Hengsha (横沙岛, Shanghainese: ''Waan So Tau'') is a low-lying

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

at the mouth of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

in eastern China. Together with the islands of Chongming and

Changxing () is a county of the prefecture-level city of Huzhou, in the northwest of Zhejiang province, China. Situated on the southwest shore of Lake Tai, it borders the provinces of Jiangsu to the north and Anhui to the west. It has a total area of an ...

, it forms

Chongming District Chongming District () is northernmost district of the provincial-level municipality of Shanghai. Chongming consists of three low-lying inhabited alluvial islands at the mouth of the Yangtze north of the Shanghai peninsula: Chongming, Changx ...

, the northernmost area of the provincial-level

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. Its population was 33,400 in 2008.

Name

''Heng'' is the horizontal, rightward stroke used in writing

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

, similar in form to a

dash The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. It is also used to mean "horizontal". It was applied to the island for the way it formerly stood athwart the mouth of the Yangtze, although time has now given it a round or heart-like shape and moved it in line with

History

Hengsha first emerged from the Yangtze in 1858. It began to be

reclaimed Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...

for agricultural purposes in 1886 or 1890. Hengsha Township was established in 1909. Between its formation and 1958, the island gradually expanded towards the northwest while receding to the southeast: together, these actions caused the island to "migrate" about in the direction of Changxing. Under the Republic, the island carried on an active trade in grains via junk. Hengsha was originally part of

Chuansha County Chuansha County (, was a county located in the east of Shanghai until it was fully absorbed by the previously split Pudong New Area in 1993. History Chuansha was originally part of Shanghai County until 1801 and fully upgraded into a county in 191 ...

, which later merged into

Pudong Pudong is a district of Shanghai located east of the Huangpu, the river which flows through central Shanghai. The name ''Pudong'' was originally applied to the Huangpu's east bank, directly across from the west bank or Puxi, the historic cit ...

. In 1958, the island was placed under Baoshan County, as its ferries operated from the harbor of

Wusong Wusong, formerly romanized as Woosung, is a subdistrict of Baoshan in northern Shanghai. Prior to the city's expansion, it was a separate port town located down the Huangpu River from Shanghai's urban core. Name Wusong is named for the Wus ...

at the mouth of the Huangpu. The island's wandering was ended by the erection of a seawall and stabilization of the banks around the island. The next year, it saw a major influx of population, including

boat people Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

who were organized into fishing brigades. During the

Down to the Countryside Movement The Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside Movement, often known simply as the Down to the Countryside Movement, was a policy instituted in the People's Republic of China between mid 1950s and 1978. As a result of what he perceived to ...

, many of the ''

sent-down youth The sent-down, rusticated, or "educated" youth (), also known as the ''zhiqing'', were the young people who—beginning in the 1950s until the end of the Cultural Revolution, willingly or under coercion—left the urban districts of the ...

'' from

travelled no further than Hengsha, where they assisted in reclamation, urban defense, and propaganda efforts. Hengsha was named among the first set of national tourist resorts ( t , s , p ''guójiā jí lǚyóu dùjià cūn'') by

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

in October 1992. Initial plans called for the construction of a

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

, although that was cancelled. In March 2002, the

Shanghai Municipal Government The Politics of Shanghai is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in the mainland of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In the last few decades the city has produced many of the country's eventu ...

approved plans to develop Hengsha as an international conference center and

forest park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China *Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fores ...

, with tree coverage over at least 70% of the island. In 2005, it was moved from the jurisdiction of Baoshan District to

Chongming County Chongming District () is northernmost district of the provincial-level municipality of Shanghai. Chongming consists of three low-lying inhabited alluvial islands at the mouth of the Yangtze north of the Shanghai peninsula: Chongming, Changxi ...

Geography

Hengsha is located in the channel of the

flowing south of Chongming and north of the districts of Baoshan and

immediately before its entrance into the East China Sea. Hengsha is the southeasternmost of the three islands of

, separated from Changxing to its west by the Hengsha Xiaogang Channel."Hengsha" in the ''Encyclopedia of Shanghai'', pp. 126 f.
Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers (Shanghai), 2010. Hosted by the Municipality of Shanghai. Hengsha is fairly round, with a height north-to-south of about and a breadth east-to-west of about .Office of Shanghai Chronicles. '"Dǎo, Shā"'', "Islands and Shoals" Shanghai Municipal Government (Shanghai), 2015. Accessed 12 Jan 2015. Constantly expanding, it covered about in 2010"Chongming County" in the ''Encyclopedia of Shanghai'', pp. 50 ff.
and had an average elevation of .

Land reclamation

Hengsha is the site of significant land reclamation works, with dykes constructed to its southeast in order to drain and fill approximately 100 square kilometers during the lifetime of the project.

Economy

The

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...

s of Hengsha are the center for Shanghai's production of

citrus fruit ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus ''Citrus'' is native to ...

s. Other crops include

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

, and

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

. Both freshwater and marine fishing are practiced, principally landing two kinds of

anchovy An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

. The island is also being developed for

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

and high-end resorts, including an international conference center, communities of low-density luxury villas, and

yacht club A yacht club is a sports club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

s. One of Shanghai's commercial cemeteries is located on the island and the Hengsha Xiaogang Channel is also used for

sea burial Burial at sea is the disposal of human remains in the ocean, normally from a ship or boat. It is regularly performed by navies, and is done by private citizens in many countries. Burial-at-sea services are conducted at many different location ...

s and the dispersing of ashes.

Government

Hengsha is administered as a single

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

, also named Hengsha. This is divided into 24

villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, including one fishing village. The main settlement is at Xinmin (, ''Xīnmín Jūwěihuì''). The others are: Xingsheng (, ''Xìngshèng Cūn''),
Zengchan (, ''Zēngchǎn Cūn''),
Gongping (, ''Gōngpíng Cūn''),
Hongqi (, ''Hóngqí Cūn''),
Dongbang (, ''Dōngbāng Cūn''),
Xinbeicun (, ''Xīnběicūn''),
Xinglong (, ''Xīnglóng Cūn''),
Fengle (, ''Fēnglè cūn''),
Xinchun (, ''Xīnchūn Cūn''),
Dongxing (, ''Dōngxìng Cūn''),
Xinlian (, ''Xīnlián Cūn''),
Huifeng (, ''Huìfēng Cūn''),
Xinyong (, ''Xīnyǒng Cūn''),
Minjian (, ''Mínjiàn Cūn''),
Minsheng (, ''Mínshēng Cūn''),
Yongfa (, ''Yǒngfā Cūn''),
Fumin (, ''Fùmín Cūn''),
Yongsheng (, ''Yǒngshèng Cūn''),
Donghai (, ''Dōnghǎi Cūn''),
Minxing (, ''Mínxīng Cūn''),
Jianghai (, ''Jiānghǎi Cūn''),
Minyong (, ''Mínyǒng Cūn''),
Mindong (, ''Míndōng Cūn''), and
Haihong (, ''Hǎihóng Cūn'').

Infrastructure

Unlike Chongming and

, Hengsha remains connected to the rest of Shanghai only by ferry service. There are plans for a small airport to be constructed.

In popular culture

Hengsha is one of the main settings of the 2011

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

'' Deus Ex: Human Revolution'', in which it is depicted as a major metropolitan area.

References

External links

* Chongming County'
official English-language website
* at Hudong Baike {{China topics, state=autocollapse Islands of Shanghai Chongming District Township-level divisions of Shanghai