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SANYA has never really called my name. Over the years, this resort hub on the Chinese island province of Hainan would appear on my radar but usually as blips that did it no favors. Officially advertised as “the Hawaii of China,” it was derided by detractors as a holiday playground for retirees from the mainland and nouveau-riche Russians. One of the rare times it seemed intriguing was its association a few years ago with a celebrity sex scandal at a yacht show, a controversy that launched a thousand quips on social media.
Then,…