Main hall
«First building of Hainan».
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A memorial complex to five senior statesmen banished to Hainan, then the empire's remotest frontier, after losing struggles at court: the Tang-dynasty chancellor Li Deyu and four Song-dynasty ministers, Li Gang, Li Guang, Zhao Ding and Hu Quan. Its chief building is the main hall, a red two-storey timber structure more than 9 metres tall, which a board over its entrance calls «the first building of Hainan»; the oldest parts of the complex date from the reign of the Wanli Emperor of the Ming dynasty, between 1572 and 1620, it was heavily restored in 1889, and halls, pavilions and ponds spread around it, among them the Millet Spring Pavilion. The complex also holds a hall honouring Su Shi, known as Su Dongpo, the most celebrated poet of the Song era, who was himself exiled to Hainan from 1097 to 1100, and a hall to the Han-dynasty generals Lu Bode and Ma Yuan, who brought the island under Chinese rule and were given the title «Subduer of the Waves». Tickets cost CNY 17, or CNY 12 concession, and the site stays open into the evening, per visitor guides. It lies about two kilometres from the Hainan Museum.
«First building of Hainan».
The exiled poet.
A quiet garden.
Haifu Road, Qiongshan District, Haikou
They were the Tang chancellor Li Deyu and the Song ministers Li Gang, Li Guang, Zhao Ding and Hu Quan, all banished to Hainan after losing struggles at court.