South Bay, also known by other names, is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

and adjacent

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

near

Hengchun Hengchun is a Township (Taiwan), township located on the southern tip of the Hengchun Peninsula in Pingtung County, Taiwan. It is the southernmost township in Taiwan. Hengchun is also the only urban township in the southern part of Pingtung Coun ...

Pingtung County Pingtung () is a County (Taiwan), county located in southern Taiwan. It has a warm tropical monsoon climate and is known for its agriculture and tourism. Kenting National Park, Taiwan's oldest national park, is located in the county. The county ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It is part of

Kenting National Park Kenting National Park ( zh, c=墾丁國家公園, hp=Kěndīng Gúojiā Gōngyuán}), commonly known as Kenting ( zh, c=墾丁, hp=Kěndīng), is a national park located on the Hengchun Peninsula of Pingtung County, Taiwan, covering Hengchun, ...

Names

"South Bay" is a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of the bay's Chinese name, written in

traditional character Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages. In Taiwan, the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the ''Standard Form of N ...

s or in

simplified character Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write the Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in Ch ...

s. It is also known as the Nanwan, from the Chinese name's pronunciation in

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 ...

; as and as Gualiang or

History

The bay used to be a whaling area during the Japanese rule. It is still home to small fishing villages.

Geography

The bay is bound on the west by

Cape Maobitou Cape Maobitou is a cape in the township of Hengchun in Pingtung County, Taiwan. It lies within Kenting National Park and forms the western boundary of South Bay. It is one of the southernmost points on Taiwan Island, sits opposite to the Cape ...

and on the east by Cape Eluanbi. The beach has white sand and a length of around .

Facilities

The area around the beach provides facilities such as changing rooms, toilets, rental and sale of swimming equipment, restaurants and parking. Common activities at the beach and its surrounding areas are swimming, surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving etc.

Transportation

The beach is accessible by bus from Xinzuoying and

Kaohsiung Station Kaohsiung Main Station () is a railway and metro station in Sanmin District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan served by the Taiwan Railways Administration, Taiwan Railways and Kaohsiung Rapid Transit. It is one of four ''special class'' stations, the highest ...

s, run by the

Taiwan Railways Administration Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) was a governmental agency in Taiwan which operated Taiwan Railway from 1948 to 2023. It managed, maintained, and operated conventional passenger and freight Rail transport, railway services on of track. Pa ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . Beaches of Taiwan Landforms of Pingtung County Tourist attractions in Pingtung County Bays of Taiwan {{Taiwan-geo-stub