Economy

GDP increase of Zhoushan Municipality (1999–2013)Traditionally Zhoushan had relied heavily on the primary industry, especially fishing, given Zhoushan is the largest fishery in China. Nowadays with the development of the secondary and tertiary industries, Zhoushan's economic base has been largely diversified. Ship building and repairing, shipping, light industry, tourism and service industry grow to be the major contributors of local economic output. In 2013, the whole municipality achieved a total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 93.085 billion yuan (approximately 13,184 US dollars per capita), with an increase of 8.5% from that of the year 2012. The city continuously ranked 3rd among 11 municipalities of Zhejiang Province. However, since Zhoushan has a significantly smaller population compared with other municipalities, the absolute figure of total GDP still ranked the last place in the province. The structure of three sectors of industry is 9.8 : 45.2 : 45.0 as of 2012. In 2012, Zhoushan Port alone processed 290,990 kilotons of cargo. If combined with Ningbo Port (Ningbo and Zhoushan Ports are essentially one port with shared infrastructure, harbor basin and administrative collaboration), the entire greater port handled approximately 744,000 kilotons of cargo, surpassing Shanghai Port to be world's new busiest port in terms of cargo tonnage.In 2012, Zhoushan's per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 34,224 yuan, with a 12.2% increase from the previous year (an increase of 10.3% considering the price and inflation factors). On the other hand, Zhoushan's per capital net income of rural residents reached 18,601 yuan, with a 12.9% increase from the previous year (an increase of 11.0% considering the price and inflation factors). The Engel‘s Coefficients for urban and rural residents are 35.9% and 38.1% respectively. The average housing building areas are 32.39 and 49.10 square meters for urban and rural residents respectively.

Geography

The Zhoushan Archipelago, comprising 1,390 islands and 3,306 reefs, is located outside of Hangzhou Bay. It is the largest archipelago of China. Among these islands, 103 are inhabited all year round, 58 are larger than one square kilometer, and only 12 have populations over 10,000. Below is a list of major inhabited islands.Zhoushan New Town, previously known as Lincheng, is the newly urbanized center of Zhoushan Municipality connecting the city proper of Dinghai and PutuoDinghai District SeafrontFishing boats anchored in Dinghai HarborThe "Sea Snail and Narcissus" urban sculpture, at the entrance of Dinghai's Cultural Square, is the symbol of Zhoushan.Partial skyline of Dinghai from Dinghai ParkPanorama of Hou'an Community of Changbai Island, Xiaosha Sub-District, Dinghai District(DH = Dinghai District, PT = Putuo District, DS = Daishan County, SS = Shengsi County)There are 6 Major Large Islands (over 50 km2 (19 sq mi)):Zhoushan Island (舟山岛), 502.65 km2 (194.07 sq mi), 635,595, (DH/PT)Daishan Island (岱山岛), 119.32 km2 (46.07 sq mi), 111,765, (DS)Liuheng Island (六横岛), 109.40 km2 (42.24 sq mi), 59,102, (PT)Jintang Island (金塘岛), 82.11 km2 (31.70 sq mi), 37,321, (DH)Zhujiajian Island (朱家尖岛), 75.84 km2 (29.28 sq mi), 27,981, (PT)Qushan Island (衢山岛/大衢岛), 73.57 km2 (28.41 sq mi), 53,016, (DS)There are 11 Middle-sized Islands (between 10 and 50 km2 (3.9 and 19.3 sq mi)):Taohua Island (桃花岛), 44.43 km2 (17.15 sq mi), 10,867, (PT)Greater Changtu Island (大长涂山), 40.62 km2 (15.68 sq mi), 1,750, (DS)Xiushan Island (秀山岛), 26.33 km2 (10.17 sq mi), 10,106, (DS)Sijiao Island (泗礁山), 25.88 km2 (9.99 sq mi), 39,008, (SS)Xiazhi Island (虾峙岛), 18.59 km2 (7.18 sq mi), 11,247, (PT)Dengbu Island (登步岛), 16.72 km2 (6.46 sq mi), 2,479, (PT)Mount Putuo (普陀山), 16.06 km2 (6.20 sq mi), 10,337, (PT)Cezi Island (册子岛), 14.97 km2 (5.78 sq mi), 6,334, (DH)Changbai Island (长白岛), 14.16 km2 (5.47 sq mi), 3,066, (DH)Lesser Changtu Island (小长涂山), 13.33 km2 (5.15 sq mi), 19,750, (DS)Dayu Island (大鱼山), 11.03 km2 (4.26 sq mi), 788, (DS)There are 10 islands between 5 and 10 km2 (1.9 and 3.9 sq mi):Fuodu Island (佛渡岛), 9.19 km2 (3.55 sq mi), 1,292, (PT)Yuanshan Island (元山岛/悬山岛), 8.21 km2 (3.17 sq mi), 751, (PT)Changzhi Island (长峙岛), 7.97 km2 (3.08 sq mi), 3,464, (DH)Damao Island (大猫岛), 6.92 km2 (2.67 sq mi), 453, (DH)Greater Yangshan Island (大洋山), 6.56 km2 (2.53 sq mi), 9,336, (SS)Gouqi Island (枸杞岛), 6.38 km2 (2.46 sq mi), 7,611, (SS)Dapeng Island (大鹏岛), 6.09 km2 (2.35 sq mi), 785, (DH)Aoshan Island (岙山), 5.96 km2 (2.30 sq mi), 1,087, (DH)Greater Huanglong Island (大黄龙岛), 5.67 km2 (2.19 sq mi), 6,910, (SS)Xiaogan Island (小干岛), 5.56 km2 (2.15 sq mi), 5,248, (PT)Small Major Inhabited Islands:Shengshan Island (嵊山岛), 4.47 km2 (1.73 sq mi), 8,309, (SS)Shulanghu Island (鼠浪湖岛), 4.38 km2 (1.69 sq mi), 136, (DS)Lujiazhi Island (鲁家峙岛), 4.36 km2 (1.68 sq mi), 7,938, (PT)Panzhi Island (盘峙岛), 4.11 km2 (1.59 sq mi), 2,177, (DH)Huaniao Island (花鸟山), 3.99 km2 (1.54 sq mi), 977, (SS)Dongju Island (东巨岛), 3.42 km2 (1.32 sq mi), 86, (DH)Lesser Yangshan Island (小洋山), 3.38 km2 (1.31 sq mi), 1,215, (SS)Eastern Fushan Island (东福山), 2.98 km2 (1.15 sq mi), 142, (PT)Mayi Island (蚂蚁岛), 2.90 km2 (1.12 sq mi), 5,814, (PT)Miaozihu Island (庙子湖岛), 2.65 km2 (1.02 sq mi), 806, (PT)Dajiao Island (大蛟山), 2.58 km2 (1.00 sq mi), 107, (DS)Huangxing Island (黄兴岛), 2.44 km2 (0.94 sq mi), 64, (PT)Huni Island (湖泥山), 2.38 km2 (0.92 sq mi), 682, (PT)Eastern Bailian Island (东白莲山), 2.05 km2 (0.79 sq mi), 135, (PT)Jinji Island (金鸡山), 2.03 km2 (0.78 sq mi), 2,601, (SS)Shenjiawan Island (沈家湾岛), 1.95 km2 (0.75 sq mi), 435, (SS)Lidiao Island (里钓山), 1.87 km2 (0.72 sq mi), 216, (DH)Maji Island (马迹山), 1.81 km2 (0.70 sq mi), 170, (SS)Jiangnan Island (江南山), 1.71 km2 (0.66 sq mi), 4401, (DS)Baisha Island (白沙岛), 1.71 km2 (0.66 sq mi), 672, (PT)Western Lvhua Island (西绿华山), 1.57 km2 (0.61 sq mi), 336, (SS)Bixia Island (壁下山), 1.44 km2 (0.56 sq mi), 162, (SS)Qingbang Island (青浜岛), 1.43 km2 (0.55 sq mi), 494, (PT)Fuchi Island (富翅岛), 1.36 km2 (0.53 sq mi), 197, (DH)Eastern Lvhua Island (东绿华山), 1.32 km2 (0.51 sq mi), 227, (SS)Western Bailian Island (西白莲山), 1.29 km2 (0.50 sq mi), 408, (PT)Hulu Island (葫芦岛), 1.28 km2 (0.49 sq mi), 330, (PT)[12]Zhoushan includes 20,800 km2 (8,031 sq mi) of marine territory, but only 1,440.12 km2 (556 sq mi) of land, 183.19 km2 (71 sq mi) of which are submerged during high tides. It is 182 km (113 mi) east-east and 169 km (105 mi) north-south and although heavily populated now has few farms.Zhoushan has a four-season, monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with cool, damp winters, and hot, humid summers. Conditions, especially during summer, are generally moderated by the surrounding waters of the East China Sea, bringing a January average of 5.8 °C (42.4 °F) and August average of 27.1 °C (80.8 °F), with an annual mean of 16.43 °C (61.6 °F). Though rainfall occurs mostly during summer, precipitation is still significant during the winter months, which are the driest. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 34% in March to 56% in July, the city receives 1,938 hours of bright sunshine annually, and the second half of the year is much sunnier.

Demographics

According to the report from the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China, the total population of Zhoushan Municipality is 1,121,261 with 588,414 males and 532,847 females as of 1 November 2010, among which an overwhelmingly majority is Han Chinese (1,109,813). The number of household is about 454,800. For an administrative division distribution, Dinghai District has a population of 464,184, Putuo District has a population of 378,805, Daishan County has a population of 202,164 and Shengsi County has a population of 76,108. In terms of education attainment, about 10 percent of the total population (115,286) has received higher education, while a population of 77,577 is illiterate or half-illiterate. In terms of age distribution, there is a children (aged 0–14) population of 114,265 and a senior population of 176,331.

History

A map of the "Chusan Archipelago" published by the British in 1843 from Royal Navy surveys.A replica of the stele recording the praise of the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing for the three generals who opposed the British during the Battle of Dinghai in the First Opium War.The archipelago was inhabited 6,000 years ago during the Neolithic by people of the Hemudu culture. During the Spring and Autumn period, Zhoushan was called Yongdong, referring to its location east of the Yong River. At the time, it belonged to the state of Yue. The fishermen and sailors who inhabited the islands often engaged in piracy and became recruits for uprisings against the central authorities. At the time of the Eastern Jin, the Zhoushan Islands served as the base for Sun En's rebellion. Sun En, an adherent of the Taoist sect the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, launched his rebellion around the year 400 and was defeated by Jin forces in 402. Today's Zhoushan was first created as Wengshan County in Ming Prefecture in 738 under the Tang.In 863, the Japanese Buddhist monk Egaku (慧锷) and a Putuoshan local Zhang-shi (张氏) placed a statue of Guanyin at Chaoyin Cave (潮音洞) that would later become a popular tourist and pilgrim destination. In 1073, under the Song, it was renamed Changguo County; this was upgraded to a prefecture in the early Yuan dynasty.During the Ming dynasty, especially between the years 1530 and 1560, Japanese and Chinese pirates used Zhoushan as one of their principal bases from which they launched attacks as far as Nanjing; "the whole Chinese coast from northern Shandong to western Guangdong was ravaged to a distance of sixty miles inland."After suppression of the pirates, Zhoushan became an important commercial entrepôt. Under the early Qing dynasty, it played a similar role to Xiamen and Guangzhou as a frequent port of call for Western traders. Changguo Prefecture became Dinghai County within Zhejiang Province in 1688 under the Qing. The restriction of all European trade to the port of Guangzhou in 1760 forced Westerners to leave Zhoushan. One of the requests of Lord Macartney's embassy to the Qianlong Emperor in 1793 was an acquisition of "a small unfortified island near Zhoushan for the residence of English traders, storage of goods, and outfitting of ships." The Qianlong Emperor denied this request together with all the rest.British forces under Captain Charles Elliot captured Zhoushan on 5–6 July 1840 during the First Opium War and evacuated it in early 1841, after Elliot reached an agreement with Qishan, the Governor-General of Tianjin and Grand Secretary to the Daoguang Emperor, in exchange for cession of Hong Kong. At that time, Zhoushan was a well known port while Hong Kong was still only a fishing village. The British Foreign Secretary Palmerston was famously livid when he learned that Elliot agreed to the cession of Hong Kong ("a barren island with hardly a house on it") while giving up Zhoushan. Elliot was dismissed in April 1841 for his blunder. His replacement Sir Henry Pottinger led a British fleet that recaptured Zhoushan on 1 October 1841. The First Opium War ended with conclusion of the Treaty of Nanjing in which China opened up the cities of Guangzhou ("Canton"), Fuzhou ("Foochow"), Xiamen ("Amoy"), Ningbo ("Ningpo"), and Shanghai to residence by British subjects for the purpose of trade. As a result, Britain no longer had any use for Zhoushan but it kept the island until 1846 as a guarantee for the fulfilment of the stipulations of the treaty. Dinghai was upgraded to a directly-controlled subprefecture (定海直隸廳) sometime in 1841.Zhoushan was also occupied by the British in 1860 during the Second Opium War. Wang Yijun, a leader of the Taiping rebels, attempted to retake Zhoushan from its Qing garrison on 13 February 1862 but was defeated and killed.Following the Xinhai Revolution and the establishment of the Republic of China, Dinghai Subprefecture reverted to a county. Sun Yat-sen visited Zhoushan on 25 August 1916 and wrote Travelling to Putuo (游普陀志奇, You Putuo Zhiqi). On 1 October 1942, the Japanese ship Lisbon Maru was transporting 1,800 POWs to Tokyo when she was attacked by the USS Grouper off Qingbing (青浜) or Dongfu; one torpedo hit and she sank the next day. The fishermen of nearby Dongji (东极乡) rescued 384 of the British prisoners from the wreckage. Amid the Chinese Civil War, Dinghai County lost Shengsi, which became an Archipelago Directly-controlled District (列島直屬區) of Jiangsu in 1946, then a separate county in October 1949. The same year, Dinghai County was divided into Dinghai and Wengzhou (翁洲) Counties. In November, the Communists landed on Dengbu Island, but were repulsed by the defenders.Nevertheless, Zhoushan was overrun by the Communists on 17 May 1950. Wengzhou was merged back into Dinghai County, which made up part of Ningbo Prefecture, and Shengsi made up a special area (特区) and then county of the Songjiang Prefecture, then still part of Jiangsu. In March 1953, the Council of Ministers opted to establish the Zhoushan Prefecture, returning Shengsi and dividing Dinghai into Dinghai, Putuo, and Daishan. Ningbo's Xiangshan County was also briefly incorporated into this new prefecture from 1954 to 1958. From 1958 to May 1962, Zhoushan was incorporated into Ningbo before becoming a separate prefecture again. Shengsi was temporarily assigned to Shanghai in the early 1960s. The short-lived Daqu County (大衢縣) was created in 1962 before being redivided between Daishan and Shengsi four years later.Zhoushan was promoted to a prefecture-level "city" on 27 January 1987, with Dinghai and Putuo Counties upgraded to districts. The municipal People's Government was established on 8 March of that year. April of the same year, the ports of Zhoushan became open to foreign ships. On 10 April 1988, it became a coastal economic open zone.