The Humen, also known as the Bocca Tigris or the Bogue, is a narrow

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

in the

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents, ...

that separates

Shiziyang Shiziyang () or Shizi Channel is the upper channel of the Pearl River estuary. It runs from the confluence of the Dong River and the Pearl River with parts of the Bei River to the Bocca Tigris which separate Lingdingyang the mid channel of ...

in the north and

Lingdingyang Lingdingyang () or Lingding Channel is the middle channel of the Pearl River estuary which runs from Humen to Jiuzhouyang. Humen separates Lingdingyang and Shiziyang, the upper channel of the Pearl River Estuary, in the north and Jiuzhouyang ...

in the south. It is located near

Humen Town Humen Town (), formerly Fumun, is a town in Dongguan city on the eastern side of the Humen strait on the Pearl River Delta, in Guangdong province, China. The former town of Taiping was incorporated into Humen Town in 1985. The population was 838,00 ...

in China's

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

Province. It is the site of the

Pearl River The Pearl River (, or ) is an extensive river system in southern China. "Pearl River" is often also used as a catch-all for the watersheds of the Pearl tributaries within Guangdong, specifically the Xi ('west'), Bei ('north'), and Dong ( ...

's discharge into the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

. It contains the Port of Humen at Humen Town. The strait is formed by the islands of Chuenpi (, p ''Chuanbi'') and Anunghoy (, p ''Aniangxie''; also called , p ''Weiyuan'') on the eastern side, and Taikoktow (大角头, p ''Dajiaotou'') on the western side. Since 1997, the strait has been traversed by the

Humen Pearl River Bridge The Humen Pearl River Bridge () is a bridge over the Humen, Pearl River in Guangdong Province, southern China. It consists of two main spans — a suspension bridge section and a segmental concrete section. It connects the Nansha District of ...

. Bocca Tigris was the entry to China's only trading city,

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Name

The

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

ate ' is derived from the Portuguese ', which is a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of the

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

and

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

name , literally meaning "The Tiger Gate".Taylor 1898, p. 70 The name ''Bogue'' is also a corruption of the Portuguese ''Boca''. The name comes from the impression given by Tiger Island, situated about above the Hengdang Islands in the middle of the strait, of a tiger

couchant In heraldry, the term attitude describes the ''position'' in which a figure (animal or human) is emblazoned as a charge, a supporter, or as a crest. The attitude of a heraldic figure always precedes any reference to the tincture of the figure an ...

or at least of a tiger's head on its eastern side.Hawks, Francis L.; Perry, Matthew (1857).
Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan
'. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 161. American Commodore

Matthew Perry Matthew Langford Perry (August 19, 1969 – October 28, 2023) was an American and Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He gained international fame for starring as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994– ...

, who later played a leading role in the

opening of Japan ] The Perry Expedition (, , "Arrival of the Black Ships") was a diplomatic and military expedition in two separate voyages (1852–1853 and 1854–1855) to the Tokugawa shogunate () by warships of the United States Navy. The goals of this expedit ...

to the West, noted that: "Although the resemblance is not at first very striking, it becomes quite obvious after examination".

History

Because of its strategic location as the naval gateway to the city of

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

(Canton), the strait was strongly fortified during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. It was defended by eight forts: Shakok (Shajiao), Taikok (Dajiao), Wangtung (Hengdang), Yung-an (Yong'an), Kung-ku (Gonggu), Chen-yuan (Zhenyuan), Ching-yuan (Jingyuan), and Wei-yuan. Between September 1809 and January 1810,

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy (), also known as the Portuguese War Navy (''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'') or as the Portuguese Armada (''Armada Portuguesa''), is the navy of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Chartered in 1317 by King Dinis of Portugal, it is ...

ships based in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

defeated a group of Chinese pirates in the

Battle of the Tiger's Mouth The Battle of the Tiger's Mouth (; ) was a series of engagements between a Kingdom of Portugal, Portuguese flotilla stationed in Portuguese Macau, Macau, and the Red Flag Fleet of the Chinese pirate Ching Shih, led by her second-in-command, Cheu ...

. The first major battle of the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

between the United Kingdom and China occurred at the entrance of the Humen in the First Battle of Chuenpi on 3 November 1839. The British captured the Bogue forts in the

Second Battle of Chuenpi The Second Battle of Chuenpi () was fought between British and Chinese forces in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong province, China, on 7January 1841 during the First Opium War. The British launched an amphibious attack at the Humen strait (Bogu ...

on 7 January 1841 and the

Battle of the Bogue The Battle of the Bogue () was fought between British and Chinese forces in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong province, China, on 23–26 February 1841 during the First Opium War. The British launched an amphibious attack at the Humen strait ...

on 23–26 February. The forts were recaptured on 2 April 1847 during the British

Expedition to Canton The Expedition to Canton was a British punitive expedition that captured the forts along the Pearl River, Guangdong province, China, on 2–3 April 1847. Beginning at the Humen Strait (Bogue), the British captured the forts leading up to the city ...

. In the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...

, the British recaptured the forts in the 1856 Battle of the Bogue on 12–13 November.

Geography

*Eastern shore:

Dongguan Dongguan,; pinyin: alternately romanized via Cantonese as Tungkun, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou t ...

City *Western shore: the

Nansha District Nansha District may refer to: * Nansha District, Sansha, a municipal district in Sansha, Hainan * Nansha, Guangzhou Nansha District and Nansha New Area is one of 11 urban districts and a state-level new area of the prefecture-level city of ...

of Guangzhou City *Upper and Lower Hengdang Islands (), or North and South Wangtong Islands, in the middle of the strait *

*Several Qing dynasty forts, including: **

Weiyuan Fort Weiyuan Fort () is a coastal-defense fort, now in ruins, in Humen, Dongguan city, Guangdong province, China. The fort was constructed in 1835 and was in use during the Opium Wars. The fort is situated immediately under the Humen Bridge. There w ...

(), near Humen Town **Shajiao Fort (), in Humen Town *Nansha Pier (), in the Nansha District, south of the Humen Bridge

Port of Humen

The Port of Humen at Humen Town serves as the port of the industrial city of Dongguan and as one of the big logistic hubs of the Pearl River Delta. It extends on the east shore of the delta beyond the strait all the way to the

Dongjiang River The Dong River is the easternmost main tributary of the Pearl River, flowing through Guangdong and Jiangxi in southern China. It's source is Mount Yajibo in Xunwu County in Jiangxi. Since 1960, water from the Dong has also been exported to ...

. It is divided into five port areas: *Shatian Port Area (): focuses on containers, chemicals, yard logistics, shoreline industry, and comprehensive trading services. *Mayong Port Area (): focuses on grain, vegetable oil, coal, construction materials, and break-bulk cargo. *Shajiao Port Area (): focuses on passenger transport, leisure boating, and coastal transport and cabotage. *Chang'an Port Area (): focuses on large-scale deep-water berths and the waterfront industry. *Neihe Port Area (): focuses on traditional waterborne transport services for the Dongguan industries. The port has of territorial waters and of jurisdictional area. The main navigation channel is deep, enough for vessels of 100,000 DWT. Originally called Taiping port, the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative authority of China, headed by the Premier * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of S ...

approved it as an open port in 1983. It was merged with the Shatian port in June 1997 and renamed Humen port.Yeung, Godfrey (2001). ''Foreign Investment and Socio-Economic Development: The Case of Dongguan''. New York: Palgrave. p. 97. .

Notes

References

*Taylor, Isaac (1898).
Names and Their Histories: A Handbook of Historical Geography and Topographical Nomenclature
' (2nd ed.). London: Rivingtons.

External links

Satellite view of Bocca Tigris on Google maps
* , painted by

Clarkson Frederick Stanfield Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (3 December 179318 May 1867) was an English painter best known for his large-scale paintings of marine art and landscapes. He was the father of the painter George Clarkson Stanfield and the composer Francis Stanfi ...

and engraved by

Edward Goodall Edward Goodall (1795 – 11 April 1870) was a British engraver. He is now best known for his plates after J. M. W. Turner. Life He was born at Leeds on 17 September 1795, and was entirely self-taught. From the age of sixteen he practised both en ...

for Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832, with a poetical illustration by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. Landon's writings are emblematic of the transition from Romanticism to Victorian literature. Her first major b ...

, ''The Pirate's Song off Tiger Island''. {{Ports of China Bodies of water of Guangdong Pearl River (China) Pearl River Delta Straits of China