On March 26, 2024, the Haikou Urban Exhibition at the Dongyu Island Cultural Park officially opened to the public. Showcasing the charm of Haikou in eight major sections and ten exhibition halls, it highlights the city's high points in terms of the development of the free trade port, historical architecture, volcanic ecology, temples, intangible cultural heritage performances, and local food.

Historic Downtown Haikou 

Located in the Park's Hefeng Exhibition Hall, this section looks at the city's 19th century downtown in terms of urban culture and development, architectural design, Southeast Asian and maritime culture influences. Some of the particular charm of the arcaded shophouses is the stories they tell of the Hainanese people who traveled overseas for trade or work and how interactions with Southeast Asia have driven Hainan's economic development over the centuries.

Smart Cloud Digital City

Also in the Hefeng Exhibition Hall, AI engineer Liao Junling explains to visitors how to utilize the power of technology to build an intelligent center for the city.

AI technology is already being implemented in the 12345 hotline service, making urban management more efficient, reducing costs associated with back-end operations, and lowering the gross cost of city operations. For now, Haikou plans to continue to develop towards a smarter digital  future.

Precious Treasures and Their Stories

Items in the Heya Exhibition Hall include Hainan coconut carvings inlaid with shells, Hainan yellow rosewood logs, agarwood logs, and volcanic  stone carvings. These exhibits are valuable, creative, and exquisitely crafted.

The agarwood display coversthe 1,500+ year long history of Hainan agarwood and the high artistic attainments of local agarwood crafts.

Charming Intangible Cultural Heritage

Two Chinese national-level intangible cultural heritages (Hainan puppet opera and eight tone music), are on display in the Heyun Exhibition Hall.

Originating from the Tang Dynasty, Eight Tone Music is a distinctive and representative cultural feature of Hainan. One of the island's major types  of instrumental music, it includes many different types of instruments and musical compositions. The eight  instruments that make up the eight tones are erhu, yehu, Chinese banjo, dulcimer, sanxian, flute, suona, bamboo flute, gong, drum and cymbals.

Since the Qing Dynasty, this type of  music has been very popular throughout the whole island. It has even accompanied emigrating Hainanese to Southeast Asian countries and the rest of the world as a carrier of memories for overseas Hainanese.

Hainan's puppet opera involves skilled puppeteers operating lifelike wooden puppets that sing and dance in shows which include historical dramas, costume dramas, and modern plays, and which are often accompanied by Hainan Eight Tone Music.

Dongyu Island Cultural Park's Haikou Urban Exhibition has invited 13 inheritors of intangible cultural heritage (including coconut carving, Sanjiang puppetry, Dongshan straw weaving, and Longtang carving) to perform live and promote Haikou's culture. As well, some 0erformances and events featuring local music will be staged.

In recent years, Hainan's cultural and creative industry has been rapidly developing. Achieving remarkable accomplishments and significant growth, emerging designers, inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, artisans, and others have skillfully added cultural values to their products by incorporating Hainan's cultural elements. This integrated cultural creativity i daily life and art also reflects Haikou's vibrant urban attributes.