The Hawaii of China

Sanya, the Tropical Gateway to China and home of Miss World Event since 2003.

Sanya, the Tropical Gateway to China and the home of the Miss World Event since 2003. Often called the Hawaii of China, Sanya is the country's premier resort. It is also the country's southernmost city, a palm-shaded resort on Hainan Island - dubbed "China's Hawaii" by boosters - some 4,300 kilometers (2,700 miles) southwest of Beijing.

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This year will be the third in a row that the Miss World pageant will be held in China. The finals are on December 10.

In 2003, Sanya hosted the pageant after the central government shunned decades of communist disapproval of beauty pageants in favour of using the widely viewed event to promote tourism. The city fought an aggressive marketing campaign to bring the contest to the island, which it is promoting as a tourist resort. Sanya is perhaps better known for the emergency landing of a US spy plane after a mid-air collision with a Chinese fighter that sent Sino-American relations into a tailspin in April 2001.

Until now, the city has perhaps been best known as the site of a military base where a damaged US Navy surveillance plane made an emergency landing in 2001 after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet. The Chinese pilot was never found, and the American crew was held for 11 days before being released.

Sanya had built new highways and a tiara-shaped convention center for Miss World in 2004. But, also in contrast to last year, when Sanya paid Miss World a US$4.8 million fee, the city is paying nothing, and instead is providing security and other support.