Yazhou — the town at the end of the world

The empire's southernmost town

Yazhou lies about 40 kilometres west of today's Sanya centre, in the town of Yacheng. From the Han era until 1954 the area was the administrative centre of the south of the island; the Chinese speak of “two thousand years of administration and eight dynasties”. Sanya itself was long simply called Yazhou.

The town began as an earth rampart and in 1198, under the Song dynasty, got a brick wall, which was extended under the Yuan, Ming and Qing. Of the three gates it once had, only the south gate survives, the “Gate of Culture”, now freshly restored. Remains of the wall and the moat can still be made out.

A Confucius temple at the end of the world

Just a hundred metres north of the gate stands the Confucius temple, the prefecture's old academy. It was founded in 1044 and is considered China's southernmost Confucius temple; locals call it the “first temple at the end of the world”. It has been a national cultural monument since 2013.

The complex follows the classic pattern: memorial gate, semicircular pond with bridge, Gate of Great Accomplishment, main hall. At the side entrances the stones still stand with the inscription that officials must dismount here. According to old records, four graduates of the highest state examination came from this school — a remarkable number for such a remote place.

The exiles

For the empire Yazhou was the outermost edge, which is why many who had fallen from favour ended up here. The most famous is Li Deyu, the Tang-dynasty chancellor whose temple you saw in Haikou. He died in exile in 849. Song-era ministers were sent here too.

That's why people in Yazhou say the town carries “great weight”: so many important men came here that they shaped the area's learning and culture. If you've read the pages on the exiles in Haikou and the Dongpo Academy, you'll recognise the pattern.

Huang Daopo — the weaver

Yazhou's most surprising story is about a woman. Huang Daopo came from the area of today's Shanghai, fled as a girl and lived in Yazhou for almost forty years. Here she learned from the Li women how to spin and weave cotton and build the tools needed for it.

Around 1295 she returned home and spread these techniques there. The Shanghai area then became the centre of Chinese cotton weaving, and Huang Daopo is still revered as the “mother of the textile industry”. Statues in the temple commemorate her and Lady Xian. If you've seen the Li weavers in Binglanggu, you'll understand where this knowledge came from.

How to approach the visit

Don't expect a fully preserved old town. What survives is mainly the gate and the temple, plus some old houses, a pagoda and an old bridge in the surroundings. One to two hours are enough for the gate, the wall remains and the temple.

There's no charge for the streets; check on site whether the temple charges admission. Stalls in front of the gate sell fresh coconuts. As the town lies on the way from Yazhou Bay back to Sanya Bay, the visit fits well into the morning of moving day.