CHOU-SHAN ARCHIPELAGO

Chinese Chou-shan Ch'n-tao, Pinyin Zhoushan Qundaoconventional Chusan Archipelago group of more than 400 islands off the northern coast of Chekiang sheng (province), China. The administrative centre of the archipelago is at Ting-hai, the main town on Chou-shan Island. Tai-shan Island lies north of Chou-shan Island. The Chou-shan islands represent the submerged peaks of the northeasterly continuation of the mountain ranges of Chekiang and Fukien provinces, which were originally connected with the ranges of the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula. The islands are steep and rugged, and many of them rise to heights of 800 ft (250 m) and more above sea level. The highest peak of Chou-shan Tao, the largest island of the group, rises to a height of 1,640 ft. Situated at the entrance to Hang-chou Wan (Hangchow Bay), the islands also receive much of the silt load discharged from the mouth of the Yangtze River to the north; many of the islands are surrounded by mudbanks, which may eventually join some of them to the mainland. The islands were first brought under regular Chinese administration in the 8th century, after which they were administered from Shanghai on the mainland. The islands were important because they provided excellent harbours for the flourishing trade between Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, and the Chekiang ports of Ning-po and Hang-chou. The connection with Japan was not merely commercial in character. One of the small islands to the east of Chou-shan itself, P'u-t'o Shan, is an important Buddhist cult centre. Now covered with monasteries, cave temples, and shrines, it was a place of pilgrimage as early as the Sung dynasty (960-1279). It is believed to have been founded in 916, its early cult being connected with Kuan-yin, the goddess of mercy, an image of whom was brought there from the T'ien-t'ai Shan (T'ien-t'ai Mountains), a centre of Buddhism on the nearby mainland. A temple to the goddess was rebuilt and greatly enlarged in the 11th century and in 1131 became a major temple of Ch'an (Japanese Zen) Buddhism. Extensive sea traffic with Japan enabled the island centre to develop strong links with the major centres of Zen Buddhism in Japan; and when, in the late 13th century, the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan attempted his conquest of Japan, he employed monks from P'u-t'o Shan as intermediaries. Under the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) the area was badly damaged by the raids of Japanese pirates, and the temples fell into disrepair. They were, however, restored in 1580. Under the Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911) they were given Imperial recognition. In the early 16th century the islands began to play a role in the European trade. In 1661 some of the monasteries were looted and pillaged by the Dutch. At the end of the 18th century, one of the demands presented by the British mission to Peking (1794) led by Lord Macartney was for the establishment of a British trading settlement in the islands. During the first Opium War (1839-42), fought between Great Britain and China, part of the archipelago was for a time occupied by the British. With the growth of modern shipping and the emergence of Shanghai as a major port in the 19th century, the commercial importance of the archipelago decreased. It remains, however, one of the most important Chinese fishing grounds; an enormous fishing fleet-much of it now motorized-is organized in communes. The islands produce great quantities of fish for market and such marine products as kelp, algae, and edible seaweeds. The islands are also intensively cultivated, producing two crops of rice a year. There has been some reclamation of the mud flats in order to extend the area under cultivation. Ting-hai, the chief town of the archipelago, is a walled city located some distance inland on Chou-shan Tao; it is connected to the coast by a short canal. Ting-hai became the administrative centre when the Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty transferred the administration of the islands from the mainland in the 17th century.