Shuangyue Bay is located in Gangkou Town, Huidong County, Huizhou City, Guangdong Province. It is formed by two adjacent half-moon-shaped bays along Dayawan and Honghaiwan, resembling two crescent moons when viewed from above, hence the name “Shuangyue Bay,” or Double Moon Bay.
In the sixth month of the first year of the Xiangxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1278), fishermen from the Chaozhou and Lufeng areas began to move into the port area of Shuangyue Bay, establishing Xinliao Village. Between 1938 and 1939, the port area was successively attacked and plundered by Japanese troops and Kuomintang forces, forcing some residents to flee to Hong Kong for refuge. In October 1963, the Xiaoxingshan Battle Martyrs’ Monument was completed, becoming an important site for the continued inheritance of the spirit of the Gangkou militia company. Shuangyue Bay consists of two half-moon-shaped bays: the gentle and calm shores of Dayawan and the rough, wave-swept coast of Honghaiwan. Its scenic spots include the Huidong Port Sea Turtle Nature Reserve in the southern part of the beach, the Daxingshan Battery, and the Xiaoxingshan Battle Martyrs’ Monument.
Shuangyue Bay has hot summers, mild springs and autumns, and comfortable winters. The annual average temperature is 23°C, with 2,073 hours of sunshine per year. Rainfall is abundant, with an annual average precipitation of 1,780 mm and a relative humidity of 81%.
In the southern part of Shuangyue Bay lies the Sea Turtle Nature Reserve, a coastal wetland area. Herbaceous plants such as Ipomoea pes-caprae, Galactia striata, and Panicum repens, as well as shrubs such as Vitex trifolia, Pandanus tectorius, Hibiscus tiliaceus, and Scaevola sericea, grow along the sandy shores, providing a quiet egg-laying environment for sea turtles. The wetland is home to green sea turtles, loggerhead turtles, olive ridley turtles, hawksbill turtles, and leatherback turtles, all of which are first-class nationally protected animals in China. In addition to sea turtles, the area supports 400 species of fish; three orders, eight families, and 14 species of amphibians and reptiles; eight orders, 19 families, and 29 species of birds; and three orders, four families, and four species of mammals. Among them, six species are listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and are also first-class protected species in China.
In 2002, the Gangkou Sea Turtle Nature Reserve was included in the List of Wetlands of International Importance. In November 2015, the Shuangyue Bay Sea Turtle Bay Nature Reserve was honored as one of the “Ten Most Beautiful Wetlands in Guangdong.”
Nan'ao Island is located in Nan'ao County, Shantou City, Guangdong Province. It borders Zhalin Bay to the north and the South China Sea to the south, lying between 116°56′–117°9′ E and 23°24′–23°29′ N. It is a bedrock continental island, an important habitat for the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, and is known as the “Oriental Hawaii.”
Nan'ao Island covers an area of 117.73 square kilometers and has a coastline of 94.3 kilometers. It lies at the southern end of the Quanzhou–Shantou seismic zone, where two active faults, the Nan'ao–Changle fault and the Huanggang fault, are distributed. The island is dominated by low mountains and eroded hilly terrain, shaped like a gourd, with mostly rocky steep coasts. Its highest peak is Dajian Mountain, at 588.1 meters above sea level.
Nan'ao Island is China’s only national AAAA-level tourist area covering the entire island, and it is the only inhabited island in Nan'ao County. Historically, it has served as a necessary anchorage and transit point for maritime trade along China’s southeastern coast, a major channel for cross-strait and offshore trade between mainland China and Taiwan, and an important node on the Maritime Silk Road. During his seven voyages to the Western Seas, Zheng He passed through Nan'ao five times, and the island has also been frequently mentioned in the history of Chinese and world navigation.