Yagong Island (; vi, Đảo Ba Ba) is an

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 ...

in the

Crescent Group The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...

(Yongle Qundao 永乐环礁) of the

Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng Sa, lit=Yellow Sand Archipelago), are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The archipelago includes about 130 small coral ...

, 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 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 Phi ...

. It is also known as "He Duck", (male duck), due to its shape. It is located a few hundred metres southwest of Observation Bank (Silver Islet, Yin Yu (), Bãi Xà Cừ) in the northeast of the Crescent Group. It is occupied by the PRC, and like all of the other Paracel islands, it is controlled by China (PRC) and claimed by

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

(ROC) and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It is administered as the "Yagong Community", a

village-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there a ...

of the Yongxing Dao Neighborhood Committee township-level division, in the county-level division of the

Xisha District Xisha District is the municipal district of Sansha, Hainan. It administers the islands and reefs of the disputed Paracel Islands The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands () and the Hoang Sa Archipelago ( vi, Quần đảo Hoàng ...

, of the Sansha prefecture-level city, in the

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

province. It has an area of just under 1 hectare () and a residential population of about 100 fishermen with solar power and a desalination plant. Prior to 2013 the island was a barren stretch of coral and clamshells surrounding a central lagoon, providing a temporary stopover and resting place for fishermen. In 2013 the PRC shipped 120 tonnes of soil, 200 tonnes of fresh water, coconut fibre, and 400 trees to the island as part of a Sansha-wide greening project. As of 2013, regular tourist visits were made to the island by a cruise line, which also supplies the 78 registered (in 2016) residents with groceries.

References

Paracel Islands Villages in China Disputed territories in Asia Territorial disputes of Vietnam Territorial disputes of China Territorial disputes of the Republic of China {{Hainan-geo-stub