Xuwen Lighthouse Point

Updated 2026-05-27

China‘s southernmost lighthouse. Where two seas kiss, coral reefs bloom & Hainan liberation began.

On a remote, slender peninsula in Xuwen County, the land finally gives way to the embrace of the sea. Dengloujiao litteraly the Lighthouse corner stands exactly where the map of China reaches its southernmost point on the mainland (not including Hainan Province, the island at the South of China).

Since 1890, its lighthouse has guided ships through the treacherous waters separating Guangdong from Hainan Island, surviving colonialism and wars.

Where Two Seas Collide

Of all the remarkable features of Deng Lou Jiao, the most famous lies underwater. At the very tip of the peninsula, two distinct bodies of water : the warm, calm Beibu Gulf to the west and the faster, cooler Qiongzhou Strait to the east meet in a narrow, shallow channel.
琼州海峡与北部湾的合水线.jpg
Because the two seas have slightly different cycles and water properties, their currents push against each other twice a day. When the tide rises, the collision produces a distinctive V-shaped wave known locally as the Cross Wave 十字浪 or the Kissing Wave 接吻浪.
When the tide falls, a yellow sandbar emerges from the water, curving outward like a horn.
Standing precisely at the Water Confluence Line you can, on a calm day, put one foot in the Beibu Gulf and the other in the Qiongzhou Strait at the same time.

The coordinates of this spot are N 20°13'14, which Chinese tourists have embraced as a romantic symbol because "201314" sounds like "love you for a lifetime" in Mandarin.

## History
### About the construction

In 1890, under the reign of the Guangxu Emperor, a colonial trading company built the first lighthouse : a wrought-iron and wooden structure about 16 metres tall.

In 1941, during the Japanese occupation of Hainan and the Leizhou Peninsula, the county magistrate ordered to destroy the original lighthouse to prevent the Japanese from using it for navigation. In the early 1950s, the Chinese government built a modest concrete lighthouse, followed by a new one which still stands : a 15-metre circular stone tower built in 1979.
Finally, in 1994, the Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration constructed the iconic white-and-blue, 10-storey hexagonal lighthouse (36m) that now serves as the primary navigation beacon for the Qiongzhou Strait.
徐闻灯楼角.jpg
Nowadays, two lighthouses sit side by side: the shorter 1979 tower and the taller 1994 one, together commanding the southern horizon.

The Launching Point for the Liberation of Hainan

On the evening of 5 March 1950, a reinforced battalion of 799 soldiers from the Fourth Field Army of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) gathered on the beaches of Deng Lou Jiao. Under the cover of darkness, they launched across the Qiongzhou Strait toward Hainan Island, then controlled by Nationalist forces. By the afternoon of 6 March 1950, after nearly 100 nautical miles of sailing under fire, they landed at Baomajing on the northwest coast of Hainan. They were the first PLA troops to reach the island in what became the amphibious assault that expelled the Nationalist garrison and secured Hainan for the newly founded People's Republic.

Deng Lou Jiao was thus the first launching point the beach where the battle for Hainan began.

A memorial garden has since been built on the cape, featuring a 18m monument facing Hainan.
Seven unknown soldiers' (who died during the crossing and whose bodies washed back onto the Xuwen coast) graves lie nearby.

A plaque at the site reads:
- Liberating Hainan - Success owes to Xuwen

##China's Best Coral Reefs

Few visitors expect to find coral reefs along the coast of Guangdong. Yet just off the shore of Deng Lou Jiao lies one of China's most significant marine ecosystems: the Xuwen Coral Reef National Nature Reserve.

This clear-water reef stretches over an area of 144 km², the largest contiguous coral reef system on the Chinese mainland. It is home to at least 82 species of coral (belonging to 19 families). The provincial government has built a Coral Science Museum just a short distance from the cape.

Coral Houses of Antarctica Village

The traditional architecture of the fishing villages around Deng Lou Jiao is unlike anything else in China. Local fishermen have for generations built their homes using blocks of dried coral, which they collect from the shore after storms.

These coral houses are thick-walled, rough-textured, and naturally insulating : cool in summer and warm in winter. The porous coral allows air to circulate, giving them the nickname Breathing House.

In 2018, a coral-stone inn in nearby Fangpo Village was named by the Guangdong Provincial Tourism Bureau as one of the province's first most beautiful homestays. Starting from it, several former fishermen's homes have been transformed into the Artist Tribe, a cluster of coral-walled studios, coffee shops, and boutique inns where travellers can stay overnight.

Be sure to visit the Polar Post Office, located near the Artist Tribe. Housed in a coral building, you can send postcards stamped with the Southernmost Point seal and the postmark 20°13'14″ N.

Nearby Attractions

• Pineapple Sea : rainbow collored pineapple fields
• Fangpo Village : original seaside village with coral houses, local seafood, beach walks

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