Wenchang; the Front Door of Hainan, Where Typhoons Land and Rockets Leave

Wenchang is where Super Typhoon Yagi came ashore in September 2024 and where China launches its space-station modules, where the Soong sisters’ father was born in a village house and where a dialect with eight tones became the voice of Hainan’s broadcasters.

文昌是超强台风”摩羯”二零二四年九月登陆的地方,是中国发射空间站舱段的地方,是宋氏三姐妹的父亲出生在一座村屋里的地方,也是一种有八个声调的方言成为海南广播之声的地方。

It sits in the island’s north-east corner, the first land that storms from the Pacific meet, the first harbour for the Fujian settlers and, since 2016, the point from which rockets leave. It also makes a chicken famous enough to head Hainan’s list of four great dishes.

它坐落在岛的东北角,是太平洋风暴最先撞上的陆地,是福建移民最早靠岸的港湾,也是自二零一六年起火箭升空的地点。它还养出一种名气大到位居海南四大名菜之首的鸡。

Few places ask so much of one stretch of coast.

很少有地方对同一段海岸索取这么多。

At 4.20 pm on 6 September 2024 Super Typhoon Yagi came ashore at Wengtian town in Wenchang with winds above force 17, about 62 metres a second, and a central pressure of 915 hectopascals, according to the Central Meteorological Observatory and The Paper. It was the strongest autumn typhoon ever to hit China and the strongest to land there since Rammasun in 2014, according to the same sources. A few days earlier Wenchang’s own official account had urged residents to remember “the painful lessons” of Rammasun, according to Guangming Daily.

据中央气象台和澎湃新闻介绍,二零二四年九月六日十六时二十分,超强台风”摩羯”在文昌市翁田镇沿海登陆,风力十七级以上,约每秒六十二米,中心最低气压九百一十五百帕。据同一来源介绍,它是登陆中国的最强秋台风,也是继二零一四年”威马逊”之后登陆中国的最强台风。据《光明日报》介绍,几天前文昌自己的官方账号就呼吁市民记取”威马逊”的”惨痛教训”。

The sea has always been dangerous here, and the old name for the island’s northern tip shows how. Where the Mulantou lighthouse stands, the cape used to be called Mulantou, “Rotten Wood Head”, because ships were wrecked in the waters off it and their splinters washed ashore, according to The Paper. A Ming official from Hainan, Wang Honghui, asked the court for money to build a pagoda to subdue the sea monsters there, according to the same source.

这里的海一向凶险,岛北端的旧地名就是证据。据澎湃新闻介绍,如今木兰头灯塔所在的海角,过去叫”木烂头”,因为船只在那一带海域失事,船板碎片被海浪冲到岸边。据同一来源介绍,明代的海南籍官员王弘诲上书请求拨款,修一座塔来镇压那里的海妖。

The monsters were replaced by a lamp. The Mulantou lighthouse, built in 1995, is 72.12 metres tall, with its light 88.42 metres up and its summit 97.2 metres above sea level, and ships can see it 24 nautical miles away, according to The Paper and Zhihu. It was long called Asia’s number one lighthouse and is still one of China’s tallest, according to The Paper.

妖怪后来被一盏灯取代。据澎湃新闻和知乎介绍,一九九五年建成的木栏头灯塔塔高七十二点一二米,灯高八十八点四二米,海拔九十七点二米,二十四海里外的船只都能看见。据澎湃新闻介绍,它长期被称作”亚洲第一灯塔”,至今仍是中国最高的灯塔之一。

The place where rockets leave is on the same coast. China’s Wenchang launch site, in Longlou town at about 19.6 degrees north, began construction on 14 September 2009 at a cost of about ¥6 billion, according to Baidu Baike. Its first launch was the maiden flight of the Long March 7 on 25 June 2016, and the Long March 5 followed on 3 November, according to the Chinese manned space website.

火箭升空的地方就在同一段海岸。据百度百科介绍,中国文昌航天发射场位于龙楼镇,纬度约北纬十九点六度,二零零九年九月十四日开工,耗资约六十亿元。据中国载人航天工程网介绍,它的首次发射是二零一六年六月二十五日长征七号的首飞,十一月三日长征五号随后首飞。

The coast was chosen for four reasons. The low latitude lifts the payload to geostationary orbit by more than 15 percent, rockets can fly over the sea for 1,000 kilometres so debris falls into water, the oversized rockets can arrive by ship because rail and road cannot take them, and the new propellants are non-toxic, according to the Chinese manned space website.

选址有四个理由。据中国载人航天工程网介绍,纬度低,使地球同步轨道的运载能力提升百分之十五以上;火箭射向一千公里内都是海域,残骸落在海上;铁路公路运不了的大尺寸火箭可以走海运;推进剂无毒无污染。

By its 50th launch in July 2026 the site had sent up the Tianhe, Wentian and Mengtian modules of the space station and ten Tianzhou cargo ships, had sent Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6 to the Moon and had started Tianwen-1 on its way to Mars, according to Sina. It was also due to launch Chang’e-7 this year, according to the same source, and the commercial launch site next door is a separate entity, according to Chinese Wikipedia.

据新浪科技报道,到二零二六年七月第五十次发射时,该发射场已送出天和、问天、梦天三个舱段和十艘天舟货运飞船,嫦娥五号、嫦娥六号两度奔月,天问一号从这里启程奔向火星。据同一来源介绍,今年还将发射嫦娥七号;据中文维基百科介绍,附近的海南商业航天发射场是另一个独立的实体。

The land is still mostly farm. In 2025 GDP reached ¥37.57 billion, up 0.2 percent, with the primary, secondary and service sectors at 39.97, 15.77 and 44.26 percent, according to the 2025 communiqué. Coconuts numbered 118.74 million, down 2.2 percent, and 48.34 million Wenchang chickens were sent to market, up 14.1 percent, according to the communiqué and the city government.

这片土地仍以农业为主。据二零二五年统计公报,二零二五年全市生产总值三百七十五点七亿元,增长百分之零点二,三次产业占比分别为百分之三十九点九七、十五点七七和四十四点二六。据统计公报和文昌市人民政府介绍,椰子产量一亿一千八百七十三万九千个,下降百分之二点二,文昌鸡出栏四千八百三十四万只,增长百分之十四点一。

The chicken began in Tanniu town and heads Hainan’s four famous dishes, according to Chinese Wikipedia. The space industry is growing too, and the Wenchang International Aerospace City park reported revenue of ¥22.1 billion in 2023, according to China National Radio. Overnight visitors numbered 4.6879 million in 2025, according to the communiqué.

据中文维基百科介绍,文昌鸡始于潭牛镇,位居海南四大名菜之首。航天产业也在增长,据央广网报道,文昌国际航天城园区二零二三年营收二百二十一亿元。据统计公报,二零二五年接待过夜游客四百六十八万七千九百人次。

The east-ring high-speed railway runs through Wenchang on its 308-kilometre line from Haikou to Sanya, a trip of 90 minutes end to end, according to Chinese Wikipedia.

据中文维基百科介绍,海南东环高铁途经文昌,全长三百零八公里,海口到三亚全程只需九十分钟。

Wenchang’s speech carries the whole island. The Wenchang dialect is regarded as the standard form of Hainanese and is used by Hainan’s radio and television for news in the local language, according to Baidu Baike and Chinese Wikipedia. It keeps all eight tones of ancient Chinese, which is rare among dialects, and most of the Fujian settlers who brought it came from around Putian, according to the Hiwenchang website.

文昌的口音传遍全岛。据百度百科和中文维基百科介绍,文昌话被视为海南话的标准语,海南广播电台、电视台用它播报海南话新闻。据”人在文昌”网站介绍,它完整保留了古汉语的八个声调,这在汉语方言中很少见,把它带来的福建移民大多来自莆田一带。

In the 1950s the dialect was so widespread that people said “without Wenchang people there is no government office”, according to Sohu. The saying reflected how many Wenchang people worked as clerks and teachers across the island, according to the same source.

据搜狐介绍,二十世纪五十年代这种方言流行到人们说”无文昌不成机关”的地步。据同一来源介绍,这句话反映出许多文昌人在全岛各地当干部和教师。

The most famous Wenchang family left. In Guluyuan village, in Changsa town, stands the plain house where Soong Yao-ru, born Han Jiaozhun and father of the three Soong sisters, was born, built in the Qing dynasty and restored in 1985, with a plaque in Deng Xiaoping’s hand, according to Ctrip and Sina. In 1917 the village had only nine households, according to Baidu Baike. Soong’s descendants made their first return to the house in 73 years in April 2009, according to China News Service.

最著名的文昌家族离开了家乡。据携程和新浪介绍,昌洒镇古路园村有一座朴素的老屋,是宋氏三姐妹的父亲宋耀如,本名韩教准,出生的地方,建于清代,一九八五年按原貌修复,门楣上有邓小平题写的牌匾。据百度百科介绍,一九一七年这个村子只有九户人家。据中新社报道,二零零九年四月,宋氏后人时隔七十三年首次回到故居。

According to Hainan Daily, when Soong Yao-ru’s son T. V. Soong came home in 1936 he told fellow villagers that his father had instructed him that unless he made something of himself he could not go back to Wenchang to face his ancestors and see his elders.

据《海南日报》介绍,宋耀如之子宋子文一九三六年回乡时对同乡们说,父亲嘱咐过他,做不成人,就不能回文昌认祖宗、见父老。