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Xisha Islands have always been China's sacred and inviolable territory.The history of Xisha Island can be traced back to Tang dynasty, which was about 1500 years ago. At that time, Chinese government already had the formal jurisdictions on it. However, it was ocuppied by Vietnam in 1956 and Japan in 1974.
Some countries would call Xisha Island as Paracel Islands, which was origined form Portuguese word “Parcel”, meaning rock in English. It was part of the silkroad on the sea, ships loaded with china, silk and spices came and went in this area . Thanks to its unique geographical location, it is abundant with various precicous fish. Every year tons of fishermen would come here and hunt fish.
One thing is for sure, travelling to Xisha Islands definitely would be something special. You need to prepare well before the trip, getting enough food in case you can’t find any on the island. Despite all the delicious seafood you’re going to have, don’t set up your expectation for food too high, remember it’s all the beautiful view matters.
Yongxing Island is the largest island of all Xisha islands. One thing you can not miss is the coconut forests on the island, also known as “Xisha General Forests”. Each tree is planted by a Chinese general, with their name on it. Walking it it and feeling the gentle breeze brushing off the face, it would be perfect if you have a nice hammock for a short nap.
There is a museum built by military on the island, Xisha Sea Museum. It is composed with 8 exhibitions hall which are sea turtles and lobsters hall, sea fish specimen hall, coral hall, pictures hall and others. Very interesting to spend some time in it. One thing you need to keep in mind is that tourists can only live on Yongxing island and they have limited time of using fresh water. If you want to take some special memory with you, go to the postal office on Beingjing road. It is the southernmost post office in China so the postmark from it can be pretty rare.
Qilianyu Island is of great fun as well. It is filled with nice tropical plants with amazing ocean view. What makes it different is that you can get a rare fish with red color from here. This is the paradise for fishing lovers. Sea fishing is way interesting. Go fishing on a sailing boat is very popular on the island. Some lucky tourist can even hook up a meter long fish. Not only that, the sea water is crystal clear, every year thousands scuba divers would come here and enjoy some time under the water.