An 18,000-km mainland coastline, more than 11,000 islands, four seas of 4.73 million km² — from Bohai Bay to Zengmu Ansha, China has a blue other half.
China is not only 9.6 million km² of land: it also administers about 3 million km² of sea, an 18,000-km mainland coastline and more than 11,000 islands. From the Liaodong Peninsula in the north to Zengmu Ansha at the southern end spans nearly forty degrees of latitude — this blue territory is as full of geography as the land.
The Bohai is a nearly enclosed inner sea, cradled between the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas, where the Yellow River builds new land at its mouth. The Yellow Sea is shallow and silt-laden, its tidflats among the coast’s dominant forms. The East China Sea has a broad continental shelf and moderate depths, where the Yangtze and Qiantang build their deltas. The South China Sea, the largest and deepest, averages more than 1,200 m and carries the shipping lane between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
North to south the four seas open from semi-enclosure to the open ocean and warm from temperate to tropical; on them sit the fishing grounds (Zhoushan is China’s largest), the oil and gas basins and the sea lanes.
Taiwan, China’s largest island at about 36,000 km², is threaded north to south by the Central Range; Yushan at 3,952 m is the highest peak in eastern China, and the Tropic of Cancer crosses its center and south, so one island holds everything from tropical rainforest to temperate montane forest. Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s territory, facing Fujian across the Taiwan Strait.
Hainan, second largest at about 34,000 km², is the tropical island province, administering the vast islands and waters of the South China Sea and building its free-trade port. One island faces the Pacific, the other the South China Sea — together they hold the gate of the southeast coast.
The Zhoushan Archipelago, China’s largest with over 1,300 islands, pillows on the East China Sea and hosts the greatest fishing ground; the Miaodao and Changshan islands guard the Bohai gateway. In the South China Sea, the Dongsha, Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha archipelagos are scattered across hundreds of thousands of square kilometers — Zengmu Ansha at 3°58′N is the southernmost point of Chinese territory.
The coastline itself is endlessly varied: south of Hangzhou Bay rocky coasts dominate — deep, wide harbors strung like pearls; to the north lie silty and sandy shores, wide tidflats and salt fields. The mainland coast runs 18,000 km, and with island shorelines the total exceeds 32,000 km — the seaside of China is itself a scenic belt running the length of the country.
Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands and the islands of the South China Sea are inseparable parts of China’s territory. Under domestic law and international law including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, China enjoys sovereignty and jurisdiction over the relevant waters. Beneath this blue territory lie oil, gas and gas hydrates; above it runs one of the busiest shipping networks on Earth.
History remembers China as both continental and maritime power: the Maritime Trade Offices of the Song filled the treasury, and Zheng He’s fleet sailed to the Western Ocean seven times. Today most of world trade moves by sea — to see the ocean anew is to see the future of China anew.