"Being tens of thousands of miles away, Hainan is an extremely difficult place to reach," says an ancient Chinese poem that reflected the island's one-time isolation from the Chinese mainland.

Since it became a province in 1988, Hainan has become the first in China to put forward and establish a socialist market economic system. Over the past 30 years, the southernmost province has gone from being an isolated, backward outpost to the country's largest special economic zone. 

As a host of big international events such as the annual Boao Forum for Asia and the BRICS leaders meeting, Hainan Province is the pioneer of China's reform and opening-up and continues to accelerate its development of pilot free trade zones and ports. 

In 2018, Hainan's GDP and the local government’s general budget revenue grew by 23.1 and 253.3 times respectively compared to 1987's figures.

"Hainan's economic and social achievements fully bear out the CPC's (Communist Party of China) great leadership and the superiority of the socialist system," Liu Cigui, secretary of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee, said at a State Council press conference on Monday.

At the briefing, Hainan authorities discussed what has contributed to China's largest special economic zone.

Liu said the reform and opening-up policy is key to the development of China, particularly in the case of Hainan, and economic globalization is an irresistible trend worldwide.

"Opening-up is the priority of provincial development," Liu said, adding that Hainan will better manage risks and improve reform measures in building an island-wide pilot free trade zone.

In 2018, newly established foreign-funded enterprises increased by 85.6 percent, the actual utilization of foreign capital jumped by 112.7 percent, and import and export volume grew by 20.8 percent.

From January to August of this year, those figures jumped by 189.2 percent, 565.5 percent and 37.4 percent respectively.

Among its reform efforts across the country, Beijing has tapped Hainan to promote international medical tourism.

In 2013, the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone was launched.

Furthermore, the State Council decided that Hainan can authorize imports of medical drugs and devices that are not legitimately available in the Chinese mainland.

According to Shen Xiaoming, governor of Hainan, the medical tourism pilot zone provides potentially great opportunities for foreign investors, growth to the island economy and an impetus for innovation.

"The plot zone can largely allow global innovative drugs to come to the Chinese market quicker at a lower cost, which gives international companies more confidence and benefits a wider range of patients in China," Shen said.

One drop of water reflects the sunlight, while a particular place can reflect the situations of the whole country, Liu concluded, citing Hainan's achievement and its opening-up in medical tourism as fully expressing what socialism with Chinese characteristics is delivering.