Zhifu Island () or North Island (), is an

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...

with historical significance in

Shandong Province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizatio ...

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 ...

. The name of the islet ''Chefoo'' was generalized to mean the entire

Yantai Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...

region in older western literature.

Etymologies

Possibilities include: # "A Barrier in the Shape of a Magical Plant" #* ''Zhi'' is a magical and powerful plant, which the island's shape resembles #* ''Fu'' a barrier of ocean # A magical mountain name (significance unknown) #* From Qin Dynasty's Zhifu (), officially changed to the present character in late

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 ...

Administration

Administratively, Zhifu Island is a part of Dàtuǎn Village (), Xingfu Sub-district,

Zhifu District Zhifu District is an urban district of the prefecture-level city of Yantai in Shandong Province, China. Name As a separate city, Zhifu's name was variously romanized as Chefoo, and . Although this name was used for the city by foreigners prior ...

Yantai City Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on th ...

, Shandong Province. Dàtuǎn has a part on the mainland, where the offices and most residents are.

History

Archeological excavations have uncovered over 200 artifacts, including stone axes, and short axes (錛 : Bēn), pottery fragments, bone needles, and bone hairpins. These and

Carbon-14 Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...

dating indicated that the island has been settled since the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

period. People were buried here during the

Zhou Dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

, including

Duke Kang of Qi Duke Kang of Qi (; died 379 BC) was from 404 to 386 BC the titular ruler of the State of Qi during the early Warring States period of ancient China. His personal name was Lü Dai (呂貸), ancestral name Jiang ( 姜), and Duke Kang was his posthu ...

, who died on the island in 379 BC. The ruins of the cemetery still exist today. The Lord Yang Temple (陽主廟 ''Yángzhǔ Miào'') was built during the early Zhou Dynasty by rulers of the State of Qí in honor of Lord Yang, the fifth deity of the

Eight Divine Generals 8 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 8 or eight may also refer to: Years * AD 8, the eighth year of the AD era * 8 BC, the eighth year before the AD era Art *The Eight (Ashcan School), a group of twentieth century painters associated with the As ...

(). Because of a legend of a Mountain of Immortality, China's first emperor

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...

visited the island three times looking for the elixir.Aikman, David. (2006). Qi. Publishing Group. , . p 91. He left a couple of stone inscriptions that are still visible today: * During his second visit in 218 BC, he left the inscription: "Arrived at Fu, and carved the stone" (登之罘，刻石). * The last time he visited (210 BC) he wrote: "Came to Fu, saw an enormous stone, and shot one fish" (至之罘，見巨石，射殺一魚). Today, there are places like Shihuang Avenue (始皇道 Shihuang Dao), and Fish-shooting Tower (射魚台 Sheyu Tai) named after the emperor. Having failed to discover the elixir, Qin Shihuang dispatched the court sorcerer

Xu Fu Xu Fu (Hsu Fu; ) was a Chinese alchemist and explorer. He was born in 255 BC in Qi, an ancient Chinese state, and disappeared at sea in 210 BC. He served as a court sorcerer in Qin Dynasty China. Later, he was sent by Qin Shi Huang to the eas ...

from

, to sail away and find the

elixir of life The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means ...

with hundreds of men and women. After performing a ceremony in the Yangzhu Temple, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty also left an inscription in 94 BC: "Arrived at Zhifu, which floats on Great Ocean. Mountains call out '

Ten thousand years In various East Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean as well as Vietnamese, the phrase "Wànsuì", "Banzai", "Manse", and "Vạn tuế", literally meaning "ten thousand years" is used to wish long life, and is typically translate ...

!" (登芝罘，浮大海，山稱萬歲). Now, the island is mainly a tourist attraction where

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two she ...

s and

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...

s can be fished here in abundance.

Geography

Located in

Bohai Sea The Bohai Sea () is a marginal sea approximately in area on the east coast of Mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects to the east via the Bohai Strait. It has a mean depth of a ...

, the island is 4 km from Downtown Zhifu and is 10 km x 1 km. Part of Public Road No. 26 connects the western end of the island and the north part of the mainland peninsula. Originally, the island was disconnected from the mainland, but for a period of millennium of years, the sand and soil in the ocean floor built up a 600-metre wide pathway. Thus the island is called the "Mainland-connecting Island" in Chinese (); it could even be considered a small peninsula. The island's largest

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

is Laoye Mountain (老爺山 Lǎoyé Shān) at 294.1m. The Old Lady Stone (婆婆石 Pópó Shí) is on a cliff, at 43.49 metres above sea level, named because of its resemblance to a woman hugging the ocean waves. The southern part of the island is forested.

References

{{County-level divisions of Shandong Islands of Shandong Bohai Sea Yantai