Gulf of Tonkin
| Gulf of Tonkin | |||||||||||||||
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True color satellite image of the Gulf of Tonkin | |||||||||||||||
Geographic location | |||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 北部灣 東京灣 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 北部湾 东京湾 | ||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Northern Gulf Gulf of Tonkin | ||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | Vịnh Bắc Bộ Vịnh Bắc Phần Vịnh Đông Kinh Vịnh Bắc Việt | ||||||||||||||
| Chữ Hán | 泳北部 泳北份 泳東京 泳北越 | ||||||||||||||
The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of 126,250 km2 (48,750 sq mi). It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern coastline of Vietnam down to the Cồn Cỏ district, in the north by China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and to the east by the Leizhou Peninsula and Hainan Island.
English sources from the People's Republic of China refer to the Gulf of Tonkin as Beibu Wan.