“Hot Spring” Golf Course

l       Basic information

Location: Boao Town, Qiong Hai City, Hainan Province, China

Area: 195 acres

Status: All governmental approval procedure completed; Pre-construction work finished; Construction not started yet.

l       Background of Hainan Province and Boao

Hainan Island is China's tropical playground. World-class beaches, five-star hotels, superb golf courses, fabulous food and a fascinating culture make it one of China’s most desirable locations. It can be roughly considered as the counterpart of Florida in China.

Hainan, the second largest island of China, like a bright pearl, is mounted in the vast blue water of the South China Sea. The boundless expanse of sea water, the enchanting tropical scenery, the unique monsoon climate, the relaxing and healthy spa, the wonderful folkways of the Li and the Miao minority nationalities and a great variety of tropical fauna and flora, all will appeal you to enjoy yourself in the arms of nature.

With Hong Kong and Macao nearby, the mainland of China across the Qiongzhou Strait and the Southeast Asian countries to the south, Hainan provides China with quick and convenient access to the Asia-Pacific region.

Hainan has a total land area of 3.39 million hectares, of which 1.214 million heactares are forests, 1528 kilometers coast line, 68 natural bays, 25.7 thousand hectares of shallow sea and inter-tidal zone.

Located in the tropical zone, it has a tropical monsoon climate, with and annual average temperature of 22-26 degrees of centigrade, and is frost-free all the year round. The whole province has plentiful rainfall, and luminous resources. The total sunshine time and the annual rainfall of the province are respectively 1750 to 2650 hours and 1500 to 2000 mm.

Hainan is the largest special economic zone in China, with a population of 7.52 million, enjoying many special preferential policies and special legislative powers granted by the central government.

The infrastructure of Hainan including transportation, energy and communications is sophisticated. There are two international airports and five ports open to the outside. Transport and communication lines link up all parts of the province. Around-Island Express Way has been put into full traffic. Various kinds of transportation means offer you a safe, comfortable, convenient and quick service.

In the whole island there are more than 300 hotel and holiday resort of various types such as city, seaside, spa and mountain, most of them featuring fine environment, full functions and quality service.

The Boao Town in Hainan has both beautiful islands and waters, with a unique combination of elegant natural landscapes and historic sites. The Boao port is vast with two islands, Dongyu Island and Mandarin Duck, providing wonderful scenery. White soft sand, cool crystal clear water and coco trees swinging in the wind, Boao is a typical tropical paradise. To have an idea of the extremely beautiful scenery in Boao, please take a look at the following two websites:

http://www.hinews.cn/zt_balt_yw/fg.htm

http://www.boaotravel.net/asp/Pics/Pics.asp

The Legend of Boao

Long ago in Chinese legend, the youngest daughter of the Dragon King -- Ao Qin of the South China Sea, gave birth to a son named Ao. Although its birth was accompanied by a splendid chance for prosperity, Ao looked strange with a dragon's head, tortoise's back and kylin's tail.

This strange looking creature made the Dragon King angry and he wanted Ao and his mother to leave the island. The King blocked their return to the South China Sea by laying his jade belt across the entrance. This belt turned into the Jade Belt Beach that lies in front of Sofitel Boao today.

Having failed to persuade her farther the Dragon King to accept Ao, the heartbroken daughter dragon changed herself into a mountain now called Longtan Ridge. Shocked at the loss of his mother, Ao was so angry that he busied himself by causing great hardship to the people living on Boao.

Hearing the news, the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, came to the island and after 72 battles subdued Ao, and transformed him into a dragon. Ao's original body, a turtle with a dragon's head, then became Dongyu Island, the site of Sofitel Boao. Aerial photographs of the island show it is shaped like a turtle. While it sounds like a tale from Middle Earth, whether true or not Boao is a remarkable yet sleepy corner of Hainan.

The monk of Tang Dynasty, Huai Ren said, "Who subdued Ao became a Saint, who obtained Ao became a wise man."

Boao Forum For Aisa (BFA).

Boao has become world-famous in recent years because it is the permanent venue for Boao Forum for Asia. BFA is a regional version of the World Economic Forum that is held annually in Switzerland. The Boao Forum is expected to become Asia's first non-governmental, non- profit organization whose main purpose is to increase dialogue, coordination and cooperation among Asian countries. It began as the brainchild of three men: former Philippine president Fidel Ramos, former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke and former Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa. These three leaders believed there was a pressing need for a forum where all Asians -- from the Middle East to Japan -- could discuss Asian development issues, especially after the 1997 Asian financial crisis rolled back years of economic progress in the region.

The Inauguration Ceremony of the BFA was held on Feb. 26-27, 2001 in Boao. Former leaders from 26 countries including Yasuhiro Nakasone, former prime minister of Japan, Fidel V. Ramos, former president of the Philippines, Bob Hawke, former prime minister of Australia, Sergey Terechshenko, former prime minister of Kazakhstan, Punsalmaa Ochirbat, former president of Mongolia, attended the ceremony. Then Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Mahathir bin Mohammad, prime minister of Malaysia, Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, the late king of Nepal, Nguyen Manh Cam, deputy prime minister of Vietnam also graced the occasion by addressing the ceremony. The BFA was officially launched at the ceremony. The Declaration of the BFA and Guidelines of the BFA Charter were adopted during the ceremony. The inauguration was a great success and gained wide spread concern from the international community.

BFA 2004 Annual Conference just concluded in April 2004. Over 1,000 political leaders (including Bush I), prestigious scholars and business executives from Asia and the other parts of the world attended the forum. Chinese President Hu Jintao delivered a keynote speech at the opening session. For more information about BFA, please visit its official website: http://www.boaoforum.org/boao/main/index.shtml

l       Key Features of the Golf Course

1.        Best hot spring spot in Hainan Island.

Next to the place of the golf course is a small town called Guan Tang, where the best quality hot spring in Hainan locates. The hot spring water can be easily led to the facilities of the golf course, providing an attractive service for golf players.

2.        Complete infrastructure

Since Boao has been the permanent venue of BFA, a complete infrastructure has been established there, including freeways, 5-star hotels, restaurants and other luxury services facilities, making the area a much desirable tourist place for golf players.

Transportation is very convenient.

The best hotels in Boao include:

Sofitel Boao http://www.sofitel.com/sofitel/fichehotel/gb/sof/resort/5452/fiche_hotel.shtml

Golden Coast Hot Spring Hotel

http://www.boao-golden.com.cn/english

Canal Village 

http://www.sohochina.com/temp/boao/index_en.html

3.        “Aggregation effect”

Currently there are another two golf courses in Boao. Moreover, there are 2 golf courses in Xinlong Town (within 1 hour drive) and 7 golf courses in Haikou City (the Capital city of Hainan Province, within 2 hour drive). Those golf courses form a sort of Aggregation Effect, which is most attractive to traveling golf players. In addition, the golf courses share with each other their client base.

4.        Completely new, available for American design and management.

Since the construction work of the golf course has not started yet, it is like a blank sheet, ideal for American partner to put in world class design and management tailored to the appetite of foreign golf players.

Concerning the loss of farm land, the China Central Government has imposed very strict scrutiny on building new golf courses in China. Therefore, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get government approval on new golf courses in the future. This golf course is one of the only a few “new” golf courses that had completed all approval procedure just before the heightened scrutiny started. It is a good opportunity for American partner to bring in its ideas on design and management.