How to know Xisha Islands?

China has a long winding coastline, many islands and rich tourism resources. With the continuous improvement of people's living standards, marine tourism facilities and projects are gradually increasing. People's dream of traveling to the island has become a reality, and the close contact between human beings and the ocean has become easier and easier.

In October, 25, chinese national geography magazine and 34 national media * * * jointly held the "The Most Beautiful Place in China" selection activity, and conducted a grand beauty contest on China's natural and human landscape, among which the selection of the top ten most beautiful islands was one. In the end, Xisha Islands won the first place among the top ten most beautiful islands with its unique tropical scenery.

On the southeast sea 31 kilometers away from Hainan Island, there is an island like a lotus flower, with pearls floating in the blue waves, which is the desirable and mysterious Xisha Islands.

There are many coral reefs in Xisha Islands, including 8 atolls, 1 platform reef and 1 submerged beach. The dry reef body area is 1,836.4 square kilometers, including 221.6 square kilometers of reef flats and 1,614.8 square kilometers of reef lakes. There are 28 grey sand islands developed on atolls and platform reefs, and there is also an early Pleistocene volcanic breccia island named Gaojianshi in Dongdao Atoll.

Xisha Islands

Xisha Islands have the largest number of islands among the South China Sea islands in China, with the largest island area (Yongxing Island) and the highest altitude (Shidao). It is the only rock island cemented with rocks (Shidao is a late Pleistocene dune rock) and the only abiogenic island (high-pointed stone), with the largest total land area (more than 8 square kilometers).

The best time to go to Xisha is from October to August, but from June to September, there will be typhoon and heavy rain, and the sea waves will be very big, which will greatly affect the ship's driving and make it unsuitable for traveling.

the Xisha islands are roughly bounded by 112 east longitude, and are divided into two groups: the east and the west. The west group is Yongle Islands and the east group is Xuande Islands. The Yongle Islands in the Western Group include five atolls, namely, North Reef, Yongle Atoll, Yuzhuo Reef, Huaguang Reef and Panshiyu, and the Taiwan Reef of Zhongjian Island. Among them, there are 13 small islands, such as Treasure Island, Basket Shazhou, Ganquan Island, Coral Island, Quanfu Island, Yagong Island, Yinyu Island, Yinyuzai Island, Xianshe Island, Shiyu Island, Jinqing Island, Chenhang Island and Guangjin Island, on the Yongatoll. The Xuande Islands in the East Group include three atolls, namely Xuande Atoll, Dongdao Atoll and Langhua Reef, and one submerged reef (Shuizhu Beach). Among them, Xuande Atoll has 12 small islands, including Xishazhou, Zhaoshu Island, Beidao, Zhongdao, Nanshao Island, Beishazhou, Zhongshazhou, Nanshahou, Dongxin Shazhou, Xixin Shazhou, Yongxing Island and Shidao, and Dongdao Atoll has 12 small islands.

Xuande Atoll and Dongdao Atoll in Xuande Islands are underdeveloped, with only a few reefs. Yongle Atoll is the largest atoll with a large number of islands and a large shallow water area in the lagoon, which is rich in fishery resources. It is an important fishery base and fishermen's residence in Xisha.

yongxing island

located in the middle of Xisha islands, yongxing island is a typical tropical scenery with rows of coconut trees and beautiful scenery. Because of its superior location, it is now the office location of the Working Committee and Office of Southwest zhongsha islands. When the supply ship Qiongsha No.3 arrives in Yongxing Island every month, people all over the island will go to the dock to unload chickens, ducks, pigs, vegetables, mail and other materials. It can be said that people are very happy on the island like a festival. The center of the island is Beijing Road, where there are offices such as banks, hospitals, grain depots, post offices, small supermarkets, aquatic products and China Mobile Company. Next to the sidewalk is a neat coconut tree with a green lawn under it, and the environment is quite neat.

There is the southernmost post office in China on Beijing Road, where the postmark is very precious. It's best to write several letters on the ship to Yongxing Island, and post them at the post office as soon as you arrive at Yongxing Island, so that the supply ship will take them away the next day. If you miss this ship, you will have to wait another month to be posted. The commemorative significance of this letter is self-evident.

There is a large airport and two wharves with 5-ton berths on the island, and there is a fishery supply base. It is 337 kilometers away from Yulin Port in the northwest and 344 kilometers away from Qinglan Port, which is the main waterway connecting Hainan Island to southwest zhongsha islands.

Shidao is located about 1 meters northeast of Yongxing Island, on the same reef as Yongxing Island, with a stone passage between it, where cars can drive at low tide. Shidao Island is irregular in shape, so it is named because there are few trees and bare rocks. The sea erosion around the island is clearly preserved, the karst landform is obvious and the ground fluctuates. The rocks on the island are steep, the rocks are steep, the caves are varied and the scenery is picturesque. In particular, the cliffs of "Eagle Mouth Cliff" and "Tiger Head Rock" stand out and point to the sky. The steep waves under the cliffs beat the shore, and the white waves are extremely spectacular, which is a good place for tourists to take pictures and stop. Shidao is a small island with an area of only .8 square kilometers, but it is 15.9 meters above sea level. It is the tallest island in the South China Sea and a lookout for tourists to enjoy the sea scenery. As night falls, the moonlight is like washing. Visitors can also watch the pebbles on the seabed and the fish swimming in it. The beautifully striped shells, conchs and the shells of small marine animals are all kinds of strange and colorful. The clear sea water and the vivid life on the sea floor make tourists fondle it.

Zhaoshu Island

is located in the southwest of Yongxing Island, with a distance of 15 kilometers. It is an island in Qilianyu, with a pipa shape and beach rocks on the east, north and south. The island is covered with plants such as Pittosporum, and the trees are lush. There are lighthouses, tile houses and reservoirs in the west. In 1935, it was announced as "Tree Island". When the name was announced in 1947 and 1983, it was changed to "Zhaoshu Island", which was named in memory of Zhao Shu, the envoy of Ming Taizu, who went to Sanfo Qi State. Fishermen in Hainan, China, are commonly called "the island where the ship is hidden" or "the island where the ship is late", which means that ships can come to this island to take shelter from the wind after dark. The tropical natural scenery on the island is unique. The seawater here is crystal clear, and the beach is white and clean, which is even whiter than the beach on Australia's Gold Coast. The sea water here is so clear and blue that the whole sea looks like a huge dark blue satin stretching, and the feeling of intoxication can't help but arise in the middle of this blue color.

In the water, you can also see clusters of corals as beautiful as blooming flowers, including golden antler corals, snow-white sunflower corals and bright red corals. Colorful fish swam around in droves, and the scene was strange. It is very good to watch the sunset on the island. The sunset glow fills the sky, the sea is vast, the homing birds fly by the sunset, and the waves beat against the cliff. This artistic conception is intoxicating.

East Island

East Island Scenery East Island is located on the east side of the Xisha Islands, 44 kilometers away from Yongxing Island. It is composed of rising reef rocks, corals, shells and sand bodies, and is the second largest island in the Xisha Islands. The average altitude is 4 ~ 5 meters. There are many kinds of plants in different communities and different ecosystems on the island, with dense forests, including contiguous wind-resistant tung trees and coastal tung trees, flower-bed-shaped silver-haired shrubs, purslane and other herbs and rock vegetation of Daphne genkwa. The vegetation density is over 7%, and it is known as the "beautiful sea". There are hundreds of thousands of seabirds living in the forest, among which the white-bellied and red-footed boobies are the most precious, and they are listed as national rare protected animals, and a seabird nature reserve has been established. There are also dozens of wild cattle that feed on weeds and wind-resistant tung leaves, which are protected together with boobies. When you board the East Island, you can see the special spectacle of a large group of seabirds when they leave early and return late, and the charming scene of white boobies perching on trees like clusters of blooming wintersweet. Seabirds are not afraid of people, so visitors can take photos with them and enjoy the fun of "seabird paradise". Dongdao is also known as the "place name fossil", and the change of island name has historical characteristics. When Lee Joon visited the sea in the late Qing Dynasty, it was named "Fengrun Island" after the native place of Guangdong Governor Zhang Renjun. In 1935, it was announced as "Linkong Island"; In 1947, it was renamed "Hewu Island" to commemorate Pan Hewu, the leader of the uprising against Spanish colonists in the Philippines at the end of the 16th century. In 1983, when China officially announced the standard place name, it was changed to "East Island".

Zhongjian Island

Zhongjian Island is the third largest island in the Xisha Islands, 139 kilometers away from Yongxing Island, with an area of 1.2 square kilometers. It is surrounded by a wide reef plate, surrounded by a reef ridge at the edge, and the middle part is a shallow-water internal reef flat covered with white coral sand. It is rich in artificial forests and rich in turtles, conchs and seabirds, so it has the reputation of "snail island" and "turtle cradle".

The island name of Zhongjian Island is to commemorate the fact that the Chinese government sent the warship Zhongjian to receive the Xisha Islands after War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's victory. There is an American merchant ship in the coastal waters of the island, which has a history of several decades, and there is also a gun tower on the island. Zhongjian Island was originally a desert island and was called "Gobi in the South China Sea". In the 198s, the PLA troops stationed on the island brought soil and saplings from Hainan Island and planted trees vigorously, turning it into an "oasis in the South China Sea". Therefore, if you want to see the ecological landscape of the Red Base in the South China Sea, read the history of Xisha Islands and receive ideological education, Xisha Islands is the first choice.

Yinyu

Yinyu is located on a crescent-shaped reef plate, covered with coral sand, with a shallow dish in the middle, where seagulls flock all the year round, including birds such as black-pillow gull, crested tern and black tern, and is known as the "seagull kingdom".

Miaodao Archipelago

In addition, there are more than 1 islands, such as the North Island of Seabird Paradise, the Middle Island and the South Island of Turtle Paradise, the Antelope Reef of Coral Garden, and more than 1 islands with special landforms and ecology, such as North Shazhou, Middle Shazhou, South Shazhou, Xixin Shazhou, Sanzhizai, Quanfu Island and Yagong Island. The natural scenery is also of great value for eco-tourism development. Other projects that can be developed include surfing, rowing, sea swimming, bathing, sand skiing, sea entertainment and so on; Tourism modes include sightseeing, exploration and sea bath, sunbathing and air bath.

Chenhang Island

There is a revolutionary martyrs cemetery on Chenhang Island, which is named to commemorate the "Chenhang Ship" that came here in the late Qing Dynasty. It is also an island with a central depression and surrounded by sand dikes. It is a curved triangle with an area of about .43 square kilometers. The middle of the island is flat, and there are two shallow lakes surrounded by gravel dikes. There are wells dug in the middle of the island, but they are not drinkable. At present, the shallow lake has been filled, but some of it still has accumulated water. It is a breeding ground for mosquitoes in summer, and the bird droppings in the lake area are thick, soft and easy to sink. Because the embankment around the lagoon is made of coral gravel, which is highly permeable, seawater can penetrate into the shallow lake at high tide, making the lake salty. Today, the gravel dike by the lake is still low, with a height of only 2 meters. A super typhoon can set off huge waves, open the gravel dike and form a gap. In the northwest corner and northeast corner of the island, fishermen once built two small stone temples, which have been demolished. However, from the Guanyin statue of Ming Longquan kiln enshrined in the small temple in the northwest, we can know that fishermen have come here to fish in the Ming Dynasty.

The two shallow lakes in the central part of putuo island Island are large in the west, round in shape and about 2m in diameter, and small in the east, long in shape and about 8m in length, which are separated by a low sand dike. The sand dike around the island is the highest in the southeast, with 3 to 8 * * *, which gradually changes from sand dike to gravel dike, with a large number, but short and intermittent. The vegetation on the sand dike is mainly composed of Elaeagnus angustifolia, which is dense and difficult to cross. There is a coconut tree planted by fishermen near the lowland well, which is 2 meters high. Lianas, such as morning glory on the seashore, climb in the Yangjiao forest.

Coral Island

Coral Island, named after many corals, is slightly square and nearly elliptical, with an area of .31 square kilometers. In the first year of Qing Xuantong (199), when Lee Joon was patrolling the sea, he found that there were many corals on this island, which was named Coral Island. Fishermen in China call themselves Laoroudao and Laorouzhi. Located 2 nautical miles southwest of Coral Island in the South China Sea, it is the southernmost provincial cultural relics protection site in China.

The beach around Coral Island is rich in shrubs and bird droppings, making it one of the richest phosphate islands in Yongle Islands. The existence of guano layer indicates that there were many trees here in the past. There are also artificially planted Casuarina equisetifolia and coconut trees on the island, and there is a well in the middle. Next to the coconut trees, the water is sweet and drinkable, while the well water in the west is polluted by bird droppings, which smells bad and cannot be drunk.

Coral Island was developed by Chinese people long ago. Today, porcelain of the Qing Dynasty is found everywhere on the island, and there are many daily utensils, such as blue glazed porcelain bowls and cups. There is a small temple in the building, which was built at the southwest end of the island for fishermen in Tanmen, Zhuhai in 1934, and contains a stone statue. Because of its good geographical location and well water, the island was coveted by outsiders, occupied by the French in 1938, and then captured by Japan. In January 1947, French naval forces landed on the island again, and only after our protest did they withdraw. In April 1956, Vietnam occupied the island again, and it was not until January 1974 that China regained the island.

Coral Island Scenery At present, there are meteorological stations, navigation docks and so on. The island's geographical location, waterways and Jing Quan are the best in Yongle Islands, and its waters are also rich in aquatic products. At least 3 PLA officers and men are stationed on Coral Island.

Ganquan Island

Ganquan Island, with an area of only .3 square kilometers, is 8 meters long from north to south, 46 meters wide from east to west, and 8 meters high, is oval. Fishermen in China call it "Yuanzhi" and "Round Island", which is famous for its well water in Ganquan.

In p>199, when Lee Joon, the governor of Guangdong Navy, visited the sea, he found that there were two fresh water wells in the central lowland of this island, and their springs were sweet and drinkable. That is to say, "I have got fresh water, and my food is so sweet that I can't dig the ground but taste it, and the fruit is so sweet, so I named it" Ganquan Island ".

In the two archaeological investigations of Ganquan Island in March 1974 and 1975, the residential sites of the Tang and Song Dynasties were discovered twice at the inner side of the sand embankment at the northwest end of the island. Archaeologists found a small brick wall temple built by fishermen in the Tang and Song Dynasties in the northwest of the island, and there were as many as 13 small temples built of coral stones. More than 5 pieces of daily life ceramics have been unearthed, including Tang Dynasty blue glazed pottery ear jar and rolled jar, Song Dynasty blue and white glazed bottle, four series small jar, blue glazed bowl, carved bowl, lotus bowl, protruding lip bowl and powder box. Their texture, Lin Jinyu and Nanqi Island styles and colors are similar to those previously unearthed in Guangzhou West Village kiln site. In addition, iron knives, iron chisels and other production tools were unearthed, and several pieces of Tang Dynasty cookware iron pot fragments, Song Dynasty argillaceous gray-brown pottery mortar fragments and several Song and Ming Dynasty copper coins were collected. From this, archaeologists infer that the ancestors of the Tang Dynasty were the first to use the fresh water on the island, and the owners who used these utensils were also the earliest residents of Xisha Islands. They may be immigrants who moved to the mainland of Guangdong.

In p>1994, the residential site of the Tang and Song Dynasties in Ganquan Island was identified as the first batch of provincial-level cultural relics protection units by the Hainan provincial government. In 1996, during the general survey of cultural relics in Xisha, archaeologists specially set up a stone tablet next to the site, "Tang and Song Ruins of Ganquan Island in Xisha", which is the first cultural relic protection monument set up by China in the South China Sea.

Treasure Island

Treasure Island is about 1,275 meters long and 56 meters wide. The sandbars around it are 2 meters higher than those in the middle. The middle depression forms a lagoon, with several wells and potable water. The eastern end of the sand dike belt is vast, and it extends eastward in the shape of a sharp mouth. Treasure Island is actually a sand island on the reef plate in the west of a small atoll, with two small sandbars in the southeast and three small sandbars in the southwest. There is a shallow lake in the middle of this small atoll, separated by a shallow lake, and there are four sandbars on the reef plate in the northeast. The shallow lake is not closed like antelope reef, but has a gap in the southwest, where boats and sailboats can enter. At low tide, the reef plate is shallow and people can walk in it. Every time the sandbar is flooded in the spring tide, trees are not born, but only salty water plants grow. Trees only appear on Treasure Island, where white frost-avoiding flowers and pittosporum are clustered and dense, so the island is rich in bird droppings. The artificially planted begonia tree on the island is already very tall, and there are wells under it. Well water is available for drinking, but it is not pleasant.

Treasure Island has a long history of development. On the island, there are porcelain plates of Longquan kiln with blue glaze in Yuan Dynasty, blue-and-white plates, blue-and-white glazed pots and blue-and-white phoenix plates in Ming Dynasty, flower bowls and blue-and-white dragon pattern jars in Qing Dynasty, and other cultural relics on the island.