The People's Republic of China (PRC), known officially as Zhōnghuá (中华), has a lengthy coastline, many large harbors, and a large number of lighthouses. The country is divided into 23 provinces and 11 other province-level regions of various special types. The province of Guǎngdōng (formerly spelled Kwangtung) is located on the southern coast of the country facing the South China Sea. Its coastline is rugged and irregular, with many islands and reefs threatening unwary navigators. The province is divided into 21 prefectural-level cities. This page lists lighthouses of the southern coast of the province between the Pearl River and Zhànjiāng, including the three prefectural-level cities of Jiāngmén, Yángjiāng, and Màomíng. Lighthouses in China are maintained by the PRC Maritime Safety Administration. The administration is organized in four regional administrations, with district offices in the major ports. The lights on this page are maintained by the Guǎngzhōu and Zhànjiāng MSA offices, which are included in the Guǎngzhōu Region. There are many languages and dialects spoken in China, but Standard Chinese, often called Mandarin, is official. The pīnyīn system for transliterating Standard Chinese into Latin characters is now the international standard but some locations continue to be known also under the spellings of older transliteration systems. The Chinese word for a lighthouse is dēngtǎ (灯塔). In Standard Chinese jiāo (formerly chiao) is a reef or rock, jiǎo is a cape or headland, dǎo (tao) is an island; yǔ (tsu) or tuózi ("lump") is a small island, hǎi is a sea, wān is a bay, hǎixiá is a strait, hé or jiāng is a river, hékǒu ("river mouth") is an estuary, and gǎng (kang) is a harbor. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. CN numbers are the MSA List of Lights (助航标志表) numbers. Admiralty numbers are from volume P of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Jiāngmén Prefecture: Táishān Lighthouses
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![]() Mángzhōu Light, Yángjiāng PRC Maritime Safety Administration photo |
Yángjiāng Prefecture Lighthouses
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![]() Nánpéngdǎo Light, South China Sea, Yángjiāng PRC MSA Guǎngdōng Region photo (no longer online) |
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Màomíng Prefecture Lighthouses
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: Northeast: Pearl River | Southwest: Zhànjiāng
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 17, 2008. Last checked and revised March 27, 2024. Lighthouses: 42; lightships and lightfloats: 3. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.