The People's Republic of China (中华, Zhōnghuá in Chinese) 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 Zhèjiāng (formerly spelled Chekiang) occupies the central coast of the country, south of Shànghǎi and north of the Formosa Strait. The province faces east on the East China Sea. For the most part the coastline is hilly and irregular, with more than 3000 islands of all sizes offshore. Hángzhōu Bay is a large embayment at the northern end of the province. Spread across the mouth of Hángzhōu Bay, the Zhōushān Islands include well over 1000 islands, although only 103 are large enough to be inhabited. Lighting this maze of islands requires hundreds of beacons of all sizes. The islands are organized as Zhōushān City, one of the eleven prefectural-level cities of Zhèjiāng Province. This page covers lighthouses of the Shèngsì Islands, the northeasternmost of the Zhōushān Islands. These islands comprise Shèngsì County, one of the four subdivisions of Zhōushān City. China is developing the major deep-water port of Yángshān, a satellite port for Shànghǎi, in the Qíqū Islands in the western end of the Shèngsì archipelago. Lighthouses in China are maintained by the PRC Maritime Safety Administration. The administration is organized in four regional administrations, with offices in the major ports. All the lights on this page are maintained by the Zhènhǎi MSA office. 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 Chinese light list numbers, where known. 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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![]() Huāniǎoshān Light, Mǎ'ān Islands Shèngsì County Media Bureau photo |
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![]() Mányútóudǎo Light, Mǎ'ān Islands Google Maps photo by Jin Yul |
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![]() Cǎoxiépàjiāo Light, Sìjiāo PRC Maritime Safety Administration photo |
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![]() Bànyángjiāo Light, Bái Jiéxià Strait Shèngsì County Media Bureau photo |
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![]() Dàjíshān Light, Dàjíshāndǎo PRC Maritime Safety Administration photo |
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![]() Xīmǎ'āndǎo Light, Qíqū Islands PRC Maritime Safety Administration photo |
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![]() Tángnǎoshān Light, Qíqū Islands Shèngsì County Media Bureau photo |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Shànghǎi | South: Daishān Islands | Northwest: Jiāxīing and Níngbō
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Posted May 12, 2008. Checked and revised October 12, 2023. Lighthouses: 48. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.