The small island that China tried its best to take back was seriously reduced in the area of the two strong typhoons, and this small island is Zhongjian Island. Zhongjian Island is located in the southernmost part of China's Xisha Islands, east of Huaguang Reef, more than 170 kilometers away from the main island of the Xisha Islands, the altitude of the entire island is only about two meters, the land area is only about 1.2 square kilometers, originally there were about 1.5, but because of wind and wave erosion, there are now about 1.2 kilometers. At high tide, it engulfs most of the island, and at its smallest, it is only the size of two football fields. So why does our country do our best to get such an island back, and why does it make the area of the island more and less?
At first, Zhongjian Island was not called Zhongjian Island, but Tulaitang Island. In 1946, the Republic of China warship "Zhongjian Island" took over the island, so in 1947 the island was named Zhongjian Island, and in 1974, the Battle of the Paracel Islands allowed us to take back the island. In the 1970s, it was the war of self-defense against Vietnam, when Vietnam was eyeing our Paracel Islands and launching an attack on Zhongjian Island, saving our small island and letting Zhongjian Island be under our actual control. What is the role of such a small island? Located in the southernmost part of the Paracel Islands, just over 200 kilometers from mainland Vietnam, Zhongjian Island is the main transportation route to Southeast Asia. Whether it is in the air or on land or sea, Zhongjian Island is a transportation hub, and the fish resources around Zhongjian Island are very rich, and our fishermen often fish in the nearby waters. In addition to fish resources, oil and gas resources are also very rich, and it is regarded as one of the important bases for China to provide oil and gas energy in the future, so china will make such a great effort to take this small island back to our hands.
This small island is a notoriously desert island, and before no one was stationed, it can be said to be a veritable desert island, with no grass on the island, not even a coconut tree common on the seashore. The main reason for the lack of vegetation is that Zhongjian Island is a sand island, which is easily taken away from the sand on the island under the erosion of the waves, and soil erosion leads to a gradual reduction in the area of the island. Secondly, the altitude of this island is really too low, the highest place is only about two meters, and it is in a place that is very easy to be ravaged by typhoons, there are winds and waves, and it is not surprising that the area is reduced under the wash of the sea breeze and waves. In fact, it is not these daily small winds and waves that have led to the serious reduction of the entire island area, because after we recovered the island, we have already planted trees on it, and specially selected plants suitable for planting on the sandy land and small islands, of which the plants that play a key role are mangroves.
Mangroves are a tree species that can resist the waves, and after a year of heavy waves on the seashore, the areas where mangroves grow are much more affected than the locations where mangroves are not planted, so mangroves are planted on Zhongjian Island. However, on a small island with no grass all year round, it is not easy to plant trees, and under the efforts of people day after day, they have overcome various difficulties before planting on Zhongjian Island and forming a mangrove forest. In 2009, a super typhoon destroyed more than half of the mangroves that had been painstakingly planted for decades, causing severe damage. Under this typhoon, the area of Zhongjian Island was taken away again, and the typhoon did not cause substantial damage to Zhongjian Island itself, but these damaged trees needed to spend a lot of time replanting. What really caused substantial damage to The China Construction Guide was the 2013 typhoon, which blew away the sand one or two meters deep in the sand, directly taking away a large area of sand, resulting in a rapid reduction in the area of Zhongjian Island, and after measurement, the area was even reduced by 20%.
However, after so many years of construction, the current situation of Zhongjian Island is much better than when it was hit by typhoons in 13 years, and the vegetation has been re-established. Through various windproof and sand fixation technologies, the sand retention rate of Zhongjian Island has increased, because of the continuous afforestation, it can now be said that the trees are green. The location of Zhongjian Island determines its importance in our strategic planning, but its location also leads to certain risks in developing it. Because a storm that does not know when may take away the fruits of people's hard work. However, with the development of society, whether it is the vegetation planted or the means of preventing soil erosion on it, it can alleviate the chance of the island being swallowed up by wind and waves. There were also large oil explorers exploring the periphery, so its importance is self-evident, and it is also part of our land, and its size also affects our land area. The development of Zhongjian Island is getting better and better now, so let's look forward to the next step for it.