Sansha Shi or Sansha County/City (Chinese: 三沙市; pinyin: sānshā shì; literal meaning: three sands county or city), is set up by the State Council of the People's Republic of China in November 2007. It is a county-level city and covers the administration for the Nanhai Islands of Zhongsha (Macclessfiled Bank), Xisha (Paracel) Islands and Nansha (Spratly) Islands.
The South China Sea islands were well-documented in Chinese records since Qin Dynasty (around AD 200). They were collectively named as Tough Heads of the Surging Sea(漲海崎頭 Zhànghǎi Qítóu) and Coral Cays (珊瑚洲 Shanhu Zhou) since their discovery by the Chinese in the Qin Dynasty. But seafaring did not occur until the next dynasty, the Han Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, the Islands had been called The Thousand-Mile Long Sands (千里長沙) and Myriad-Mile Stony Embankment (萬里石塘).
There are houses dated back to the Tang or Song Dynasty on Ganquan Island (甘泉島), which is part of the Xisha Islands. In 1045, during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song China, imperial troops (王師) were sent to the Paracel Islands. The fishermen of Hainan composed various "Notebooks on Paths and Timing" (更路簿) that recorded over 200 routes, the time needed for sailing among the different isles, and the names of over 100 islands commonly used by the fishermen.
Some of the voyages of Zheng He passed by the Islands, though they probably did not dock on them. There is an atoll in the Spratly Islands named after Zheng He though.
The Republic of China founded in 1911 claimed the islands as part of the province of Canton (Guangdong), and later of the Hainan special administrative region. Maps published in early 1930s by China have also included these slands into Chinese boundary.
In the 19th century, as a part of the occupation of Indochina, France claimed control of the Spratlys from 1932 until the 1930s, exchanging a few with the British and also caused protests from China. During World War II, the Islands were annexed by Japan since 1939 until 1945.
The Japanese and the French renounced their claims as soon as their respective occupations ended.
In 1946, the Republic of China government recovered these islands from Japan. On September 13 1946, the Chinese government renamed then "Nansha Islands" to "Zhongsha Islands", and then "Tuansha Islands" to "Nansha Islands", to better fit the locations of these island groups, the names of the four island groups in South China Sea have sinced remained the same. A list of old and new names for the reefs and islands were published in November 1947 by then Chinese government.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims all of these islands as part of its Hainan Province, at the administrative level of banshichu (辦事處/办事处) and the "Xi Nan Zhongsha Banshichu" was set up in 1959 by the central government. In March 1969, it was renamed as Xi Nan Zhongsha Revolution Committe under Guangdong Province (广东省西、南、中沙群岛革命委员会). In October 1981 it was renamed back to "Guangdong Province Xi Nan Zhongsha Banshichu" (county level). This banshichu were put under administration of Hainan Province since the province was set up until 2007.
In November 2007, the State Council granted the founding of Sansha Shi to replace the previous banshichu.
Since Yongxing Dao (永兴岛) is the biggest islands among all the four island groups in the South China Sea, and its facilities are well in shape and have served the previous banshichu, it probably will remain as the central base for the newly set up Sansha Shi.
Sansha Shi covers a vast area of the Chinese territory seas and the base island of Yongxing is located far from the mainland, thus Wenchang City of Hainan Province will serve as the supply base for supporting Sansha Shi. Most administrative staff and their families will be allocated in Wenchang. Ports will be built in Qinglan.
In ancient times fishermen from Wenchang and other places of Hainan and Guangdong used to be the only regular visitors to the South China Sea Islands and they used to stay on some islands for months to years before their returns back to homes on land. The Wenchang fishermen have been depending on the Southern Sea to make a living, at the same time their development especially fishing activities brought increased knowledge on these island groups to. Now it is expected that the setup of Sansha Shi will bring a lot of opportunities to Wengchang and is very important to Wenchang's economic development.
It is also expected that the central government will give permits to tourism routes and packages from Wenchang Shi to Sansha Shi. This will further affirm that more investors, tourists will come by Wenchang to Sansha. Wenchang's city expansion, investment and construction will thus be greatly encouraged together with development in human resources, logistics and capital flow. Not only Wenchang, the whole Hainan Province is expecting a nourishing economic and tourism development of the Sansha Shi - Nansha, Xisha and Zhongsha, these Nanhai Islands are now finally given the deserved attention.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_China_Sea_Islands, accessed on 16 Nov 2007
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/南海诸岛, accessed on 16 Nov 2007
http://www.wenchang.gov.cn/, accessed on 16 Nov 2007