China was the first to discover, name,
develop,conduct economic activities on and exercise
jurisdiction of the Nansha Islands.
A. China
the First to Discover and Name the Nansha
Islands
The earliest discovery by the Chinese
people of the Nansha Islands can be traced back to as early
as the Han Dynasty. Yang Fu of the East Han Dynasty (23-220
A.D.) made reference to the Nansha Islands in his book
entitled Yiwu Zhi (Records of Rarities) , which reads:
"Zhanghai qitou, shui qian er duo
cishi"("There are islets, sand cays, reefs and
banks in the South China Sea, the water there is shallow and
filled with magnetic rocks or stones"). Chinese people
then called the South China Sea Zhanghai and all the
islands, reefs, shoals and isles in the South China Sea,
including the Nansha and Xisha Islands,
Qitou.
General Kang Tai, one of the famous
ancient Chinese navigators of the East Wu State of the Three
Kingdoms Period (220-280AD), also mentioned the Nansha
Islands in his book entitled Funan Zhuan (or Journeys to and
from Phnom) (the name of an ancient state in today's
Cambodia). He used the following sentences in describing the
islands: "In the South China Sea, there are coral
islands and reefs; below these islands and reefs are rocks
upon which the corals were formed."
In
numerous history and geography books published in the Tang
and Song Dynasties, the Nansha and Xisha Islands were called
Jiuruluo Islands, Shitang (literally meaning atolls
surrounding a lagoon), Changsha (literally meaning long
ranges of shoals), Qianli Shitang, Qianli Changsha, Wanli
Shitang, and Wanli Changsha among others. Reference was made
to the Nansha Islands in over one hundred categories of
books published in the four dynasties of Song, Yuan, Ming
and Qing in the name of Shitang or
Changsha.
There were more detailed descriptions
of the geographical locations and specific positions of the
various islands of the Nansha Islands in the Yuan Dynasty.
For instance, Wang Dayuan, a prominent Chinese navigator in
the Yuan Dynasty, wrote about the Nansha Islands in his book
entitled Abridged Records of Islands and Barbarians in these
words: "The base of Wanli Shitang originates from
Chaozhou. It is tortuous as a long snake lying in the sea.
Its veins can all be traced. One such vein strentches to
Java, one to Boni (or Burni, a kingdom which then existed in
what is now Brunei in the vicinity of the Kalimantan) and
Gulidimen (another kingdom on the Kalimantan), and one to
the west side of the sea toward Kunlun (Con Son Islands,
located outside the mouth of the mekong River some 200
nautical miles away from Saigon) in the
distance…." Wanli Shitang here refers to all the
islands in the South China Sea, including the Nansha
Islands.
In the Consolidated Map of
Territories and Geography and Capitals of Past Dynasties
published in the Ming Dynasty, we find the words
"Shitang", "Changsha" and
"Shitang." Judging from the geographical locations
of these places as marked on the Map, the second Shitang
denotes today's Nansha Islands.
The Road Map of
the Qing Dynasty marks the specific locations of all the
islands, reefs, shoals and isles of the Nansha Islands where
fishermen of China's Hainan Island used to frequent,
including 73 named places of the Nansha
Islands.
B. China the First to Develop the
Nansha Islands
Chinese people started to
develop the Nansha Islands and engage in fishing on the
islands as early as in the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. At
that time, fishermen from Haikou Port, Puqian Port, Qinglan
Port and Wenchang County went to the Nansha Islands to fish
sea cucumber and other sea produce.
The 1868
Guide to the South China Sea has accounts of the activities
of the Chinese fishermen in the Nansha Islands. According to
the Guide, "fishermen from Hainan Island went to Zhenhe
Isles and Reefs and lived on sea cucumber and shells they
got there. The footmarks of fishermen could be found in
every isle of the Nansha Islands and some of the fishermen
would even live there for a long period of time. Every year,
there were small boats departing from Hainan Island for the
Nansha Islands to exchange rice and other daily necessities
for sea cucumber and shells from the fishermen there. The
ships used to leave Hainan Island in December or January
every year and return when the southwesterly monsoon
started." Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, fishermen
from Hainan Island and Leizhou Peninsula of China have kept
going for fishing on the Nansha Islands. Most of the
fishermen come from Wenchang County and Qionghai County. One
or two dozens of fishing boats from these two counties would
go to the Nansha Islands every year.
The Road
Map is another strong evidence to the development of the
islands on the South China Sea by the Chinese people since
the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Road Map served as a
navigational guide to the Chinese fishermen for their trips
to the Xisha and Nansha Islands for productive activities
there. It was a result of the collective work of many people
on the basis of their navigational experience. The first
Road Map was produced in the Ming Dynasty and it was
constantly improved later on. It showed the navigational
routes and courses from Qinglan, Wenchang County, Hainan
Island or Tanmen Port of Qionghai County to the various
isles of the Xisha and Nansha Islands.
The
development and productive activities of the Chinese
fishermen on the Nansha Islands after the founding of the
Republic of China in 1912 have been recorded in both Chinese
and foreign history books. Mr. Okura Unosuke of Japan wrote
about his expedition trip to Beizi Island in 1918 in his
book Stormy Islands, which reads: "he saw three people
from Haikou of Wenchang County when the expedition team he
organized arrived in Beizi Island." In 1933, Miyoshi
and Matuo of Japan saw two Chinese people on the Beizi
Island and three Chinese people on the Nanzi Island when
they made an investigation trip to the Nansha Islands. It is
also recorded in A Survey of the New South Islands published
in Japan that "fishermen planted sweet potato on
Zhongye Island and that fishermen from the Republic of China
resided on the islands and grew coconuts, papaya, sweet
potato and vegetables there."
C. China the
First to Exercise Jurisdiction over the Nansha
Islands
The Nansha Islands came under the
jurisdiction of China from the Yuan Dynasty. Geography Book
of the History of the Yuan Dynasty and Map of the Territory
of the Yuan Dynasty with Illustration both includes the
Nansha Islands within the domain of the Yuan Dynasty. The
History of the Yuan Dynasty has accounts of the patrol and
inspection activities by the navy on the Nansha Islands in
the Yuan Dynasty.
The inscription on the
Memorial Tablet of the Tomb to General Qian Shicai of the
Hainan Garrison Command of the Ming Dynasty reads:
"Guangdong is adjacent to the grand South China Sea,
and the territories beyond the Sea all internally belong to
the Ming State." "General Qian led more than ten
thousand soldiers and 50 huge ships to patrol tens of
thousands of li on the South China Sea." All these
descriptions clearly testify to the ownership by China of
the Nansha Islands in the Ming Dynasty. The Hainan Garrison
Command of the Ming Dynasty was responsible for inspecting
and patrolling as well as exercising jurisdiction over the
Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands.
In the Qing
Dynasty, the Chinese Government marked the Nansha Islands on
the authoritative maps and exercised administrative
jurisdiction over these islands. The Nansha Islands were
marked as Chinese territory in many maps drawn in the Qing
Dynasty such as A Map of Administrative Divisions of the
Whole China of the 1724 Map of Provinces of the Qing
Dynasty, A Map of Administrative Divisions of the Whole
China of the 1755 Map of Provinces of the Imperial Qing
Dynasty, the 1767 Map of Unified China of the Great Qing for
Ten Thousand Years, the 1810 Topographical Map of Unified
China of the Great Qing for Ten Thousand Years and the 1817
Map of Unified China of the Great Qing for Ten Thousand
Years.
Between 1932 and 1935, the Chinese
Government set up a Committee for the Review of Maps of
Lands and Waters of China, which was composed of officials
from the Headquarters of the General Staff, the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Navy
Command, the Ministry of Education and the Mongolian and
Tibetan Affairs Commission. This Committee examined and
approved 132 names of the islands in the South China Sea,
all of which belonged to the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha
Islands.
In 1933, France invaded and occupied 9
of the Nansha Islands, including Taiping and Zhongye
Islands. The Chinese fishermen who lived and worked on the
Nansha Islands immediately made a firm resistance against
the invasion and the Chinese Government lodged a strong
protest with the French Government.
All the
names of the islands, isles and reefs on the South China Sea
including the Nansha Islands were unmistakably marked on the
Map of the Islands in the South China Sea compiled and
printed by the Committee for the Review of Maps of Lands and
Waters of China in 1935.
In 1939, Japan invaded
and occupied the islands on the South China Sea. In line
with the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, the
Ministry of Internal Affairs of China, in consultation with
the Navy and the government of Guangdong Province, appointed
Xiao Ciyi and Mai Yunyu Special Commissioner to the Xisha
and Nansha Islands respectively in 1946 to take over the two
archipelagoes and erect marks of sovereignty on the
Islands.
In 1947, the Ministry of Internal
Affairs of China renamed 159 islands, reefs, islets and
shoals on the South China Sea, including the Nansha Islands.
It subsequently publicized all the names for administrative
purposes.
In 1983, the Chinese Toponymy
Committee was authorized to publicize the approved names of
the islands, reefs, islets and shoals on the South China
Sea.
In short, a host of historical facts have
proved that it was the Chinese people who were the first to
discover and develop the Nansha Islands and it was the
Chinese Government that has long exercised sovereignty and
jurisdiction over these islands. The Nansha Islands have
become an inalienable part of Chinese territory since
ancient times.