Dongfang () is one of the seven

county-level cities A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

province, China. Although called a "city", Dongfang refers to a large land area in Hainan - an area which was once a county. Within this area is the main city, Dongfang City. It is located on the western coast of Hainan Island facing

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

across the

Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...

, and in 2004 had a population of 435,000. As all county-level units, Dongfang is administratively divided into township-level units (see the

list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...

). The main urban area of Dongfang (i.e., what used to be called "the county seat", when Dongfang was a county) is the town of

Basuo Basuo is a town on the west coast of Hainan Province, China. It is the administrative center of the county-level city of Dongfang; in other words, Basuo is Dongfang's main urban area, and Basuo's location is usually shown on less-detailed maps b ...

. The former county of Ganen ( postal: Kumyan, Kanem or Kamyan) is now part of the city.

Geography and climate

Dongfang has a

tropical wet and dry climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Aw'').

Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

al influences are strong, and the two seasons are the

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

and the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

(November to April), when very little rainfall occurs. Rainfall is heaviest and most frequent from August to October, when

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

s may strike, and averages an annual total of , far lower than much of the island. January through March features the highest

relative humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

levels of the year, while May through August is very sunny, consistently averaging above 60% of possible sunshine. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 46% in February to 67% in May, the city receives 2,558 hours of sunshine annually, a level not seen in the southern half of China outside of Tibet. The average low temperature remains above from June to August.

Administrative divisions

Dongfang administers eight

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and two

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

: Towns: *

() * Donghe () * Datian () * Gancheng () *

Banqiao Banqiao () may refer to: Taiwan *Banqiao District, seat of New Taipei Mainland China *Banqiao Dam (), dam on the Ru River near Zhumadian, Henan that suffered an infamous failure in 1975 *Banqiao Town (disambiguation) *Banqiao Township (disambigua ...

() * Sanjia () * Sigeng () *

Xinlong Xinlong County (; ) is a county in the west of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Xinlong County is part of historical region of Nyarong. Jazi (Nyarong Jazi Gon; Jazi Gon Sangngak ...

() Townships: * Tian'an Township () * Jiangbian Township ()

References

External links

{{Metropolitan cities of the People's Republic of China Cities in Hainan County-level divisions of Hainan