Naozhou Island ( zh, s=硇洲岛, p=Náozhōu Dǎo) (Nao Chow) is an island in

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 Phil ...

. Administratively, the island is organized as Naozhou Town ( 硇洲镇) within Mazhang District of

Zhanjiang Zhanjiang (), historically spelled Tsamkong, is a prefecture-level city at the southwestern end of Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, facing Haikou city to the south. As of the 2020 census, its population was 6,981,236 (6,994,832 ...

City of

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 of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Geography

Naozhou Island is a fairly small rocky island (10 km long by 6 km across). It is located near the southeastern corner of the larger

Donghai Island Donghai Island (; french: Île de Tan-Hai) (Tunghai) is an island in the southeast part of the urban area of Zhanjiang, Guangdong, People's Republic of China. It has a coastline of , with a total area of , making it the largest island in Guangdong ...

, to which it is connected by a ferry line. Naozhou is described as China's largest island of volcanic origin.The Naozhou Island
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History

Naozhou's early recorded history is fairly sparse. 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 ...

, the island was included into Wuchuan County. According to a 1684 report, the island's population had been evacuated to the mainland some years earlier, as part of the Qing's campaign against the Taiwan-based

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning (), also known as Tywan by the British at the time, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly Han Chinese state in Ta ...

. Since 1704, Qing troops were stationed in the island as part of anti-pirate operations. From 1899 to 1945, Naozhou Island was part of the French leased territory

Guangzhouwan The Leased Territory of Guangzhouwan, officially the , was a territory on the coast of Zhanjiang in China leased to France and administered by French Indochina. The capital of the territory was Fort-Bayard, present-day Zhanjiang. The Japan ...

. French maps and documents referred to the island as Nao-Tchéo or Nau-Chau. The French had a lighthouse constructed near the island's highest point. The Naozhou Lighthouse ( 硇洲灯塔) still exists; it is included into the List of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites.

References

External links

Islands of Guangdong Zhanjiang {{Guangdong-geo-stub