Wanshan Archipelago

Wanshan / Guishan / Dan'gan
万山镇 / 桂山镇 / 担杆镇
Town(s)
万山海洋开发试验区

Ladrones Islands and Lema Islands (bottom part of the map) on an 1878 German map
Country China
Province Guangdong
City Zhuhai
District Xiangzhou
Area
 • Total 86 km2 (33 sq mi)
Population
 • Total 4,813
 • Density 56/km2 (140/sq mi)
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)
Website http://www.wanshan.gov.cn/
Wanshan Archipelago
Simplified Chinese 万山群岛
Traditional Chinese 萬山羣島 or 萬山群島
Literal meaning Ten Thousand Islands Archipelago[Notes 1]

The Wanshan Archipelago (lit. Myriad Islands Archipelago), sometimes referred to as the Ladrones Islands (Thieves Islands), is a 104-island archipelago that is part of the Xiangzhou District of Zhuhai Municipality in Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China.

Administration

Most of the islands of the archipelago are in the Wanshan Marine Development Experimental Zone (万山海洋开发试验区) which consist of three towns:[1] Guishan Town (桂山镇), Dan'gan Town (担杆镇) and Wanshan Town (万山镇).

Geography

The islands are situated in the South China Sea, to the south of the opening of the Pearl River estuary and Hong Kong.

The Wanshan Islands also include some islands in Hong Kong and Macau, such as Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island in Hong Kong, Taipa-Coloane Island in Macau.

The archipelago includes several groups of islands. On the older European maps, the western group, located south of the Pearl River estuary and Hong Kong's island of Lantau, and including the Greater Wanshan Island (Dawanshan Dao), Guishan Dao, Zhizhou Liedao group, Wai Dangling Dao, Sanmen Liedao group, and Aizhou Liedao group, was known as the Ladrones Islands (that is, "Thieves Islands", in Spanish or Portuguese). The eastern chain of islands, located south of Hong Kong, was known in the West as the Lema Islands; today, the western half of this chain is known as Jiapeng Liedao, and the eastern half as Dan'gan Liedao.

The largest island, Dangan, features mountainous terrain similar to Hong Kong.

List of islands

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Erzhou Dao, seen from Ocean Park Hong Kong.
Beijian Dao

Islands of the archipelago include:

Dangan Liedao (担杆列岛) (note: not Dang'an[2]), the eastern group of Wanshan archipelago, and the eastern half of the former Lema Islands chain

Jiapeng Liedao (佳蓬列岛), the southern group of Wanshan archipelago, and the western half of the former Lema Islands chain

Southwestern group, apparently without a general name

Shek Kwu Chau (left), an island of Hong Kong and Wai Lingding Dao (right), part of the "Central group" of Wanshan Archipelago.

Central group, apparently without a general name; located south of Lantau

View from Tian Tan Buddha in Hong Kong. The closest islands are the Soko Islands, part of the territory of Hong Kong. The four most distant islands are part of the Wanshan Archipelago. From left to right: Ai Zhou, Ai Zhou Zi, Dazhi Zhou, Xiaozhi Zhou.
Dazhi Zhou (upper) and Xiaozhi Zhou (centre)

Northwestern group, apparently without a general name; located between Lantau and Macau


Other geographically important points of interest:

Population

There is a small local population, mostly in small fishing villages:

Economy

The archipelago's economy is mainly fisheries (crystal prawn, peeler crab). There is a growing tourism industry with a focus on history, beaches, and the natural beauty of the islands. About 350,000 tourists visit the islands annually. Club Med opened a holiday resort on Dong'ao in 2014.[10]

There is also potential for petroleum extraction in the waters off the islands.

Tourist sites

Wen Tianxiang statue on Guishan

Tourist sites of Wanshan Archipelago include:

Transportation

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 山 (Shan) literally means hills and mountains. Before the emerging of Modern China, 山 also refers to islands.

References

Coordinates: 21°57′N 113°45′E / 21.950°N 113.750°E / 21.950; 113.750

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