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. Guǎngxī (more properly Guǎngxī Zhuàngzú Zìzhìqū, the Guǎngxī Zhuàng Autonomous Region) is a province-level region of China located in the extreme south of the country adjacent to Vietnam. Historically the Guǎngxī region was landlocked but in 1952 the People's Republic transferred the westernmost coastal portion of Guǎngdōng Province to Guǎngxī. This decison was reversed in 1955 and then reinstated in 1965. The coastline of Guǎngxī extends for about 200 km (125 mi) along the north end of the Gulf of Tonkin. The Chinese name for the Gulf of Tonkin is Běibù Wān (Northern Bay) because the gulf is the northern extension of the South China Sea. The region is divided into 14 prefectural-level cities; the three bordering the coast are Běihǎi, Qīnzhōu, and Fángchénggǎng. All three include major ports. This page is for lighthouses of Běihǎi; there is a separate page for lighthouses of Qīnzhōu and Fángchénggǎng. Běihǎi is a relatively new, rapidly-growing port city with a population of more than 1.5 million. The city's name, literally "North Sea," refers to its location at the north end of the Gulf of Tonkin (Běibù Wān). 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. Lighthouses in China are maintained by the PRC Maritime Safety Administration (MSA). The administration is organized in four regional administrations with district offices in the major ports. The lights on this page are maintained by the Zhànjiāng MSA office in Guǎngdōng, which is included in the Guǎngzhōu Region. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. CN numbers are the serial numbers used by the Shànghǎi regional office of MSA. 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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![]() Tiěshān Gǎng Light, Běihǎi PRC South China Sea Maritime Security Center photo |
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![]() Xīcūn Light, Běihǎi, April 2024 Google Earh photo courtesy of Jim Smith |
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![]() Guǎntóulíng Light, Guǎntóulíng ex-Sina Weibo photo |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Léizhōu Peninsula | West: Southwest Guǎngxī
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Posted December 19, 2008. Checked and revised April 15, 2024. Lighthouses: 27. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.