Haikou Underwater Village Ruins

　　The underwater village ruins are situated on the seabed of the bay extending from Dongzhai Harbor in Qiongshan District, Haikou City to Puqian Town in Wenchang City. They were created by a catastrophic earthquake in the Ming Wanli era (1605), which caused parts of the land to sink into the sea. This major quake resulted in the land subsiding by up to approximately 10 meters, with the entire sunken area dropping vertically — a phenomenon rarely seen in both domestic and international seismic history. What was once a small inland stream instantly became today’s Dongzhai Harbor, and 72 villages that originally stood on land were forever submerged, forming the world’s rare “underwater villages.” Over 400 years later, the ruins of these post-earthquake “underwater villages” have become a unique underwater landscape.

　　The underwater village spectacle is China’s only ancient cultural site where land sank into the sea due to an earthquake. Today, during low tide, visitors can see the flat remains of ancient farmland crisscrossed with furrows across a shallow sea area stretching 10 kilometers east-west and 1 kilometer wide from Puqian Bay to Beichuang Port. Along the beaches from Dongzhai Harbor to Puqian Bay, the remnants of ancient village ruins can be faintly made out. Through the seawater, one can spot orderly arrangements of basalt stone sarcophagi, tombstones, stone wells, and grain-pounding stones. Not far from the underwater villages on the beach near Dongzhai Harbor stands a well-preserved stage constructed entirely of square stone blocks. About 4 kilometers north of Puqian Bay lies the sunken site of the ancient “Rencun” village. Through waters 10 meters deep, the courtyards and scattered remains of houses from the village can still be vaguely discerned. Between Puqian Bay and Beichuang Port, submerged beneath the sea, stands a finely carved four-pillar, three-arch “Chastity Archway,” still upright in the water. Running across the seabed of Dongzhai Harbor is the “Juewei Gully,” a fissure trench left by the earthquake, over 10 meters deep and more than 20 meters wide. On the ancient river channel to the east of the gully, a stone bridge still spans the waterway.

　　In recent years, many domestic and international tourists have visited the underwater villages, drawn by their mystery and historical significance. They are captivated by this enigmatic site of seismic ruins. They pay tribute to the people of the past who were submerged due to the earthquake, and they are equally enchanted by this scenic, crystal-like, uniquely beautiful tourist destination today.

　　Location: Seabed of the bay stretching from Dongzhai Harbor in Qiongshan District, Haikou City to Puqian Town in Wenchang City, Hainan Province

　　Transportation: Hire a local fisherman’s boat within Haikou City