Ocean Flower Island — Evergrande's flower island

A flower in the sea

Off Hainan's west coast, between the ports of Paipu and Yangpu near Baimajing, lie three islands that didn't exist fifteen years ago. From the air they look like three flowers floating in the sea. They were built up on around 7.8 square kilometres — about a quarter of the area of Macau.

The middle island is meant for tourism, with hotels, theme parks, museums and shopping streets. The other two are mainly built up with flats: on the second island alone there are more than 40,000 apartments in closely packed high-rises.

A billionaire's dream

Behind the island is Evergrande, for a long time China's biggest property group, and its founder Xu Jiayin, who in 2017 was for a while considered China's richest man. In 2013 Evergrande got the rights to the sea area and began land reclamation.

The plans were enormous. Evergrande advertised designs by some 600 international designers; among other things, 58 hotels in the most varied shapes, a concert hall, a theatre, amusement parks and museums were planned. Planned costs rose from around 40 to eventually 160 billion yuan, more than 20 billion euros. The advertising spoke of the “Dubai of China”.

A flat every three seconds

When the first flats went on sale in 2015, demand was huge. On a single day Evergrande sold flats worth more than twelve billion yuan; supposedly one unit went every three seconds. Prices were 24,000 to 26,000 yuan per square metre — an unimaginable sum for the small city of Danzhou.

Buyers were many families from northern China who wanted to escape the winter frost, and investors betting on rising prices. Some buyers wanted to spend their retirement here; others have never set foot in their flat.

Coral under sand

There were problems early on. Land reclamation destroyed coral reefs and stocks of a protected pearl oyster. Central-government environmental inspectors found serious violations in 2017 and 2019: Evergrande had kept building without permission and illegally enclosed around 370 hectares of sea with four causeways. Fines of more than 200 million yuan followed.

The island thus became one of the best-known examples of environmental damage from land reclamation in China. Visitors see nothing of it today, but the water between the islands isn't natural sea — it's enclosed.

39 high-rises too many

In 2020 another scandal came to light: 39 residential towers on the second island had been built with an unlawfully granted permit. Sales were stopped and Danzhou's mayor lost his post. At the end of 2021 the city ordered the towers to be demolished within ten days.

After an objection this became a confiscation. The buyers got their money back; the buildings are to be used as rental flats and hotel apartments. The towers still stand today — a sight that says a lot about the era.

The fall of a giant

The same year Evergrande collapsed. The group had piled up debts equivalent to more than 300 billion US dollars and could no longer service its bonds. In 2023 Xu Jiayin was detained, and in early 2024 a Hong Kong court ordered the group's liquidation. Chinese media reported in 2026 that he had admitted guilt.

Many buildings on the island remained unfinished. The city of Danzhou took back numerous plots. Flat prices fell dramatically: in 2026 they were around 7,000 yuan per square metre according to property portals, a drop of more than seventy per cent. A small 23-square-metre apartment now costs the equivalent of a good 20,000 euros.

What's there today

And yet the island isn't dead. There are working hotels, a water park, museums, a European-style castle, well-kept promenades, restaurants and a light show in the evening. In high season tourists come from all over China, and savvy landlords rent out the cheap flats as holiday apartments — some with hundreds of units.

Next to them lie whole districts where hardly a window is lit in the evening, unfinished shells, fenced-off building sites and empty rows of shops. In winter mainly older people from the north live here, using their flat to overwinter.

Why the visit is worthwhile

It's precisely this juxtaposition that makes the island interesting. In one place you see how China's property boom worked and how it ended: the belief in ever-rising prices, the role of local governments, the environmental damage, families' lost savings.

State media still promote the island as a flagship project of western Hainan. If you've seen it yourself, you can form your own opinion — and that's perhaps the most valuable part of this detour.

How to approach the visit

The island is freely accessible; bridges link it to the mainland. Only individual attractions charge admission, such as the water park or the museums. Two to three hours are enough for a walk round the middle island and a look at the residential islands.

It's easiest to come by Didi, for example from Baimajing station or from Danzhou. The islands are spread out, so Didi is also most practical for getting between them. If you want to see the light show in the evening, plan the way back — Didi drivers are rare there at night.