On 18 december 2025, the island-wide closure was officially launched at the hainan free trade port。
The closure is not an “enclosed island”, but an important step in the form of openness to the highest international standards. Following the closure, the island will become a “within and outside” area, with preferential measures such as zero tariffs。
What is a “closure”? How will the hainan seal reshape everyday life for ordinary people? What changes will be made in the areas of prices, home purchases, employment, education and health care
What's a seal? What's a seal
In fact, the closure is not an island seal, but rather a special customs control area for the entire island of hainan, with a liberalization-facilitation policy system based on “one-line” liberalization, “two-line” regulation, and freedom on the island。
The “first line” refers to the borderline, i. E. From abroad to within the fta (port); the “second line” refers to the spatial partition line between the fta (port) and other regions within the territory。
After the closure, hainan's relationship with the territory is “one line”, which includes other countries and territories, as well as the hong kong/australia area of china。
In hainan, two catalogues have been drawn up: a restricted list (i. E. A list of goods whose import or export is prohibited, restricted), free access for goods and goods not included in the list; and an import-taxed catalogue (also known as a negative list of zero tariffs) free of import duties for goods not included in the list。
For “second line” management, it refers to goods entering the sea south at zero tariffs, which cannot flow into the interior or are subject to a new tariff on entering the interior。
Will prices rise? How does the cost of living change
The cost of living has always been one of the issues of greatest concern to islanders and foreign investors。
First, duty-free shopping is easier, which is the most intuitive advantage after closure。
With the closure, the “zero tariff, low tax rate, simple tax system” will be implemented gradually. Under the policy arrangement, the list of “zero tariffs” commodities was significantly expanded from more than 1900 to 6637 items, covering 74 per cent of the commodity categories such as make-up, household electricity and health care, 53 percentage points higher than before the closure。
For the islanders, this means that the cost of buying imported goods will be further reduced, and the “one-on-one” model will increase the ease of shopping; for visitors outside the island, the annual tax exemption of $100,000 has not increased, but the tax-free class is richer and the shopping experience is more friendly。
Local prices for goods and services are affected by multiple factors. Expert analysis shows that overall prices will remain stable in the long run as local industrial chains improve and markets become more competitive。
When closed, international resources for health and education will be accelerated. The head of the institute of public diplomacy and the open sea institute of china's south china sea institute and research fellow of the centre for foreign cultural exchange (cultural trade) of the ministry of china and china stated that after the closure, public services such as international schools, high-level hospitals and cultural kiosks would be improved at an accelerated pace, urban habitability and internationalization would rise at the same time, and the island's residents would be able to access internationalized services if they were not on the island, while attracting more domestic and foreign talent to work, study and live。
Can people and couriers get in and out of hainan
In response to external misgivings about the “access implications of closures”, wang changlin, deputy director of the national development and reform commission, stated that with the closure, henan's contacts with the international community would be smoother and more efficient, and that contacts with the interior would remain easy and efficient。
Under the current phase of the closure system, most goods, as well as all persons, goods, means of transport, etc., to and from hainan island, with the exception of some goods that need to be inspected for entry from the port of hainan to the mainland, remain under the current regulations and are not subject to change. Neither tourism nor business travel requires additional documentation, as is currently the case。
The delivery service is also not affected. Ordinary parcels sent from hainan to the interior continue to operate in accordance with existing processes. Moreover, with the increased internationalization of the hainan, the future efficiency of international express transport logistics will increase。
Will the house price rise? Will the limit policy be adjusted
The impact of closures on the city of hainan was of great concern to investors。
In an interview with the media, wang lu, vice-president and secretary-general of the institute of real estate and property of hainan province, stated that the closure would continuously increase the value and attractiveness of assets in hainan and build a solid value base for the building city。
According to kerry, with the anticipated impact of the 2025 closure, the cities of hainan, including sanya, kanzhou, etc., have seen new growth points in demand, such as sanya, which grew by nearly 50 per cent in the first half of 2025, based on the continued high turnover in 2024。
However, industry also mentioned that the policy’s expected impact on the market is short-term, and that industrial growth and population import take longer to change market fundamentals at once。
Wang road stressed that the pull effect of the closure on the city would be moderate and gradual, rather than immediate stimulus, and that the market was still more divided。
More jobs or more competition
The closure will lead to industrial clustering and will create a large number of jobs in hainan。
With the “zero-tariff” policy covering a wide range of enterprises, superseding a preferential rate of 15 per cent on corporate income tax and personal income tax, hainan is attracting an accelerated accumulation of frontier industries such as biomedicine and the digital economy. In addition, demand for jobs in services such as retail, logistics, hotels and restaurants will continue to grow as sectors such as duty-free shopping, international tourism and cross-border electric operators develop。
Researchers at the institute for international trade and economic cooperation of the ministry of commerce have been careful to remind that the expansion of the job market has been accompanied by higher demands on the quality of workers. As industrial competition increases, workers need to upgrade their skills and adapt to new jobs and industrial upgrading needs。
Talent policy is also continually being optimized. High-end qualified and scarce persons working in hainan freeport are exempted from the actual personal income tax of more than 15 per cent。
Previously, the policy had a mandatory threshold of 183 days of cumulative residence in hainan. From this year onwards, this method of accounting for 183 days of residence has led to a humane adjustment: reasonable departure time, such as travel on business, leave or study training, may be taken into account for the number of days of residence, but is required to actually reside in hainan for at least 90 days。
