As Qiongzhou, formerly romanized as Kiungchow,[a] the district was formerly a separate city which served as the center of Chinese administration on Hainan Island when it formed a part of Guangdong Province.

[1] The British Consulate in Kiungchow was opened in April 1876, as a result of the Treaty of Tientsin in 1858.

[2] Dongzhai Port Nature Reserve is located in the district and has an area of 2,500 hectares (6,200 acres).

It includes six rivers, an irregular coastline, and a number of bays and tidewater gullies.

[3] Mandarin is the official language of administration and education, but locals also speak Haikou dialect of Hainanese (a Min language), while other ethnic groups also speak the Qiongshan dialect of Lingao.