ABSTRACT
Since the mid-1980s and with reform in the People's Republic of China (PRC) Hainan Island has become something of a legend for being China's equivalent of "the wild west." Lawlessness is not so much a problem as the reputation for laxity—emphasized by a series of spectacular cases of corruption. Physical as well as political distance from the mainland and Beijing are obvious characteristics of Hainan's place in contemporary China, and in the wake of the events of June 1989 many took refuge in Hainan.
