Leizhou Peninsula
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The Leizhou Peninsula, alternately romanized as the Luichow Peninsula, is a peninsula in the southernmost part of Guangdong province in South China. As of 2015, the population of the peninsula was 5,694,245. [1] The largest city by population and area on the peninsula, was Zhanjiang.
History[edit]
Trade was once welcoming at cities of Leizhou Peninsula.[2] During the 19th century, the area was a hotbed of piracy, many pirates, such as Zheng Yi and Wu Shi Er, were based in the area.
Geography[edit]
The Leizhou Peninsula is the third largest peninsula in China with an area of c. 8,500 square kilometers (3,300 sq mi) located on the southwestern end of Zhanjiang, Guangdong with the Gulf of Tonkin to the west and the 30 km wide Qiongzhou Strait to the south, separating the peninsula from Hainan Island.
Geologically, basalt terraces account for 43% of the peninsula's area. The rest is divided up between marine terraces (27%) and alluvial plains (17%). Leizhou Peninsula is dotted with a few dormant volcanoes, beaches, and low-lying diluvial plains.
Leizhou has two separate volcanic fields: a Pleistocene–Holocene field at the northern end of the peninsula west of Zhanjiang (
Wildlife[edit]
Hepu National Sanctuary of Dugongs was created west of the peninsula to protect endangered wildlife especially marine mammals. Vicinity to the peninsula, such as the Leizhou Bay has declared to be parts of the Chinese white dolphin sanctuary holding the second largest population in the nation.[4] Dugongs still occur in small number.[5] Some Bryde's whales,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12] minke whales, and whale sharks still occur in the adjacent waters including Hainan Island and Gulf of Tonkin waters such as off Tieshangang District, Islands of Weizhou and Xieyang.[13][14]
Critically endangered whales such as North Pacific right whales and western gray whales, humpback whales, and blue whales were once known to occur around the peninsula[15] in the winter and spring to calve. Waters such as Wailuo Harbor were ideal habitats for these giants. These whales were heavily hunted and were wiped out by Japanese whalers in this regions. (Japanese whalers established whaling stations at various sites along the Chinese and Korean coasts including on the island of Hainan and at Daya Bay).
Climate[edit]
The peninsula lies in tropical South China. The region is under the influence of continental northeastern monsoons and maritime southeastern and southwestern monsoons. Typhoons occasionally occur, both from the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Annual precipitation is 1,400 to 1,700 millimetres (55 to 67 in).
Towns[edit]
- Kouang Tchéou Wan, former French colony on the north-eastern coast of the peninsula
- Zhanjiang, a port city on the north-eastern coast
See also[edit]
- Stone dogs in the Leizhou Peninsula
- Volcanoes of Leizhou at the German Wikipedia (in German)
References[edit]
- ^ "China Statistical Yearbook-2015". www.stats.gov.cn. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
- ^ Nicholas Belfield Dennys (1874). The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East. "China Mail" Office. pp. 345–.
- ^ VolcanoDiscovery. "Leizhou Bandao volcano" [sic]. Accessed 24 Jul 2014.
- ^
近 千头中华白海豚栖息广东湛江雷州湾 Archived 2017-02-11 at the Wayback Machine - ^ Wang P.; Han J.; Ma Z.; Wang N. (2007). "Survey on the resources status of dugong in Hainan Province,China". Acta Theriologica Sinica. 27 (1): 68–73. Retrieved 2015-01-20.
- ^ "鲸鱼
宝 宝 再 次 造 访的涠洲岛海域 !". Archived from the original on 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2016-11-08. - ^ "
北海 涠洲岛海域 出 现一条大鲸鱼到访。". Archived from the original on 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2016-11-08. - ^ 2017. 刚刚铁山
港 附近 海域 ,惊现多 条 鲸鱼。 Archived 2017-03-06 at the Wayback Machine - ^ 2016.
北海 附近 海域 惊现庞大鲸鱼,画面 感 萌 翻 啦![视频+多 图] Archived 2017-03-06 at the Wayback Machine - ^ 2006.
俺 在 北部 湾 新 拍 到 的 鲸~(图) - ^ "广西
北海 涠洲岛附近 发现一 条 大 鲸鱼". Archived from the original on 2017-02-11. Retrieved 2017-03-05. - ^ 2009.
北部 湾 (2)_须鲸! Archived 2017-03-06 at the Wayback Machine - ^
中 华人民 共和 国 濒危物 种科学 委 员会. [濒危物 种数据 库 - 鳀鲸 Balaenoptera edeni Anderson, 1879]. the CITES. Retrieved on December 07. 2014 - ^ Wang Pei Lei (
王 丕烈). 1984.中国 近海 鲸类的 分布 . 辽宁省 海洋 水 产研究所 (Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute).中国 知 网 (the CNKI.NET). Retrieved on December 07. 2014 - ^ "Identification Guide for Marine Mammals In the South China Sea". The Sanya Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering at The Chinese Academy Of Sciences. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
External links[edit]
- Stone dogs in Leizhou Peninsula
- A map of the peninsula's volcanic fields from the Zhanjiang municipal website (in Chinese)