It was upgraded from severe tropical storm to typhoon on Friday night and it was expected to bring "severe wind, rain and waves," according to the Department of Emergency Management in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
Photos posted by a Chinese news outlet showed toppled trees and a strewn corrugated metal fence at a construction site in the city of Sanya, a popular beach resort on Hainan.
All schools, construction sites and tourist attractions in Sanya were closed and flights were suspended at the city's airport, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
A dozen crew members were rescued on Thursday night from a cargo ship that called for help, Xinhua said.
The crew were transferred to a rescue vessel in rough seas with 3-metre waves.
Typhoon Wutip had maximum sustained winds of 119 km/h as it headed northeast off Hainan's west coast.
It was forecast to make landfall about noon on Saturday on the Chinese mainland near the border between Guangdong province and the Guangxi region.
Guangdong activated rescue boats and helicopters, and more than 49,000 fishing boats returned to port, Xinhua said.
The provincial meteorological agency forecast heavy rain and said tornadoes were possible.
Wutip means "butterfly" in Cantonese, which is spoken in Macao. Countries and the Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao contribute the names for storms during the typhoon season.
