Gulf of Tonkin

Gulf of Tonkin
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
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Běibù Wān Dōngjīng Wān Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Bak1 bou6 waan1 Dung1 ging1 waan1 Southern Min Hainanese Romanization Pak-pōe oân Tang-kiann oân
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,^[1] 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.^[2][3]