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 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. Zhèjiāng is divided into eleven prefectural-level cities. This page lists lighthouses of the northern half of the prefectural-level city of Tàizhōu in the central part of the province, including the Sānmén Bay area and the port of Jiāojiāng (formerly called Hiamen). This area did not attract much foreign interest during the colonial period and the European powers built very few lighthouses in the area. As a result all the lights listed are of recent origin and modern design, like the Niútóujǐngshān lighthouse at right. 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. All the lights on this page are maintained by the Wēnzhōu MSA office, which is part of the Shànghǎi 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 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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Fanbidao Light PRC MSA Shànghǎi Region photo |
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Dōngjīdǎo Light PRC MSA Shànghǎi Region photo |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Shípǔ Area | South: Southern Tàizhōu
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted June 9, 2008. Checked and revised December 2, 2023. Lighthouses: 30. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.