In which dynasty was the South China Sea and its islands formally incorporated into Chinese territory?

The South China Sea in China has experienced a long history from obscurity to fame, and the evolution of dynasties.

The title of "South China Sea" first appeared in the chapter of "Gong Yu" in Shangshu compiled by ancient literature, and then appeared in "Poetry Jianghan", saying: "It is reasonable to stay in Xinjiang, but as for the South China Sea", its actual situation is unknown, and its scope is inconsistent with the South China Sea mentioned by later generations.

In the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, the name of the South China Sea was very close to that of today's South China Sea. According to the research of the world, The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of Hainan South (Volume 5) written by people in Zhou and Qin Dynasties recorded that "stagnant water came out of the South China Sea of Xiangling" and flowed into the South China Sea of Xijiang River in Guangdong. However, this understanding has not yet become a unified understanding of people. During Qin Shihuang's reign, the upper echelons of Qin did not know the location of the South China Sea. For example, Qin Shihuang went to Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province to offer sacrifices to Dayu, and the record left by his men was "offering sacrifices to Dayu and looking at the South China Sea from afar". The South China Sea mentioned in this sentence is actually the East China Sea of China. In the 23rd year of Qin Shihuang (2 14), Qin unified Lingnan (also known as Lvliang) and established Nanhai County in Guangdong today. After the Western Han Dynasty, the orientation of the East China Sea was not localized. From this time on, the South China Sea mentioned in the history books is equivalent to the South China Sea today.

By the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yang copied the Record of Foreign Bodies, which recorded that "the sea head rises and the water is shallow and magnetic". According to the characteristics of large-scale tidal fluctuations in the South China Sea, the author calls the South China Sea the rising sea for the first time, and the Sakatu Islands in the South China Sea the South China Sea magnet reef and shoal.

By the Song Dynasty, the South China Sea Islands had a new name. "Song Hui Yao Jizi Station Guo Cheng" and "Shitang" are also called South China Sea Islands. There are many names about the Xisha Islands: The Collection of Wu Jing edited by Ceng Gongliang in the Northern Song Dynasty is called "Jiuru Luozhou"; Song Lian's Biography of Shi Bi, edited by Yuan people, is called Seven Continents, and Zhou Qufei's Answer to the Generation Outside the Ridge is called Changsha.

The South China Sea Islands in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had a new name. Shi Xing in Mao's "Wu Bei Zhi" in Ming Dynasty refers to today's zhongsha islands, while Chen Lunjiong's Nan 'ao Qi in Qing Dynasty refers to dongsha islands and Nansha Islands. The Records of Qiongzhou County written by Niu Tiansu and others in the Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty quoted Gu Zhiyun: "The diplomatic sea connects Wulisu to Bozhou, while the city is occupied in the south, with Zhenla in the west, Changsha in the east and Leizhou and xuwen county in the north." This means that the South China Sea Islands are thousands of miles of Changsha and thousands of miles of stone ponds. These names refer to the South China Sea Islands in China. It was not until 1935 that the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea were called "Tuansha Islands", and it was not until 1947 and 1983 that their names were announced as "Nansha Islands". Nansha Islands are also called Nanwei Island, or Changsha Islands. The above is an overview of the names of the islands in the South China Sea.

From the perspective of world history, it was the ancient China people who first discovered, managed and ruled the South China Sea Islands. This has constituted possession with legal effect. This is well documented in history. This paper briefly describes the order of dynasties.

Qin Dynasty (2265438 BC+0 BC-206 BC)-It is said that our ancestors discovered the South China Sea Islands in the Qin Dynasty, and Qin Shihuang set up three counties in Lingnan, namely Nanhai, Guilin and Hunan, all of which are close to the edge of the South China Sea, so it is natural to carry out political management and defense on the nearby waters. Secondly, Wang Hengjie, a scholar from China Frontier University, discovered Qin and Han hard pottery pieces with rice patterns on Taiping Island, the largest island in Nansha Islands, in 1992. This shows that Nansha Islands were first discovered by China people in ancient times. At that time, Nansha was still ownerless, and only China people "originally acquired". This is of great legal significance.

During the Han Dynasty-Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-250 AD), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established Zhu Ya and Boer County on Hainan Island in the South China Sea, and paid more attention to the defense of the South China Sea. At that time, there were no countries around the South China Sea. According to legend, Ma Yuan, the general of Fu Bo in the Western Han Dynasty, visited the Xisha Islands during his expedition to the south (according to The Complete Works of Hainan Province). During the Western Han Dynasty, the relationship between South China Sea Islands and Chinese mainland became closer and closer. The Records of Foreign Objects written by Yang Fu in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220) recorded the understanding of China people about the South China Sea and its islands at that time or before: "The sea head rises, the water is shallow, and there are many magnets", and "rising the sea" is a general term for the South China Sea by ancient China people; "Mooring head" is a general term for islands, reefs, beaches and sandbars in ancient China. This is also evidence that China people discovered Nansha Islands before the first century AD.

During the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220-265), it was recorded in the Record of Foreign Bodies in Zhou Nan written by Wan Zhen, a native of the State of Wu: "The sentence travels 800 miles to the canon, with an estuary, southwest and northeast, and many magnets" (Taiping Yulan) (Volume 790). This is a record of the sailing direction, distance and sea conditions of the people who managed the Nansha Islands in ancient China. It is also recorded in the book that "the tortoise was born in the South China Sea ..." There is practice first, and then there are words, which is obviously a record of the commercial (including fishing) activities of ancient China people in the South China Sea.

Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420)-Fa Xian, a famous monk in China, crossed the whole South China Sea when he returned to China from India. His book "The Story of the Buddha" records the voyage from India and Sri Lanka to Guangzhou, in which it takes only 50 days to travel from Java to the South China Sea. This shows that China people had already opened a route across the South China Sea during the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589), mainlanders were active in the Xisha Islands. The evidence is that archaeologists found more than 2,000 pieces of Liu Ertan, pottery rings and Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing ceramics (produced in Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi and other places) during the Southern and Northern Dynasties on eleven islands and reefs of Xisha Islands. (Complete Works of Hainan Province)

Sui Dynasty (581-618)-China people also lived in the Xisha Islands (see the picture above for proof). In addition, Chang Jun and Wang were sent to the red soil country via the South China Sea Islands.

Tang Dynasty (618-907)-China people were active not only in the Xisha Islands, but also in other South China Sea islands. Evidence: (1) See above; (2) Tang porcelain was found in the South China Sea Islands; (3) Geography of Old Tang Dynasty records: "Zhou Zhen (now Sanya, Hainan) ... faces the sea to the south, 27 miles to the southeast and a thousand miles to the southwest". It refers to the South China Sea Islands. This is another evidence that the South China Sea Islands have been formally incorporated into Chinese territory since the Tang Dynasty, thus establishing sovereignty and accelerating marine development.

Song Dynasty (960-1279)-After the Song Dynasty, China people named the South China Sea for the first time. For example, Song Hui Huilu ... For a few days, the Lord occupied the city boundary, and on the tenth day, he crossed the ocean. There is a stone pond in the southeast, named Wan Li, whose ocean is deep or shallow, with steep reefs and capsized boats. "The shitang here refers to the Nansha Islands. Since then, history books often refer to the South China Sea Islands with the names of "Thousand Miles of Changsha and Thousand Miles of Stone Ponds", which is the evidence that the ancient people of China exercised jurisdiction over the South China Sea. Since then, with the increase of navigation practice, China people have given more names to the South China Sea.

During the Song Dynasty, Zhou was an official in Lingnan for many years. In his later years, he wrote a book, "Answering Foreign Generations in the Ridge", specifically pointing out that there are tens of thousands of stone ponds in Changsha and the land of China (Answering Foreign Generations in the Ridge). The "foreign generation" here is "crossing the ocean", which is now the Beibu Gulf. The boundary between Jiaozhi Ocean and Kunlun Ocean (the sea area near Kunhua Island in Vietnam today) is the boundary between China and Vietnam, which is of great significance for establishing the sovereignty of the South China Sea Islands as China. According to textual research, Emperor Duanzong of Southern Song Dynasty fled to Xisha Islands.

From the Yuan Dynasty (1206- 1368) to the 29th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1292), the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty sent general Shi Bi to lead an expedition to Java with 5,000 troops. According to textual research, this fleet first attacked through the waters near Xisha, and may also include Nansha today. Although it failed to achieve its goal, it did not. In the 16th year of Zhiyuan (1279), Guo Shoujing, a famous astronomer in China, was ordered by Yuan Shizu to preside over the nationwide "Four Seas Experiment" and went to an island in the South China Sea to observe its latitude, and achieved remarkable results. This is an important event in the history of astronomical survey and the development of the South China Sea.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)-According to Wang Zuo's Notes on Qiongtai (lost), Wanzhou was in charge of Changsha and Shitang in the Ming Dynasty, and the navy commanded "more than 10,000 troops and 50 huge ships" to patrol the South China Sea. Establish the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the Ming government over the South China Sea Islands and their sea areas. Zheng He, a famous navigator in China, led hundreds of thousands of people across the South China Sea on dozens of huge ships and sent them to western countries as far away as West Asia and East Africa.

In the Qing Dynasty (Ai Xinjue Roche1616-1911), a book circulated by the people in the early Qing Dynasty recorded 73 place names and their locations in Nansha Islands. Place names are spelled in Hainan dialect, but they are used by foreigners, that is, they are spelled into foreign languages and recorded on their published charts. Chen Lunjiong, the commander-in-chief of the Yongzheng period in the Qing Dynasty, wrote a "History of the Sea" with a "General Map of the Four Seas", which is an earlier map of the South China Sea islands that can be seen now. The South China Sea Islands were clearly divided into four islands, and later various works were reprinted. In the records of Qiongzhou Prefecture in Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, Nansha Islands were incorporated into Chinese territory, and China had obtained "jurisdiction".

During the Republic of China (1912-1949), China officially announced the names of the South China Sea Islands twice: 1935 announced the Chinese-English comparison table of 96 names of Nansha Islands; 1947 announced the comparison table of new and old Chinese and foreign names of Nansha Islands. Since ancient times, no country in the world has systematically named the names of places under the sovereignty of the South China Sea Islands. In short, during the period of the Republic of China, the China government has drawn a map to show the world that the South China Sea Islands are the sacred territory of China. 1946 the China government recovered the Nansha islands from the Japanese invaders.

During the People's Republic of China (PRC) period (1949, 10,1-today), after the founding of the New China, some islands in the South China Sea were liberated and further managed and governed. The navy of New China guards the South China Sea Islands and sticks to the maritime boundary of the motherland.

The above historical facts show that only the people of China are the masters of the South China Sea Islands. It has been more than 2000 years since the "de facto master" was incorporated into its territory and became the "legal master". In the process of discovery, naming, development, management and even management of the South China Sea Islands, there are countless hardworking and brave people in China who have fought against evil waves and dangerous waves with dauntless spirit. In the sea, their blood and sweat are everywhere on the islands and reefs, and even their lives are sacrificed. Now there are graves and temples of lonely souls on the South China Sea Islands, making the South China Sea Islands an inseparable part of the territory and sovereignty of the great motherland. There is no doubt that the South China Sea Islands are the sacred territory of China. Countless China ancestors sweated profusely and even died in the South China Sea. It is intolerable to get your hands on foreign countries.