The science museum — a silver spiral

A silver spiral by the wetland

The Hainan Science and Technology Museum is on Haikou's west coast, in a new district on the edge of the national wetland park on the Wuyuan River, right next to the big stadium. It opened on 29 April 2026 under the motto “Stars and Sea — Meeting the Future”.

It stands out from afar: a shining silver building screwing upwards that, depending on the light, almost disappears into the sky. In China the shape is described as an “auspicious cloud”, a traditional ornament symbolising luck and ascent.

The same architect as the library

The museum was designed by Ma Yansong and his firm MAD, the same architect as the Cloudscape Library on the bay. Two buildings by the same firm in a city hardly anyone in Europe knows — and yet they could hardly be more different.

The library is small, white and cast in one piece of concrete. The museum is large, around 46,500 square metres, and its skin consists of 843 silver panels of fibre-reinforced plastic. They reflect the light, the clouds and the green surroundings. What both buildings share is the idea that there should be no hard edges.

From top to bottom

Inside, three cores support the whole building, so the exhibition spaces need no columns. A spiral ramp runs through the middle, topped by a glass dome through which daylight falls down to the atrium.

The route is unusually laid out. You first take the lift all the way up to a viewing platform with a panoramic view over the city, the wetland and the sea. Then you walk down the spiral, passing through all the exhibitions in turn. The glass fronts keep giving you views outside.

Four worlds

The exhibition is divided into four large areas, together about 13,000 square metres. At the bottom is a “World of Curiosity” for children to touch and try out. Above it comes an area about Hainan itself: geology, rainforest and the island's role as China's winter seed base, where new rice and vegetable varieties are bred every year.

At the very top are the big themes: the deep sea and space. In total the museum shows 361 exhibits, three quarters of them interactive. You may and should press, pull, crank and try things out.

Deep sea and space — both already experienced

For travellers who have come across the island, the two upper exhibitions have a special appeal. You saw space in Wenchang, where China's rockets launch among coconut palms. The deep sea and the South China Sea you met in Tanmen, in the museum by the fishing port and in the stories of the sea-book captains.

Here both themes are told from the research perspective: submersibles, satellites, the space station. You see how closely Hainan's geography is tied to China's big technology projects — and why the island invests so much money in such institutions.

Domes and screens

The museum has three special cinemas: a dome twenty metres in diameter for flight simulations, a twenty-metre-wide LED screen, according to the museum the first of its kind in a Chinese science museum, and a planetarium with a twelve-metre dome. There's also a small observatory.

At the opening in April 2026 the big screen was in trial operation, and the planetarium and flight cinema were still being built. Whether they're open in November should be checked when booking — shows may cost extra and are often booked up quickly.

A park for the neighbourhood

Around the museum, curving covered walkways connect the buildings and provide shelter from rain and sun. There's also a sunken plaza shaped like an impact crater, water basins and gardens with native plants that serve as an open-air classroom.

More than thirty schools and kindergartens lie within three kilometres. So the museum is also meant as a place of learning for the neighbourhood, not just a tourist attraction. On weekdays many school classes come.

Late, but here

The building was planned much earlier: according to the first plans, construction was to start in 2021 and finish in 2024. The museum finally opened two years later than planned. Such delays aren't rare in China either.

At the opening officials said the museum should show the world China's modernisation through the example of Hainan. You don't have to adopt that view to enjoy the building and the exhibition — but it explains why an island of ten million people builds a science museum of this size.

How to approach the visit

The museum is open only Thursday to Sunday, from 9:30 to 17:30. Admission is free, but you have to reserve — via the museum's online portal, WeChat channel or mini-programme, up to three days in advance, each day from 9 in the morning. If in doubt with a foreign passport, the hotel can help.

Allow two to three hours for the visit. It's best to come in the morning, go up to the viewing platform first and then work your way slowly down. Afterwards a walk through the neighbouring wetland is worthwhile.