Leizhou Peninsula

A peninsula jutting out from the western edge of Guangdong Province in southern China. It faces the South China Sea to the east, the Gulf of Tonkin to the west, and Hainan Island across the Qiongzhou Strait to the south. The peninsula is made up of a vast plateau, which was once connected to Hainan Island but was separated by a collapse. As it is located south of the Tropic of Cancer along with Hainan Island, it is China's number one place for cultivating tropical and subtropical crops, with many crops such as sugarcane, pepper, tea, coffee, oil palm, sisal, rubber, bananas, pineapples, and mangoes. The rivers on the peninsula are short and irrigation is poor, but water drawn from the Kyushu River is supplied to the northern part of the peninsula, and rice paddies have been developed. However, there are still many fields in the southern part. The coast is rich in seafood, and Zhanjiang (Tanjiang/Changjiang) at the base of the peninsula is an important port for coastal shipping.

[Chieko Aoki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国南部、広東(カントン)省西端に突出する半島。東は南シナ海、西は北部湾（トンキン湾）に臨み、南は瓊州(けいしゅう)海峡を隔てて海南島に対する。半島上は広大な台地からなり、かつて海南島と続いていたものが陥没により分離したといわれる。海南島とともに北回帰線以南に位置するため、中国第一の熱帯・亜熱帯性作物の栽培地で、サトウキビ、コショウ、茶、コーヒー、アブラヤシ、サイザル麻、ゴム、バナナ、パイナップル、マンゴーなどの作物が多い。なお、半島上の河川は短く用水に恵まれなかったが、九州江から引水した水を半島北部に給水し水田も開けた。しかし南部ではまだ畑が多い。沿海は水産物が豊富で、半島の付け根の湛江(たんこう／チャンチヤン)は沿岸航路の要港である。

［青木千枝子］

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