Hsi-sha

A form of Xisha — Synonym of Paracel Islands: the Mandarin Chinese-derived name.

OriginMandarin 西沙 →
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Meanings

proper noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of Xisha.

    The group in the west is called the Hsi-sha Islands. It is located to the southeast of the Hainan Island, about 330 kilometers from the famous fishing bay of the Hainan Island, the Yu-lin Bay. It is composed of a large group of islands, islets, shoals, and reefs.

    吳晗

    1963 March 28 [1962], Ch'en Tung-k'ang (7115 2767 1660) [陳棟康], “Our Country's South Sea Archipelagoes”, in Wu Han (0702 2498) [吳晗], editor, Our Country's South Sea Archipelagoes, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Wo-kuo Ti Nan-hai Chu-tao^([sic – meaning Chun-tao]), Pei-ping, 1962, pages 1-32, translation of original in Chinese, →OCLC, page 3
    2 more examples

    Unlike the East China sea, which is devoid of islands, the South China sea is speckled with a vast number of islands and reefs. These are part of the Pratas group (Tung-sha) the Paracel (Hsi-sha Ch’ün-tao group), Macclesfield (Chung-sha bank), and the Spratly (Nan-sha group), all of which are claimed by the People's Republic of China.

    1964, Theodore Shabad, “CHINA SEA”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 5, →OCLC, page 612, column 2

    Since then, there have been disputes over the question of ownership of the Hsi-sha and Nan-sha islands. The navy of the Nguyen Van Thieu Regime even fought with us at Hsi-sha, ending in a disastrous defeat for them. The Chiang Kai-shek clique now occupies some of the Nan-sha islands.

    1979, “Problems with Socialist Countries”, in King C. Chen, editor, China and the Three Worlds: A Foreign Policy Reader, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 273

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
paracel islands

Origin

  1. Mandarin西沙
  2. EnglishHsi-sha

From Mandarin 西沙 (Xīshā) Wade–Giles romanization: Hsi¹-sha¹.

More words from Mandarin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Hsi-sha. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hsi-sha

MLA

“Hsi-sha.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hsi-sha. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hsi-sha,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hsi-sha.

Source: Hsi-sha on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.