The South China Sea Islands have been China's territory since ancient times.

　　—President Xi Jinping

　　那到底什么是"自古以來"呢?

　　So when exactly is "since ancient times"?

　　大家都知道海南島是中國南海上最大的島嶼。海南島,是秦代象郡的外檄,西漢的珠崖和儋耳,歷史上也屬于嶺南。2000多年前,這里出產的珍珠、玳瑁、犀角等奇珍異寶,曾是秦漢中央宮廷奢侈品的主要來源。

　　It is said that Hainan Island is China's second largest island after Taiwan. It is situated in the South China Sea facing Guangdong Province across the Qiongzhou Strait. As part of the Xiang prefecture of China's Qin Dynasty, Hainan Island was also called Zhuya prefecture and Dan'er prefecture during the Western Han Dynasty. It also belonged to the Lingnan region. More than 2,000 years ago, Hainan produced priceless treasures including pearls, hawk bills and rhinoceros horns and was once a main source of luxury items for the imperial court of the Qin Dynasty.

　　Note: Lingnan is a geographic area referring to lands in the south of China's Nan Mountains including Dayu, Qitian, Dupang, Mengzhu and Yuecheng. The region covers the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan as well as Hong Kong and Macao.

　　但是,到漢元帝時期,由于帝國在海南經略的行政成本大幅提高。公元前46年,西漢王朝聽從建議罷棄珠崖,對海南進行名義上的遙領。自此之后的幾百年間,海南島一直孤懸海外,中央王權再未在海南設立治所。

　　Due to the increasing administrative cost of managing Hainan Island, the Western Han Empire abandoned the Zhuya prefecture in 46 B.C and nominally owned Hainan Island. Since then, Hainan Island was isolated from the central government of ancient China and no local government administered it.

　　然而到了公元6世紀,情況發生了變化。

　　However, things changed in the sixth century.

　　當時嶺南一帶俚人聚居,遠離中原發達地帶,文明尚未開化,生產力極為底下,民風彪悍,《隋書》記載俚人"好相攻擊"。這給當時嶺南一帶的管理者帶來了很大難題。

　　Since the 500s A.D., people of the ethnic Li people inhabited Lingnan which was uncivilized and far away from the developed Central Plains with less developed productivity. In the Book of Sui, it is recorded that Li people were "aggressive". It caused a great challenge for the administrator of the Lingnan region at that time.

　　這時粵西俚人出現了一位女首領,這位出生南越首領世家的女孩自幼賢明,能行軍用師,壓服嶺南諸越。作為俚人,她還對本民族進行一場內部革新,平息內斗,推行中原教化。她以德服人,個人威望還一度傳到了瓊州海峽的對岸。隋書記載,當時的海南儋耳,歸附者千余垌。

　　Then, a female leader of the Li people rose to power in West Guangdong. Born in a family which was the hereditary leader of their tribe, this lady was "bright and able since she was a child. When she was living at her parents' house, she was able to pacify the people and soldiers and was capable of using the military in a strategic way," according to the Book of Sui by Wei Zheng in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). She also carried out reforms in her tribe, quieted down internal conflicts, and promoted education and technology from the Central Plains. She won people over by her virtue and her prestige spread far and wide to Dan'er across the Qiongzhou Strait. According to the Book of Sui, more than one thousand ethnic groups from Dan'er came and submitted to her rule.

　　直至今日,海南民間還在口口相傳這位偉大的女首領率軍抵達海南在此駐扎并平定了整個海島的故事。

　　Even to this day, the people in Hainan Island still talk about this great lady who led an army to pacify Hainan Island and remain garrisoned there.

　　"夫人多所規諫,由是怨隙止息,海南、儋耳歸附者千余洞。"

　　—《隋書》卷八十列傳第四十五

　　She expostulated and remedied grievances so that more than one thousand ethnic groups from Dan'er came and submitted to her.

　　— The 45th biography of the 80th Volume of the Book of Sui