Wanzai, Small Hengqin and Great Hengqin (Portuguese names: Lapa, Dom João and Montanha) are three islands located to the west of the Macau Peninsula and the Macau islands of

Taipa Taipa ( zh, t=氹仔, ; , ) is an area in Macau, connected to Coloane through the area known as Cotai, which is largely built from reclaimed land. Located on the northern half of the island, Taipa's population is mostly suburban. Administrativ ...

and Coloane that were under Portuguese influence. They were inhabited by a small Chinese population in its early history. Two of them have since been combined via

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

to form the current

Hengqin Hengqin (, ) is an island that lies mostly in Zhuhai, a prefecture-level city and special economic zone in Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China. It has a population of about 3,000. Parts of Hengqin are leased to Macau by the S ...

island. The water channels between Small Hengqin, Great Hengqin, Taipa, and Coloane used to be known as Shizimen Channel (literally "cross gate") in Chinese, due to the plus sign-shaped arrangement of water channels between the four islands. A number of maritime battle occurred over the area in the past, but the water channel now disappeared due to land reclamation connecting Small Hengqin with Great Hengqin and connecting Taipa with Coloane. However the name "Shizimen" is still retained as a district name on the merged Hengqin island.

History

In some historical registers, the Portuguese presence on the islands dates back to the end of the 17th century when a group of missionaries established themselves on this island. According to historical records, the Portuguese presence on the island of Lapa dates back to 1645, when a

mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

from Canton (Guangzhou) authorised the burial of the Jesuit priest João Rodrigues in recognition of his service. Augustinian and Dominican missionaries also settled on this island, which appears in some ancient maps under the name of Patera Island, whose etymology is "Island of the priests" (D. João was called "Macarira", as seen in the 1912 map above). The exact date of abandonment of these facilities is not clear, but they were mentioned in a letter addressed to the government of Goa, dated 1764. During the 19th century, Portuguese missionaries also began to populate and evangelise the other two islands. The Macau government also began to collect taxes from the populations of these three islands in exchange for protection as these islands were not protected by Chinese soldiers. The Portuguese built a

leper colony A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...

on the island of Dom João and some schools to educate the few Chinese residents on the islands. Followed by the Japanese invasion of China in 1938, the Portuguese officially occupied these three islands, with an excuse to better protect Portuguese missionaries residing there. In 1941, the Japanese Army threatened the Portuguese troops to force abandonment of these sparsely populated islands. Consequently, these islands were occupied by

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. At the end of World War II, China was able to reoccupy the three islands. Today, they are an incorporation of the

Special Economic Zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

Zhuhai Zhuhai; Yale romanization of Cantonese, Yale: ''Jyūhói''; Chinese postal romanization, also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. The islands of Dom João and Montanha are now connected by an embankment that joins the two islands. This island was given the Chinese name,

. The Lotus Bridge makes the connection between Hengqin of Guangdong province and

Cotai Cotai ( zh, t=路氹城, cy=Louhtáhm Sìhng; ) is a piece of land reclamation, reclaimed land on the top of the Seac Pai Bay between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau that has connected two independent islands since 2005. The name, which is ...

of Macau Special Administrative Region. The island of Lapa, established from

became a peninsula connected to the "mainland". There are proposals to develop sparsely populated Hengqin into a tourist area with many hotels and luxury resorts. Hengqin has recently begun to experience major development with new residential areas.

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

, due to lack of land, expressed their desire to annex the island of Hengqin to the Chinese Central Government, which was subsequently denied by Beijing. However, on September 1, 2005, the Central Government allowed entrepreneurs from Macau and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

to be exempt from the payment of some taxes and fees. The CPG also allowed greater flexibility in controlling migration to the island to promote investment.

Former islands

Wanzai

Wanzai () was an island in the Xiangzhou District of the city of Zhuhai in Guangdong, China. It is adjacent to the Macau Peninsula of

. The Portuguese called the island Lapa. Wanzai area in the east side of Ilha de Lapa was under Portuguese control from 1849 to 1887. It was located across the "Inner Harbour" (Qianshan Waterway) from Macau. In a 1700 map, the island has a defensive battery and manufacturing facility.

Small Hengqin

Small Hengqin () was a Chinese island adjacent to

that has since and has become the northern part of

. After land reclamation, only a swampy creek called "Central Creek" () separates Small Hengqin from Great Hengqin. The Portuguese called it Dom João.

Great Hengqin

Great Hengqin () was a Chinese island adjacent to Coloane of

that has since has become the southern part of the combined

island. The Portuguese called it Montanha.

References