Exploring Tanka Culture and Floating Villages in Hainan

By Cai Rong, David Janke / HIMC / Updated: 07:55,01-July-2025

Many towns in southern China’s tropical island province of Hainan encompass a collection of villages, but Xincun Town in Hainan’s Lingshui Li Autonomous County has a village unlike any other in Hainan–one that floats. The Tanka people, found in southern China’s coastal areas, a sea dwellers par excellence, living on and from the sea. Most visitors notice this floating settlement, fishing boats and all, as they take the cable car the short distance across the lagoon to and from Nanwan Monkey Island, but our two OCOs, Alex and Luke, stepped “onto” the village. What will they discover among these bobbing barges? Watch to find out!

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