Sansha

Sansha 三沙市
Prefecture-level city
Aerial view of Yongxing Island (Woody Island), the seat of Sansha
Location Sansha jurisdiction (in pink) in Hainan
Sansha (Pref. seat) Yongxing Huangyan Yongshu Meiji Zhubi Huayang Sansha (South China Sea) Location of the major islands in Sansha
Coordinates: 16°50′03″N 112°20′15″E / 16.83417°N 112.33750°E / 16.83417; 112.33750
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Hainan
Prefecture	24 July 2012
City seat	Woody Island (Yongxing Dao)
Government
• CPC Municipal Party Secretary	Fu Zhuang (符戆)
• Mayor	Xiao Jie (肖杰)
Area
• Land	< 13 km2 (< 5 sq mi)
• Water	~2,000,000 km2 (~772,000 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	1,443
Time zone	China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code	573100
Website	www.sansha.gov.cn
Territorial Dispute: There are on-going territorial disputes in the entire area covered by the city, whose administrative authority is not internationally recognized.

Sansha
"Sansha", as written in Chinese
Chinese
Hanyu Pinyin	Sānshā
Postal	Samsha
Literal meaning	three sands (referring to the Chinese names for the three island groups)
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Sānshā Wu Romanization sae1so1 Xiang IPA siã44 so44 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Sāamsā Jyutping saam1saa1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ sam-sua

Sansha is a prefecture-level city of Hainan province of the People's Republic of China. It administers (actually or nominally) several island groups and undersea atolls in the South China Sea including the Spratly Islands, the Paracel Islands, Macclesfield Bank, Scarborough Shoal, and a number of other ungrouped maritime features. The entire territory is disputed, and the PRC's de facto control over the area varies.

Sansha has equal administrative status to a prefecture-level city, and was created on 24 July 2012. The establishment of Sansha is simply an upgrade of the administrative status of these island groups from the previous county-level Administrative Office, and construction of a city is not actually underway. However, a garrison may be established.

Foreign reaction to the declaration was not positive. The United States Department of State called the change in the administrative status of the territory "unilateral", and the move has received criticism from nations engaged in the South China Sea dispute, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam.

The centre of government for Sansha is located on Woody Island (Yongxing Dao) in the Paracels, where about 1,000 Chinese (PRC) reside. With a land area of 210ha, Woody Island is the largest contiguous land area in the South China Sea. The total land area of Sansha, which includes the islands in the Paracel and Spratly groups, is less than 5 square miles (13 km²). Nationally, Sansha is the smallest prefecture-level city, by both population and land area, but the largest by total area, and is also the southernmost prefecture-level city of the PRC.