Bohai Sea

Bohai Sea
Chinese	渤海
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Bó Hǎi Wade–Giles Po2 hai3 IPA [pwǒ.xàɪ] Wu Romanization Poh平 hae平 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Buht hói Jyutping But6 hoi2 Southern Min Tâi-lô Phu̍t hái

The Bohai Sea (Chinese: 渤海; pinyin: Bó Hǎi; lit. 'Bo Sea') is a gulf/inland sea approximately 77,000 km² (30,000 sq mi) in area on the east coast of Mainland China.^[1] It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects to the east via the Bohai Strait. It has a mean depth of approximately 18 meters (59 ft), with a maximum depth of about 80 meters (260 ft) located in the northern part of the Bohai Strait.^[2]

The Bohai Sea is enclosed by three provinces and one direct-administered municipality from three different regions of China—Liaoning Province (of Northeast China), Hebei Province and Tianjin Municipality (of North China), and Shandong Province (of East China). It is the center of the Bohai Economic Rim, and its proximity to the Chinese capital of Beijing and the municipality of Tianjin makes it one of the busiest seaways in the world. The entrance to the Bohai Sea is considered a part of the territorial sea of the People's Republic of China due to the presence of the Miaodao islands.^[3][4] China declared the Bohai sea to be part of its inland waters in 1958.^[5]