Most of the islands of the archipelago are in the which consist of three towns: Guishan Town, Dangan Town and Wanshan Town.
Geography
The islands are situated in the South China Sea, to the south of the opening of the Pearl River estuary and Hong Kong. The Wanshan Islands also include some islands in Hong Kong and Macau, such as Hong Kong Island and Lantau Island in Hong Kong, Taipa-Coloane Island in Macau. The archipelago includes several groups of islands. The western group, located south of the Pearl River estuary and Lantau Island, was formerly known to Europeans as the Ladrones, from the Spanish for "thieves". It comprises Greater Wanshan, Guishan, and Wai Dangling Islands and the Zhizhou, Sanmen, and Aizhou groups. The eastern group, located south of Hong Kong Island, was known as the Lema Islands. Today, they are known as the Jiapeng Liedao and Dangan Liedao, respectively. The largest island, Dangan, features mountainous terrain similar to Hong Kong.
Wenwei Zhou, 0.022 km2. The small island is in the form of two hillocks, about 80 to 100 feet high, and the island derives its English name from the gap between them. The Gap Rock Lighthouse on the island was built to serve as a navigation aid to vessels sailing to Hong Kong. It was built by a Hong Kong contractor and partly funded by the Imperial Qing Government for both construction and maintenance costs. Besides the lighthouse it had separate European and Chinese living quarters, telegraph and storage rooms. It came into operation in 1892 under Hong Kong control staffed by British lighthouse keeper and Chinese assistants. The lighthouse lenses and windows were damaged by typhoons in 1893 and 1905, the keepers eventually abandoned the site, civil war in China left it in ruins by the 1930s and 1940s. Taken over in 1949 by the Communists in Beijing, lighthouse was restored in 1986 with solar panels and fully automated. A small helipad was added in by the Chinese.
Southwestern group:
Dawanshan Dao, 8.07 km2. The seat of Wanshan Town of Zhuhai is located on the island
in Hong Kong. The closest islands are the Soko Islands, part of the territory of Hong Kong. The four most distant islands are part of the Wanshan Archipelago. From left to right: Ai Zhou, Ai Zhou Zi, Dazhi Zhou, Xiaozhi Zhou. Northwestern group, located between Lantau and Macau:
Zhizhou Liedao
* Dazhi Zhou, 1.67 km2
* Xiaozhi Zhou, 1.2 km2
Guishan Dao - formerly PLA base from the 1950s. The seat of Guishan Town of Zhuhai is located on the island
Niutou Dao, 1.1 km2. Connected by a road to Guishan Dao
Zhongxin Zhou, 0.6 km2
Chitou Dao, 0.17 km2
Sanjiaoshan Dao, 0.82 km2
Qing Zhou
Sanjiao Zhou
Dalu Dao
Datou Zhou
Other geographical elements
Other geographically important points of interest:
Lema Channel is a major waterway in the archipelago.
Dahengqin Dao is an island off Macau and not part of this archipelago.
Erzhou, rising to 437.7m above sea level, is the highest point in the archipelago
Population
There is a small local population, mostly in small fishing villages:
Dangan
Danganwei
Nacun
Economy
The archipelago's economy is mainly fisheries. There is a growing tourism industry with a focus on history, beaches, and the natural beauty of the islands. About 350,000 tourists visit the islands annually. Club Med opened a holiday resort on Dong'ao in 2014. There is also potential for petroleum extraction in the waters off the islands.
Tourist sites
Tourist sites of Wanshan Archipelago include:
Dong'ao: Blundbuss Tower; Son-Soliciting Springs
Dangan: Dangan Village
Guishan: Monument to the Martyrs of Guishan Warship; Wen Tianxiang Park
Miaowan: Xiafeng Bay, a coral beach adjacent to the fishing village.
