The Wanshan Archipelago, formerly known as the Ladrones Islands, is a 104-
island
An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
that is a part of
Xiangzhou District in
Zhuhai
Zhuhai; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Jyūhói''; Chinese postal romanization, also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern ...
,
Guangdong Province,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.
Administration
Most of the islands of the archipelago are in the () which consist of three towns: Guishan Town (), Dangan Town () and Wanshan Town ().
Before was created in 1953, the islands were part of
Po-On County.
Geography
The islands are situated in 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 ...
, to the south of the opening of the
Pearl River estuary and
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
.
The archipelago includes several groups of islands. The western group, located south of the Pearl River estuary and
Lantau Island
Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao or Lan Tau) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the ...
, was formerly known to Europeans as the Ladrones, from the
Spanish for "
thieves". It comprises
Greater Wanshan, Guishan, and Wai Dangling Islands and the Zhizhou, Sanmen, and Aizhou groups. The eastern group, located south of
Hong Kong Island
Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...
, was known as the Lema Islands. Today, they are known as the
Jiapeng Liedao and Dangan Liedao, respectively.
The largest island, Dangan, features mountainous terrain similar to Hong Kong.
List of islands

Islands of the archipelago include:
Dangan Liedao (), the eastern group of Wanshan archipelago, and the eastern half of the former Lema Islands chain
* Dangan Dao (), 13.2 km
2 in area and the largest of the islands; 200 permanent residents mainly along Zhangmu Bay and Hengkeng.
* Erzhou Dao (), 8.15 km
2
* Zhiwan Dao (), 4.5 km
2
* Xidan Dao (), 0.85 km
2
Jiapeng Liedao (), the southern group of Wanshan archipelago, and the western half of the former Lema Islands chain
* Eyan Shi Dao (, O-yen Shih). A 39 m high islet about north of Beijian Dao.
* Beijian Dao (), 3.17 km
2. Two peaks rising almost perpendicularly to a height of 300 m on the southwestern end of the island, are known as Asses' Ears.
* Miaowan Dao (), 1.46 km
2 in area.
240 m high.
It has a small population of fishermen.
* Shan Zhou (), 0.16 km
2
* Wanzhou Dao ()
* Huangmao Zhou ()
* Ping Zhou (), 0.144 km
2
* Wenwei Zhou (, also Gap Rock in English), 0.022 km
2. The small island is in the form of two hillocks, about high, and the island derives its English name from the gap between them. The () on the island was built to serve as a navigation aid to vessels sailing to Hong Kong. It was built by a Hong Kong contractor and partly funded by the Imperial
Qing
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 ...
Government for both construction and maintenance costs. Besides the lighthouse it had separate European and living quarters, telegraph and storage rooms. It came into operation in 1892 under Hong Kong control (island still under Chinese sovereignty) staffed by British lighthouse keeper and assistants. The lighthouse lenses and windows were damaged by typhoons in
1893 and
1905, the keepers eventually abandoned the site, civil war in China left it in ruins by the 1930s and 1940s. Taken over in by the
Communists in Beijing, lighthouse was restored in 1986 with solar panels and fully automated.
Southwestern group:
*
Dawanshan Dao (), 8.07 km
2. The seat of Wanshan Town () of Zhuhai is located on the island
*
Xiaowanshan Dao (), 4.35 km
2.
[Zhuhai Municipality website]
Xiaowanshan Dao
* Baili Dao (), 7.94 km
2
* Dong'ao Dao (), 4.62 km
2 in area with population of 500.
Club Med
Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily ow ...
opened a holiday resort on the island in 2014.
* Heng Zhou (), 0.54 km
2
* Zhu Zhou (), 1.66 km
2
* Gui Zhou (), 0.32 km
2
* Dalie Dao (), 0.36 km
2
* Huangmao Dao (), 1.08 km
2

Central group, located south of
Lantau:
* Wai Lingding Dao (), 3.7 km
2 in area and a tourist attraction with natural sites (Dangandao Provincial Nature Reserve) and temples. The seat of Dangan Town () of Zhuhai is located on the island
* Sanmen Liedao ()
** Hei Zhou ()
** Henggang Dao (), 0.74 km
2
** Sanmen Dao (), 0.98 km
2
** Sanmen Zhou ()
** Yuangang Dao (), 0.016 km
2
** Zhuwantou Dao (), 0.33 km
2
* Aizhou Liedao ()
** Ai Zhou (), 1.2 km
2
** Ai Zhou Zi (), 0.6 km
2

Northwestern group, located between
Lantau and
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 ...
:
* Zhizhou Liedao ()
** Dazhi Zhou (), 1.67 km
2
** Xiaozhi Zhou (), 1.2 km
2
*
Guishan Dao () – formerly
PLA base from the 1950s. The seat of Guishan Town () of Zhuhai is located on the island
* Niutou Dao (), 1.1 km
2. Connected by a road to Guishan Dao
* Zhongxin Zhou (), 0.6 km
2
* Chitou Dao (), 0.17 km
2
* Sanjiaoshan Dao (), 0.82 km
2
* Qing Zhou ()
* Sanjiao Zhou
* Jishiling Pai ()
* Dalu Dao ()
* Datou Zhou ()
Other geographical elements
Other geographically important points of interest:
* Lema Channel is a major waterway in the archipelago.
* Dahengqin Dao is an island off Macau and not part of this archipelago.
* Erzhou, rising to 437.7 m above sea level, is the highest point in the archipelago
Population
There is a small local population, mostly in small fishing villages:
* Dangan
* Danganwei
* Nacun
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
Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily ow ...
opened a holiday resort on Dong'ao in 2014.
There is also potential for petroleum extraction in the waters off the islands.
Tourist sites
Tourist sites of Wanshan Archipelago include:
* Dong'ao: Blundbuss Tower; Son-Soliciting Springs
* Dangan: Dangan Village
* Guishan: Monument to the Martyrs of Guishan Warship;
Wen Tianxiang Park
* Miaowan: Xiafeng Bay, a coral beach adjacent to the fishing village.
*
Wanshan:
A-Ma Temple; Floating Cobbles Bay
Transport
* Ferry service from
Zhuhai
Zhuhai; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Jyūhói''; Chinese postal romanization, also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern ...
to
Guishan, Wai Lingding, Dan'gan, Dong'ao and Wanshan
* Fast/slow ferry service to Guishan, Wai Lingding, Xiangzhou
* Sightseeing ferryboats from Zhuhai
See also
*
Wanshan Archipelago Campaign
*
Guishan Offshore Windfarm
*
Pirates of the South China Coast (18th–19th century)
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
* The Atlas of Guangdong (), published by (Xingzhu Ditu Chubanshe), 2007. .
Further reading
*
External links
Aerial image of the islands (Google map)Interactive map with the name of most islandsMap of the archipelago
Website of the Wanshan Marine Development Experimental Zone
{{authority control
Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean
Archipelagoes of China
Populated places in China
Islands of Guangdong
Islands of China