Zhongsha Islands

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The Zhongsha Islands is a Chinese term for a collection of two skerries, many entirely submerged banks, seamounts, and shoals in the South China Sea. There are in fact, no islands in the Macclesfield Bank, the main part of Zhongsha. The Scarborough Shoal, which consists of two skerries, is not contiguous with the Macclesfield Bank but Chinese sources treat them as one chain of geographical features. The whole of the region is claimed by both the PRC and the ROC, and various bits of the eastern parts are claimed by the Philippines. No country has constant control of the whole region, and there are disputes - for example, see Scarborough Shoal standoff.

The PRC claim to administer the area as Zhongsha Daojiao Town, a town under Xisha District of the Sansha prefecture-level city in Hainan. It has one Village-level division, “Zhongsha Daojiao Residential Community”. However, the seat of this town and residential community is not within the Zhongsha Islets but, in Yongxing Town .

Aquaculture research has been conducted on Walker Shoal.^[1]

Geography

The Zhongsha Islets include:

To the west, near the Paracel Islands:

• Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Dao)
  • Walker Shoal (Manbu Ansha 漫步暗沙; 15°55′N 114°29′E / 15.917°N 114.483°E / 15.917; 114.483 (Scarborough Shoal))

To the east, near Luzon:

• Scarborough Shoal (Nanyan Dao 南巖島 or Huangyan Dao 黃岩島; 15°11′N 117°46′E / 15.183°N 117.767°E / 15.183; 117.767 (Scarborough Shoal))
  • Nanyan skerry
  • Beiyan skerry
• Truro Shoal (Sianfa Ansha or Shianfa Ansha 特魯暗沙; 16°20′N 116°44′E / 16.333°N 116.733°E / 16.333; 116.733 (Truro Shoal))

To the north:

• Helen Shoal (Itung Ansha or Yitong Ansha 一統暗沙; 19°12′N 113°53′E / 19.200°N 113.883°E / 19.200; 113.883 (Helen Shoal))
• Stewart Shoal (Ssu-ti-wa-erh-t'e Ansha 管事暗灘; 17°20′N 118°50′E / 17.333°N 118.833°E / 17.333; 118.833 (Stewart Shoal))
• Huangyan Seamount (黃岩海山; 15°7′N 117°51′E / 15.117°N 117.850°E / 15.117; 117.850 (Huangyan Seamount))
• Shixing Seamount (石星海山)
• Xianbei Seamount (憲北海山)
• Xiannan Seamount (憲南海山)
• Zhangzhong Seamount (漲中海山)
• Zhenbei Seamount (珍貝海山)

To the south, near the Spratly Islands:

• Dreyer Shoal (Zhongnan Ansha, 中南暗沙; 13°57′N 115°24′E / 13.950°N 115.400°E / 13.950; 115.400 (Dreyer Shoal))
• Zhongnan Seamount (中南海山)
• Longnan Seamount (龍南海山)
• Changlong Seamount (長龍海山)

References

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