeque and stir-fry fresh ingredients in their make-shift portable kitchens - an elemental feature of the local resident's life. Long after the regular sit down restaurants close, these street-side entrepreneurs are engaging in a bustling business.

Another local favorite is the beauty salon or barber shop, which often are more like community centers where gossip is enjoyed by men and women - much like what the local barber shop was in the early history of the United States. Tourists can also stop in for a taste of local life and enjoy a haircut and shampoo for ¥10, a head, neck and shoulder massage for ¥20 and an hour and a half full body massage for ¥40. Another life-enhancing simple pleasure in Sanya is "foot washing", which is an hour-long cleaning and massage package for RMB30 (USD4 OR EURO3).

While simple pleasures are abundant, and cheap, one of the highlights in Sanya is the dancing and singing in the Haiyue Beach Park on Binhai Lu (across from the Golden Phoenix Hotel). It begins every night around 8:00 pm.

Three kinds of dances are preformed in the park: traditional with fans and scarves, a very stylized ballroom dancing and an interesting form of line dancing. All of these dances are done to traditional and contemporary Chinese music.

Accompanying these dancers are groups of over a hundred people singing along with a few leaders, holding queue cards with lyrics, and instruments - a banjo, flute, erhu and accordion. It is reminiscent of the old-time hootenanny, Chinese-style. The hootenanny originated in the 1950s when people would gather in public places, a few with their guitars, and sing the songs from the Weavers, the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary. While hootenannies have dwindled away in most of the world, it looks like Sanya's residents are heading up a revival. 

The Simple Life of Sanya People