The Zhongsha Islands is a Chinese term for a collection of two skerries, many entirely submerged banks, seamounts, and shoals 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 ...

. There are in fact, no islands in the Macclesfield Bank, the main part of Zhongsha. The

Scarborough Shoal Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc (in Spanish), Panatag Shoal ( fil, Kulumpol ng Panatag, lit=serene cluster), Huangyan Island ( Mandarin zh, c=黄岩岛, p=Huáng Yán Dǎo, l=yellow rock island), and Democracy Reef, are two ...

, which consists of two skerries, is not contiguous with the Macclesfield Bank but Chinese sources treat them as one chain of geographical features. The whole of the region is claimed by both the PRC and the ROC, and various bits of the eastern parts are claimed by the Philippines. No country has constant control of the whole region, and there are disputes - for example, see Scarborough Shoal standoff. The PRC claim to administer the area as Zhongsha Daojiao Town, a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

under

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 A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China ...

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 ...

. It has one

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 ...

, “Zhongsha Daojiao Residential Community”. However, the seat of this town and residential community is not within the Zhongsha Islets but, in Yongxing Town . Aquaculture research has been conducted on Walker Shoal.
Interesting article, but it makes NO mention of either Aquaculture research or Walker Shoal ...

Geography

The Zhongsha Islets include: To the west, near 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 ...

: * Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Dao) ** Walker Shoal (Manbu Ansha 漫步暗沙; ) To the east, near the Philippines: *

(Nanyan Dao 南巖島 or Huangyan Dao 黃岩島; ) ** Nanyan skerry ** Beiyan skerry * Truro Shoal (Sianfa Ansha or Shianfa Ansha 特魯暗沙; ) To the north: * Helen Shoal (Itung Ansha or Yitong Ansha 一統暗沙; ) * Stewart Shoal (Ssu-ti-wa-erh-t'e Ansha 管事暗灘; ) * Huangyan Seamount (; ) * Shixing Seamount () * Xianbei Seamount () * Xiannan Seamount () * Zhangzhong Seamount () * Zhenbei Seamount () To the south, near the

Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...

: * Dreyer Shoal (Zhongnan Ansha, 中南暗沙; ) * Zhongnan Seamount () * Longnan Seamount () * Changlong Seamount ()

References

Township-level divisions of Hainan Sansha {{Hainan-geo-stub