A lush forested corner of the Big Jinshan Island Photo: Courtesy of Sheng Yongchang
Shanghai has three major islands well-known to most inhabitants: the huge Chongming Island (China's third largest island), Changxing Island and Hengsha Island. But most people are unaware of the other 21 uninhabited islands which are scattered around the city. Until 2008 many of these didn't have names, although local fishermen had terms for them all. But in 2008 the
Shanghai municipal government officially named these 21 islands for the first time.
The largest of these islands is the 420-square-kilometer Jiuduansha, which lies at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Jigujiao Island is the smallest and is about the size of three basketball courts.
The
Shanghai Morning Post reported in 2007 that the
Shanghai municipal government said that these mostly small and uninhabited islands would not be rented out for development like other islands in neighboring provinces because there were so few.
Last year the State Oceanic Administration published a list of 176 uninhabited islands across the country which had been approved for development for tourism, transportation, industry or fishing. There were no
Shanghai islands on that list.
Individuals, organizations or companies including foreign companies and organizations can apply for leases to develop these islands although the lease periods are restricted to 50 years.
An environmental report conducted by the
Shanghai Municipal Oceanic Bureau has targeted three of Shanghai's uninhabited islands, the three Jinshan islands, as the islands most likely to be developed and opened over the next five years.
Well-protected
The 45-square-kilometer three Jinshan islands are 11.4 kilometers from the port in southern Jinshan district. They incorporate Big Jinshan Island, Small Jinshan Island and Fushan Island.
The ocean authority's report, the first major environmental evaluation of the three Jinshan islands over the past 10 years, concluded that this was the best-protected area in
Shanghai for the conservation of plant life.
The three Jinshan islands were established as Shanghai's first nature reserve in 1993. The islands have the highest elevation (105 meters above sea level) in Shanghai, rich and abundant plant life and the cleanest environment to be found in the city.
Many plant species that have been pronounced extinct on the mainland can be found here. Sheng Yongchang, the editor-in-chief of the Jinshan News, said that for a long time they were the virgin areas of the city.
The islands were formed in the 12th century when they split from the mainland. The most recent human activity on the islands goes back to 1965, when a branch of the engineering corps of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) moved to Big Jinshan Island to maintain a garrison there. In 1977 the army left the island and since then two guardians have been the only regular residents there.
In 1988 naturalists released 10 macaques onto the island as a research project. It seems that the monkeys have taken to island life enthusiastically and now a tribe of 150 macaques roams there though some are collected annually and taken away for research.
About seven and a half kilometers from Big Jinshan Island lies Small Jinshan Island which in the 1950s was a training base and bombing range for the PLA navy. The island also served as an ammunition store and there are still unexploded shells around the area.
Sharing with monkeys
Back on the big island two Jinshan villagers share the space there with the monkeys and the wildlife, acting as guardians. At present 62-year-old Lu Jinkui and 55-year-old Wu Boren are on duty, feeding and checking on the monkeys.
They, along with another pair of villagers, each take turns spending 15-day shifts on the island. It has meant that they only get to spend half of their Spring Festivals with their families, the other times they have to share the festival with the island and the monkeys.
It could be one of the most peaceful jobs in the city - although they say it is also one of the most boring. On the island, the guardians are almost completely cut off from the outside world. There is no electricity, gas or drinking water. The only communications available are with cellphones which can only be used after a climb to the top of the island's peak which the men do at scheduled times during the day.
The guardians live in one of the surviving army buildings and their sole entertainment source is a radio. The hardest times come in the typhoon season when the fierce winds and storms are unpredictable and dangerous.
Their main duties are ensuring there are no fires on the island and watching for intruders or misguided tourists who might want to land and feed the monkeys. They get up at 4 am every day to feed the monkeys and then patrol for the rest of the day.
"The biggest problem for us in the beginning was the loneliness, especially at night," Lu told the Global Times. When he first came to the island six years ago, he could not get used to the surroundings, constantly waking during night and being unable to get back to sleep.
"But once I got used to the job it became a wonderful way to work. I watch the waves and play with the monkeys every day. But still whenever we see the lights across the water we miss our homes," Wu said.
Exploring the ecology
The
Shanghai Municipal Oceanic Bureau conducts an ecological survey on Big Jinshan Island every 10 years. From last July experts from the bureau, the
Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the
Shanghai Science and Technology Museum have been exploring the ecology of the island.
Gao Rufeng, an officer from the bureau's research department, was one of the experts involved in the survey and explained that the study had found that much of the ecology of the island remained well-preserved although there were warning signs of the effects of pollution.
The survey found 224 kinds of plants and 156 animal and insect species thought to be extinct on the mainland had been discovered on the island.
"In general the environment on the island has been well-protected. However, we found some locations had higher levels of lead pollution than 10 years ago," Gao said.
Gao said that this might be related to emissions and waste water discharged from two nearby major industrial zones, the Sinopec
Shanghai Petrochemical Company and the
Shanghai Caojing Chemical Industry Park.
The experts also discovered potentially polluting garbage apparently left by some unauthorized fishermen or visitors. Compared to Big Jinshan Island, Gao said they knew very little about Small Jinshan Island. "Nobody knows how many unexploded bombs remain on the island and no one dares explore it," Gao said.
But there are plans to clean the island up and a bomb clearing project will begin in 2014. "In the future the islands will be set aside for scientific research or to develop moderate-sized tourism sites," Gao said.
Gao said that as the core nature reserve, Big Jinshan Island will not be opened to the public. Small Jinshan Island and Fushan Island and their surrounding areas could be centers for boating tourism.
The Jinshan district government built a jetty for boats to leave from to visit the three Jinshan islands in 2009. Yang Jianrong, the head of Jinshan district, told local media in April that the district government was putting a proposal to the municipal government to launch a tourism sea route linking the Jinshan islands with Donghai Bridge and
Hangzhou Bay Bridge.
"A development plan for the islands has been placed on the government's agenda and the key issue now is how to develop this properly," Gao said.
Act with caution
Associate professor Fu Quansheng from the Sustainable Tourism Management Department at East China Normal University has been observing the Jinshan islands' protection and development projects for a while and suggests that any development must proceed cautiously.
"The ecological systems of these uninhabited islands are very fragile. Human activities could have an irreversible effect on the islands' ecological systems," Fu said.
Fu is not suggesting that there be no development at all. "But we should treat the different islands differently and the government should guide development carefully. For example, with the three Jinshan islands, the main intention of the nature reserve is to protect and not develop. If there has to be development, it must come after professional scientific research has been completed," the professor said.
In 2011 China had 6,900 registered uninhabited islands, but only 900 of these were developed, according to the Southern Weekend.
The State Oceanic Administration has also admitted that there was little public awareness of the importance of the ecological protection and scientific research being conducted on the islands.
