Meanings
Sansha1
- A prefecture-level city of Hainan, China (claimed areas encompass areas administered or claimed by Brunei, China (PRC), Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan (ROC), and Vietnam).First known use 21st c.
The PRC has also used lawfare to bolster its territorial claims in the South China Sea by designating the village of Sansha, located on the disputed Paracel Islands, as a Hainan Prefecture in an attempt to extend PRC control far into the region.
2020, Kerry K. Gershaneck, Political Warfare: Strategies for Combating China’s Plan to “Win without Fighting”, Quantico, VA: Marine Corps University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 203 more examples
In 2007 Beijing established the new Sansha municipality in Hainan Province, which has jurisdiction over three islets that Vietnam claims in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagos. This led to large-scale protest demonstrations outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi.
2009, Martin Jacques, When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 294As recently as June 2012, Vietnam passed a maritime law reasserting its sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands and delimiting its maritime claims for both.²²⁰ On the same day, in response to this challenge to its claimed sovereignty, China upgraded the status of Sansha City. Vietnam and the Philippines expectedly protested but, unusually, so did the United States.²²¹
2014 June, Clarence J. Bouchat, The Paracel Islands and U.S. Interests and Approaches in the South China Sea, Carlisle, PA: United States Army War College Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 42On Saturday it said it had established an administrative district on the Paracel islands and another on the Spratly islands. The two districts are under the control of China’s Sansha city, according to China Global Television Network. “The establishment of the so-called Sansha City and related activities seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty,” Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement.
2020 April 19, “Vietnam protests Beijing's expansion in disputed South China Sea”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2020
Sansha2
- A town in Xiapu, Ningde, Fujian, ChinaFirst known use 20th c.
Boats are moored to take shelter in waters off Sansha town in Xiapu county in southeastern China's Fujian province on Monday.
2020 August 4, “Typhoon Hagupit hits east China and heads towards Shanghai”, in South China Morning Post, archived from the original on 04 Aug 20204 more examples
Sansha Bay, 62 miles north of Foochow, is one of the good harbors on the China coast. It has deep water and is surrounded on all sides by steep precipices.
1945 May, Notes on the China Coast, volume XIV, number 5, →OCLC, page 22Shelter port on Fukien coast The Sansha [phonetic] storm shelter port in Hsiapu County, Fukien, was completed in September after several years' work.
1963, Summary of World Broadcasts: The Far East Weekly Supplement, number 3, British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service, →OCLC, page 30In order to receive the Taiwan fishermen compatriots, the Fujian Provincial Revolutionary Committee in early 1978 formally established these reception stations at the four fishing ports of Sansha in Xiapu [Hsiapu],[...]The Sansha reception station in Xiapu received 12 Taiwan fishing boats in 1978 and everytime^([sic]) helped repair the boats and engines, provided fuel and drinking water and purchased grain, meat, vegetables and other foods before they departed.
1979, Daily Report: People's Republic of China, numbers 12-22, →ISSN, →OCLCI once went to the farther north coast of Fujian Province, our province's northeast part, Sansha Town of Xiapu County, (三沙镇,霞浦县) where, off the coast, the sea water in some place is bluer than it is here. At that time in Sansha Town, after I saw the blue water and an islet which emerges from the blue sea, so bleak, so solitary that I dreamed a fantastic dream at night: I was like a fish in the deep, unfathomable blue.
Jianhui Gao
2015, 高坚辉 [Jianhui Gao], Stories from Fujian, China, →ISBN, →OCLCSynonyms: Samsa
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA town in Xiapu, Ningde, Fujian, China
Origin
Sansha · proper noun
- Mandarin三沙
- EnglishSansha
From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 三沙 (Sānshā, literally “three sands”), from the three areas of Nansha (南沙 (Nánshā, literally “south sands”)), Xisha (西沙 (Xīshā, literally “west sands”)) and Zhongsha (中沙 (Zhōngshā, literally “central sands”)).
More words from Mandarin
Full word history & related roots →Sansha · proper noun
From Mandarin 三沙 (Sānshā) Wade–Giles romanization: San¹-sha¹, reinforced by Hanyu Pinyin.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 三沙, 三沙
- 三沙 (Sānshā)insular area
- 三沙 (Sānshā)town
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Sansha
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
Sansha. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sansha
“Sansha.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sansha. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Sansha,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sansha.
Source: Sansha on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.