Shangchuan Island

Template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / image missing template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / height missing

Shangchuan Dao (Chinese上 川岛/上 川岛, Pinyin Shàngchuāndǎo, including St. John's Island, called Sancian or Shangchuan; port. of São João - " St. John " ) is a Chinese island in the South China Sea. Their population is about 16,000.

Geography and location

Shangchuan Dao is located 14 km south of the coast of mainland China and belongs to the province of Guangdong. Your size is 137.3 km ², its coastline 217 km. Since the last Ice Age, the island is separated from the mainland. West of Shangchuan Dao Dao is the smaller island Xiachuan (下 川岛).

History

The island was one of the first points of the Portuguese off the coast of China in the 16th century. It was in 1557, during the occupation of Macao, abandoned.

The Jesuit Francis Xavier, the first Asia missionary, died here on December 2, 1552 on the way to Guangzhou. On the island, a church is in the midst of a Memorial Park its name. She is a Catholic pilgrimage site. The body of Francis Xavier was transferred to the Basílica do Bom Jesus in Old Goa in 1637.

Administration

Administratively form Shangchuan Dao, Dao Xiachuan and eleven smaller islands as Chuandao Zhen (Chinese川岛 镇/川岛 镇, Pinyin Chuāndǎo Zhen ) one of the 16 large communities of independent city Taishan, which belongs to the administrative territory of the prefecture-level city of Jiangmen. A large village has a total area of ​​156.7 km ². On Shanchuan Dao, the villages Dalangwan and Shadi are (沙堤).