The Humen, also Bocca Tigris or Bogue, is a narrow

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean chan ...

in the

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) 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-Ma ...

that separates Shiziyang 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, th ...

in the south near Humen Town in China's

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

Province. It is the site of the

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

'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 the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...

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

Name

The

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

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 Chinese and

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

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 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 (born August 19, 1969) is an American-Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994–2004). As well as starring in the short-lived television series '' St ...

, who later played a leading role in the opening of Japan 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 (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

(Canton), the strait was strongly fortified during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. 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 ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...

ships based in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

defeated a group of Chinese pirates in the Battle of the Tiger's Mouth. The first major battle of the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

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 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-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire#Britain's imperial ...

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

Geography

*Eastern shore: Humen Town in Dongguan City *Western shore: the

Nansha District Nansha District and Nansha New Area is one of 11 urban districts and a state-level new area of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. It is the home of the present-day port of Guangzhou, as well as ...

of Guangzhou City *Upper and Lower Hengdang Islands (), or North and South Wangtong Islands, in the middle of the strait * Humen Pearl River Bridge *Several Qing dynasty forts, including: ** Weiyuan Fort (), 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. 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 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
{{Ports of China Bodies of water of Guangdong Pearl River (China) Pearl River Delta Straits of China