Administration

of Taishan County

30 September 2003

County, City and Prefecture

Taishan is one of five counties within the prefecture of Jiangmen whose capital is Jiangmen City, and was historically one of the four Sze Yap Counties. These were the Counties of Taishan, Enping, Xinhui (previously Sunwei) and Kaiping. In Cantonese, it is transliterated as Toishan, and occasionally as Toisan or Toisaan.

Taishan County was founded in 1499 as Xinning County (新寧縣), which was variously transliterated as Sunning, Sinning, Hsinning or Hsînnîng. In 1914, Xinning was renamed Taishan to avoid confusion with the Xinnings of Hunan and Sichuan Provinces. On the 17^th April 1992, Taishan's status was upgraded from a county to a city.

Taishan City (台山 Pinyin: Tàishān) is located 140 kilometres west of Hong Kong and 100 kilometres south-west of Guangzhou. It lies along the coastline of Guangdong Province in the southwest corner of the Pearl River Delta, with an area of 3,286 km², and containing 95 islands, including the largest island in Guangdong, the 98km² Xiachuan Island (下川岛).

Townships

The county was divided into 28 townships (镇) until late 2001, when these were reduced to twenty, namely:

Baisha (白沙镇) - Mainly low hills and farmland.
Beidou (北陡镇) - Separated from the other townships by Zhenhai Bay Inlet (镇海湾).
Chixi (赤溪镇) - Volcanic mud pools known as the "Longtan Boiling Ink".
Dajiang (大江镇)
Doushan (斗山镇)
Duhu (都斛镇)
Guanghai (广海镇) - Yu's Stone House dating from imperial times, and the Hailongwan Holiday Resort on the west coast.
Haiyan (海宴镇) - Overseas Chinese farm (华侨农场).
Nafu (那扶镇)
Ruifen (端芬镇)
Sanba (三八镇)
Sanhe (三合镇) - Hot springs and the Mount Baizu Cemetery.
Shangchuan (上川镇) - Feisha Beach Resort on the eastern shores of the island and a declared Tourism Open Integrated Experimental Zone (旅游开发综合试验区).
Shenjing (深井镇) - Jiyin Pavilion and Dalongdong Reservoir.
Shuibu (水步镇) - One of the more industrialized townships.
Sijiu (四九镇) - Forest and farm land, the Shibi Pool and the Mount Beifeng Forest Park.
Taicheng (台城镇) - County capital, and main centre for government, culture, economics and transport, with an area of 18 km² and a population of over 130,000, subdivided into nine wards, three in the city and six in the suburbs. Two notable pagodas, one overlooking the city and an ancient one called the Lingyuan Pagoda.
Wencun (汶村镇)
Xiachuan (下川镇) - Wangfuzhou Tourist Centre on the western shores of the island and a declared Tourism Open Integrated Experimental Zone (旅游开发综合试验区).
Zhonglou (冲蒌镇)

Villages

These townships are further subdivided into 503 residential wards (村居委会) and 3655 villages (自然村).

Traditionally the villages tended to be populated by one or at most two lineages.

In particular:

Annanjianchao (安南江潮村) of Duoshan Township is the ancestral home of Sir Julius Chan, a former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea.
Jilong is the ancestral home of Gary Locke, a Governor of Washington State. This small fish and rice farming village in Shuibu Township was settled in 1715 by the Liu clan, amongst others, and lies on the southern banks of the Pearl River Delta. The villagers have a tradition of emigrating in order to improve their lot in life.
Nanwan is an important fishing port on the south coast harbouring some 353 deep-sea fishing boats, and was one of the port forced opened to foreign trade.
Shadi is an important fishing port on the south-west shores of Shangchuan Township.
Tang Mien Pao in the far north adjacent to the Xinhui border was the home village of Louis Ah Mouy, who is credited with attracting many to the newly discovered goldfields of Victoria in the 1850s.