太阳出来了，沙滩闪着白光，波浪有节奏地拍打着海岸。在这个棕榈树镶边的天堂里，暗绿色的海面上没有人迹。我在海南岛的沙滩上登上冲浪板去斩波劈浪。

海南岛常被人称为中国的夏威夷。的确，这里是中国仅有的热带海滩旅游胜地。海南岛在南中国海和北部湾都有海岸线，比马里兰州稍大，离香港有90分钟的空中航程。海南岛在追寻阳光和娱乐的市场上吸引了成群的中国人。

在港市三亚温暖而沙滩多多的南部海岸线上豪华酒店如雨后春笋：去年丽思卡尔顿、悦榕庄、美丽殿、东方文华都在这里新开了度假酒店，在这个名单上的还有费尓蒙特和莱佛士。往四周看一看，到处是来自北京、上海、香港和广州的度假战士，他们都想逃避大都市生活的挤压，来享受一下安静的海滩和冰冻的鸡尾酒。

过去海南有一种浪漫而狂野的西部情调，作为中国最南部的顶端，几百年来是放逐囚犯、诗人和政治异见者的地方。著名景点天涯海角离三亚三十分钟车程，名字即天之涯海之角的意思，是一个布满圆石的海滩，中国的两元钞票上描绘的就是这里的风景。今天，天涯海角是极受欢迎的旅游胜地。

自从1988年海南从广东省分离独立建省以来，一场开发热潮很快就遭遇了不景气，在岛上留下了许多烂尾楼。过去几年里，海南又迎回了投资者，而且成为俄国游客躲避寒冬的时髦之地，三亚整个街区都有俄文标示牌以方便俄国游客。

最近，海南还吸引了像裘.阿拉斯和凯瑟琳.弗曼这样的国际游客，他们两人都是24岁，来自澳大利亚墨尔本。阿拉斯先生是一位理疗家，在观看北京奥运会时才第一次听到海南岛，因为奥运会组织者正是从那里取来了沙滩排球所用的17,000吨的黄沙。

“通常我们一起旅行时会商定一个地方，既值得游玩，又能让我有一点时间冲浪，”阿拉斯先生说，他从五岁就开始冲浪。“我们想找到一个能在海滩上放松，还能在喝鸡尾酒之间去冲一把浪的地方。”

他们找到的是空旷的海面，便宜而美味的海鲜，还有奇丽的风景，从人迹罕至的海滩到大陆团队游客人头挤挤的景点，游客们从头到脚一派夏威夷打扮。

把阿拉斯夫妇介绍到海南岛的是海南冲浪公司的伯兰达.希利丹，这是一家本地小公司，业务是带领游客冲浪和出租冲浪板。希利丹先生29岁，在香港上的高中，在圣克鲁兹的加州大学上学时学会了冲浪，他把冲浪运动带给中国人作为自己的使命。

“中国人开展冲浪运动现在正是时侯，”我们在日月湾出发去冲浪时希利丹先生告诉我。这是一个风景如画的海湾，在三亚东北方向大约一个半小时车程的地方。“这里的中产阶级正在成长，他们终于学会了怎样花钱和寻找生活乐趣。”

他的大部分顾客是外国人，因为许多中国人讨厌太阳——晒黑的皮肤仍会被认为是“农民”，中国人在海洋体育方面也缺乏经验。但是说普通话的希利丹先生发现越来越多的中国人开始对冲浪文化发生兴趣，这包括他的两名中国雇员，他们都三十多岁，以一种报复的心态开始从事这项运动。

在海南岛周围整年都可以冲浪。从四月到九月，海浪从南面来；而从十月到三月的冬季海浪来自东北方向。

作为散客去三亚以外的海南岛上探访可能价钱有点贵——公共汽车很少，而从日月湾到三亚乘坐出租汽车的话，单程会要300元，以1美元兑7元折算大约是43美元。但是阿拉斯先生认为这样可以增加探险的感觉。

“到不是为西方游客特意准备的地方去令人耳目一新，”他说，“我父母住在香港，已经准备回到海南来，他们也认识其它经常来海南的澳洲人和在香港的外国人。不用很久冲浪的人会越来越多。”

发展势头迅猛，经济下滑可能减少了游客数量，但是带有玻璃屋顶游泳池和宽畅大理石楼梯的酒店还在不断增加。

亚龙湾在三亚东面大约15英里，有四英里半长的美丽海滩，已经开发成一个国家级度假区。新的丽思卡尔顿坐落于一长串度假酒店的终点，那些先来的酒店包括希尔顿、万豪、喜来登和皇冠假日。在小罗伯特.屈兰特.琼斯设计的亚龙湾高尔夫俱乐部俯瞰海面，亚龙湾的形状像一只龙爪，这里曾主办了欧亚高尔夫锦标赛。现在岛上有16个高尔夫球场，还有两个在兴建。

单从中国游客的数量看，那些过去遥远而未开发的地方像天涯海角、五指山和蜈支洲岛已经发展成迪斯尼般的景点来接待成群衣着光鲜的游客，他们以包团的方式来游览这些景点。（10分钟一班的渡船、漂流和骑马等）那些地方与其说是中国的夏威夷倒不如说中国的迈阿密，到处是鲜亮的度假村和人工景点。

但是森林覆盖，云遮雾罩的山坡还是保留了下来。温暖湿润的气候使海南的热带植物繁茂——海南岛是菠萝、可可豆、芒果、甘蔗、咖啡和橡胶的重要产地。去年十一月我驾车从三亚往北去，公寓楼和酒店街区很快换成种植芒果的山坡和稻田，农民和水牛在农田里劳作。

在所有我到访过的高端度假酒店中，距三亚机场一个半小时车程的石梅湾艾美度假酒店最具地方特色，有茂密的森林和纯净的白色沙滩，周围还没有其它的卡发项目。尽管喜达屋酒店集团已经计划在附近建造一系列酒店。

中国正在发生巨变，而海南是这一时代的样板。旅游业的发展以一种新的有趣方式将外国海滩文化带到大陆游客面前。

一天下午，希利丹先生在三亚带两名中国夫妇上冲浪课，其中一位女士问了一个少见的问题，“我可以把这把伞带上冲浪板吗？”希利丹强忍大笑，认真地告诉她这不是个好主意。

但是他对她的努力心存敬意，他说，“为什么不能两全齐美呢？”

                  Chinese Hawaii--Hainan Island

THE sun is out, the sand gleaming white, the waves rolling toward shore in clean, regular sets. At the edge of this palm-fringed paradise, the sea is a pale, minty hue and empty of people. Launching my surfboard from the beach on Hainan Island, I paddle out to catch a wave.

Hainan Island has often been called the Chinese Hawaii, and indeed, it is the only tropical beach destination in China. With coasts on the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin, about a 90-minute flight southwest of Hong Kong, this island, slightly bigger than Maryland, is attracting hordes of Chinese in the market for a little sun and fun.

The warm, sandy south coast around the port city of Sanya is experiencing a luxury hotel boom: Ritz-Carlton, Banyan Tree, Le Méridien and Mandarin Oriental have all opened resorts there in the last year, with Fairmont and Raffles properties also in the pipeline. Look around, and you’ll encounter weekend warriors from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, all seeking to escape the crush of big-city life for a quiet stretch of beach and a frozen cocktail.

In the past, Hainan had a romantic, Wild West frontier air about it; as the southernmost point in China, it served for centuries as a place of banishment for criminals, exiled poets and political undesirables. Thirty minutes from Sanya is the famously scenic Tianya Haijiao, a k a the Edge of the Sky and the Rim of the Sea, a boulder-strewn beach depicted on the Chinese two-yuan note. Today, it is an immensely popular tourist attraction.

After Hainan separated from Guangdong to become its own province in 1988, a development boom was quickly followed by a bust that left many building projects on the island half-finished. In the last few years, Hainan has welcomed back investors and become a fashionable draw for Russian tourists looking to escape winter — entire blocks in Sanya have signs lettered in Russian for their benefit.

More recently, Hainan has attracted younger international travelers like Drew Aras and Catherine Forman, both 24 and from Melbourne, Australia. Mr. Aras, a physical therapist, first heard about the island while watching the Beijing Olympics, since it was where organizers obtained the 17,000 tons of sand for the Games’ beach volleyball courts.

“Usually, when we travel together, we negotiate a place that is both interesting to travel to and has the added bonus of offering some surf time for me,” said Mr. Aras, who has been surfing since he was 5. “We thought we’d find a nice place to relax by the beach and maybe catch a few waves between cocktails.”

What they found were uncrowded waves, cheap and delicious seafood and a quirky landscape that skipped from isolated coastline to spots jammed with mainland package tourists outfitted in matching head-to-toe Hawaiian prints.

The couple were introduced to the island by Brendan Sheridan of Surfing Hainan, a small local company that leads surfing expeditions and rents surfboards to visitors. Mr. Sheridan, 29, attended high school in Hong Kong and learned to surf while at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Two years ago, he made it his mission to bring surfing to the Chinese people.

“It’s the right time for the Chinese to get into surfing,” Mr. Sheridan told me as we set out to surf at Riyuewan, a picturesque bay about an hour and a half northeast of Sanya. “There’s an emerging middle class that is finally learning how to spend their money and have some fun in life.”

Most of his customers are foreigners, as many Chinese have an aversion to the sun — having a tan still denotes “farmer” — and don’t have much experience with the ocean. But Mr. Sheridan, who speaks Mandarin, finds that more and more Chinese are interested in the culture of surfing, including his two Chinese staff members, who are both in their 30s and have taken to the sport with a vengeance.

Around Hainan, the surf is up pretty much year round. Between April and September, waves tend to come from the south, while October to March brings a northeastern winter swell.

It can be somewhat expensive to be an independent traveler exploring the island beyond Sanya — public buses are infrequent, and a one-way taxi ride from Riyuewan to Sanya, for example, can run upwards of 300 yuan, about $43 at 7 yuan to the dollar. But Mr. Aras thought it added to the sense of adventure.

“It was refreshing to go somewhere not set up for Western tourists,” he said. “My parents, who live in Hong Kong, already plan to go back to Hainan, and they know of other Aussie and Hong Kong expats who visit frequently. I don’t think it’ll take long for surfers to catch on.”

Development is already fast and furious. The economic downturn may have lessened visitor numbers, but the hotels, with their glass-tiled pools and grand marble staircases, keep coming.

Along Yalong Bay, a lovely four-and-a-half-mile stretch of beach about 15 miles east of Sanya that was developed as a national resort district, the new Ritz-Carlton sits at the end of a long string of resorts that went up before it, including the Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton and Crowne Plaza. Overlooking the water, the Yalong Bay Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., is shaped like a dragon’s claw and has hosted tournaments on the European and Asian Tours. There are now 16 courses on the island, with a couple more in the works.

The sheer numbers of Chinese mean that remote, once-unspoiled locations like Tianya Haijiao (on the two-yuan note), Wuzhi Shan (the “five finger mountain” in the center of Hainan), and Wuzhizhou (a tiny, white-sand island just offshore northeast of Yalong Bay) have been developed with Disney-like fervor to entertain the throngs of flamboyantly dressed tourists who want to view them on a package tour (ferries every 10 minutes, waterfall rides, horse treks). In these places, the Chinese Hawaii more closely resembles a Chinese Miami, full of shiny resorts and artificial attractions.

But stretches of green, mist-covered mountain slopes do remain. The warm, humid climate makes Hainan a bounty of tropical crops — the island is an important producer of pineapples, coconuts, mangoes, sugar cane, coffee and rubber trees. On a drive I took north out of Sanya last November, the countryside quickly retreated from apartment and hotel blocks to hillsides heavy with mango trees and rice paddies worked by teams of farmers and water buffalo.

Of all the new high-end resorts I visited, Le Méridien Shimei Bay, about an hour and a half northeast of Sanya’s airport, had the most authentic sense of place, with lush forests, a pristine, white sand beach and no other development around as yet, though an adjacent series of hotels is planned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Changes are happening all over China, and Hainan Island exemplifies this moment. The boom in tourism there is exposing mainland travelers to a foreign beach culture in new and interesting ways.

One afternoon, when Mr. Sheridan took two young Chinese couples out for a surf lesson in Sanya, he got an unusual request from one of the women. “Can I take this umbrella with me onto the surfboard?” she asked. Mr. Sheridan fought off laughter and soberly told her that he didn’t think it was a good idea.

But he did admire her effort. He said, “Why not have it both ways?”