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Hainan offers the chance to live longer
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THE southern tourist resort of Hainan now has an added attraction to woo global tourists — the chance to live longer.
The island province has been declared a “World Longevity Island” by the International Expert Committee on Population Aging and Longevity, the provincial government announced at a press conference yesterday.
Alongside South Korea’s Jeju Island, Hainan was named one of the world’s two longevity islands thanks to its outstanding natural environment and social welfare system. The committee decided to award the title after conducting field research in 17 towns and counties in the province last year.
Hainan had more than 1,900 centenarians and about 1.2 million residents above the age of 60 by the end of 2013, some 13.36 percent of its total population, according to the provincial committee on aging. By 2015, the number of octogenarians is expected to reach 170,000.
A couple of localities in Hainan had already been branded “Longevity Cities” before the island was honored — Chengmai and forest-rich Wanning. Wenchang City is also famed as one of the country’s top longevity spots.
The latest certification is likely to give Hainan extra firepower in the tourist market and stir a new round of health tourism, as has been the case for other places in the country known for longevity.
Last year, there were reports of huge numbers of tourists traveling to Bama County in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to seek the recipe for a longer life. The county’s “longevity pilgrims” can be seen crawling around on all fours and are even known to drink urine, believing the practices help keep illness at bay.
The remote county’s reputation has attracted a number of people nicknamed houniaoren, or “migratory people,” with lives like those of migratory birds — flying south in winter and staying in Bama for several months at a time.
Government statistics show that in 2012 alone about 180,000 such migratory people visited Bama.
Hainan had been seeing a similar occurrence, but now, with official recognition under its belt, the fervor is likely to increase.
In a bid to capitalize on its new status, Hainan has stepped up efforts to build itself as an international tourism island, an ambitious scheme in line with a 2010 national strategy.
For example, the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone, the only national pilot program in medical tourism granted by the State Council, is now under construction, featuring health care and longevity-related services.
The Chinese health sector is expected to grow into an 800 million yuan (US$129 million) industry by 2020 and will be a powerful driver for domestic consumption and employment, as it covers a wide range of services and a long industrial chain, said Li Bin, head of the National Population and Family Planning Commission.
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