Definition of "Sansha"

In 2007 Beijing established the new Sansha municipality in Hainan Province, which has jurisdiction over three islets that Vietnam claims in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos. This led to large-scale protest demonstrations outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi.

2009, Martin Jacques, When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order‎, New York: Penguin Press, page 294

As recently as June 2012, Vietnam passed a maritime law reasserting its sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands and delimiting its maritime claims for both.²²⁰ On the same day, in response to this challenge to its claimed sovereignty, China upgraded the status of Sansha City. Vietnam and the Philippines expectedly protested but, unusually, so did the United States.²²¹

2014 June, Clarence J. Bouchat, The Paracel Islands and U.S. Interests and Approaches in the South China Sea‎, Carlisle, PA: United States Army War College Press, page 42

The PRC has also used lawfare to bolster its territorial claims in the South China Sea by designating the village of Sansha, located on the disputed Paracel Islands, as a Hainan Prefecture in an attempt to extend PRC control far into the region.

2020, Kerry K. Gershaneck, Political Warfare: Strategies for Combating China’s Plan to “Win without Fighting”‎, Quantico, VA: Marine Corps University Press, page 20

On Saturday it said it had established an administrative district on the Paracel islands and another on the Spratly islands. The two districts are under the control of China’s Sansha city, according to China Global Television Network.“The establishment of the so-called Sansha City and related activities seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty,” Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement.

2020 April 19, “Vietnam protests Beijing's expansion in disputed South China Sea”, in Reuters‎, archived from the original on 20 April 2020

Sansha Bay, 62 miles north of Foochow, is one of the good harbors on the China coast. It has deep water and is surrounded on all sides by steep precipices.

1945 May, Notes on the China Coast‎, volume XIV, number 5, page 22

Shelter port on Fukien coast The Sansha [phonetic] storm shelter port in Hsiapu County, Fukien, was completed in September after several years' work.

1963, Summary of World Broadcasts: The Far East Weekly Supplement‎, number 3, British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service, page 30

In order to receive the Taiwan fishermen compatriots, the Fujian Provincial Revolutionary Committee in early 1978 formally established these reception stations at the four fishing ports of Sansha in Xiapu [Hsiapu],[...]The Sansha reception station in Xiapu received 12 Taiwan fishing boats in 1978 and everytime[sic] helped repair the boats and engines, provided fuel and drinking water and purchased grain, meat, vegetables and other foods before they departed.

1979, Daily Report: People's Republic of China‎, numbers 12-22

I once went to the farther north coast of Fujian Province, our province's northeast part, Sansha Town of Xiapu County, (三沙镇，霞浦县) where, off the coast, the sea water in some place is bluer than it is here. At that time in Sansha Town, after I saw the blue water and an islet which emerges from the blue sea, so bleak, so solitary that I dreamed a fantastic dream at night: I was like a fish in the deep, unfathomable blue.

2015, 高坚辉 [Jianhui Gao], Stories from Fujian, China‎

Boats are moored to take shelter in waters off Sansha town in Xiapu county in southeastern China's Fujian province on Monday.

2020 August 4, “Typhoon Hagupit hits east China and heads towards Shanghai”, in South China Morning Post‎, archived from the original on 04 August 2020