The People's Republic of China (中华, Zhōnghuá in Chinese) has a lengthy coastline, many large harbors, and a large number of lighthouses. During the colonial period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries Western powers occupied a number of locations in China and built lighthouses, many of which survive. In more recent years the People's Republic has developed modern ports throughout the country and built many lighthouses to serve them. The country is divided into 23 provinces and 11 other province-level regions of various special types. The province of Jiāngsū (previously spelled Kiangsu) extends southward from the base of the Shāndōng Peninsula to the mouth of the Yangtze River (Cháng Jiāng). The great port of Shànghǎi, now the center of one of the world's largest metropolitan areas, was built on the Huángpǔ River, an estuary on the south side of the Yangtze just above the mouth. Metropolitan Shànghǎi has been separated from Jiāngsū Province as a provincial-level metropolitan region, Shànghǎi Shì. Jiāngsū is divided into thirteen prefectural-level cities. This page describes lighthouses of the prefectural-level cities of Yánchéng ("Salt City") and Nántōng ("South Connection") occupying respectively the central and southern coasts of Jiāngsū. Most of this Jiāngsū coast is quite low and marshy, historically attracting little navigation and having no lighthouses. Recently, however, a containership terminal with a new lighthouse has been built at Dàfēng in the center of this area. 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. The administration is organized in four regional administrations; Jiāngsū lighthouses fall under the Shànghǎi MSA. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. CN numbers are Chinese light list numbers. 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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Yánchéng Prefecture Lighthouses
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Mácàihéng Light, East China Sea, April 2014 Jiāngsū Bureau of Surveying and Mapping photo |
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Nántōng Prefecture Lighthouses
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Yáowàng Gǎng Light, Tōngzhōu, September 2013 ex-Panoramio photo copyright coffeeseed; permission requested |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Liányúngǎng | South: Shànghǎi
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Posted April 21, 2008. Checked and revised September 20, 2023. Lighthouses: 30. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.