Zhoushan Islands
| Zhoushan Islands | ||
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| Waters | East China Sea | |
| Geographical location | 30 ° 2 ′ N , 122 ° 10 ′ E | |
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| Number of islands | about 600 | |
| Main island | Zhoushan | |
| Total land area | 1440 km² | |
| Residents | 985,000 (2003) | |
The Zhoushan Islands ( Chinese舟山 群岛) are located in the southeast Chinese province of Zhejiang , east of Hangzhou Bay in northeast Zhejiang and near Shanghai . 985,000 people (2003) live in an area of 1,440 square kilometers.
The Zhoushan Islands form the prefecture-level city of Zhoushan (舟山 市).
Islands
The Zhoushan archipelago is the largest archipelago in China. 103 islands are inhabited, of which only 15 have a population of over 10,000. These more populated islands are mostly in the south and are not far from each other. 58 islands are larger than one square kilometer and make up a total of 96.9% of the total area of the archipelago.
Some of these larger islands are:
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history
The archipelago has been inhabited for 6000 years. It was previously called Yongdong (涌 东) and belonged to the state of Yue .
In 863, the Japanese monks Hui'e (慧 锷) and Zhang-shi (张氏) erected a statue of Guanyin at the Chaoying Cave (潮音洞) on Putuoshan . This place later became a famous tourist attraction.
During the Ming Dynasty , Zhoushan was occupied by the Japanese and served as an important trading post.
In the First Opium War (1840 and 1841) conquered the UK the archipelago. It was only returned in 1846 and until then served as a guarantee for the fulfillment of the Nanjing Peace Agreement . It was reoccupied by the British in 1860 during the Second Opium War .
In 1862, Wang Yijun (王义钧), who was a supporter of the Taiping Uprising , tried to conquer Zhoushan but lost to the Qing Army and fell in battle.
Sun Yat-sen visited Zhoushan on August 25, 1916.
During World War II , Zhoushan was occupied by the Japanese. On October 1, 1942, the Japanese ship Lisbon Maru (里斯本 丸) was supposed to bring 1,800 prisoners of war to Tokyo , but was sunk by a submarine near Qingbing Island (青 浜). Fishermen from Dongji Township (d 东 极 乡) rescued 384 British prisoners of war.
