中國人在南中國海區域的活動有二千年以上的歷史。自明淸以來中國漁民常去那廣 大的海域捕魚，海域中的東沙、西沙和南沙三大群島的諸島嶼也成爲他們經常活動的場 所。他們會在島上蓋臨時性的工寮，同時爲了宗敎信仰，也會蓋祠廟。文中所謂r祠」， 又稱「兄弟所」，是供奉他們在海上死難親友的鬼魂；「廟」是供奉神明。 本文寫作的基本資料中，有作者親自前往東沙島和南沙太平島做考古學田野調査的 成果；無法實地調査的島嶼，則是應用蒐集而得的文獻。所有的記錄，共有祠廟31座， 分別出現在22處島嶼上。其中確實知道其所供奉的對象者有26座；分別爲：土地公廟 10座，兄弟所9座，媽祖廟4座，關公廟、海神廟、觀音堂各1座。供奉神明廟中，媽 祖與諸神明的數量少於土地廟的原因，可能是因爲每艘漁船上通常都有供奉海神類的神 龕，因而不儘然要在島上另蓋神廟。在南中國海諸島上，僅見到中國人蓋的祠廟，並未 見到東南亞其他鄰國的祠廟。雖然文獻中有法國人曾經在西沙群島的永興島上蓋了一座 「黃沙寺」的記載，但未言明供奉的是何鬼神。可知中國人乃是南中國海區域中活動最頻 繁的人群。

The Chinese have been active in the South China Sea for more than 2,000 years. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chinese fishermen often fished the three archipelagoes of Dongsha Practas, Xisha Paracel, and Nansha Spratly. Consistent with their religious beliefs, these Chinese fishermen built shrines and temples on these islands. The shrines are used to making offerings to the ghosts of people who perished at sea, while the temples are used for making offerings to the gods. Thirty-one shrines and temples on 22 islands were identified either through documentation in the literature or first hand fieldwork. Of the 31 shrines and temples, only 26 make clear the spirit worshipped. The largest number of structures for any one spirit is ten, for the Earth diety tudigong. Secondly, nine sites are for the worship of ghosts of ubrothers,> {hsiung-ti-so). A few others worship Mazu, Guangong, the thousand-arm Guanyin, and other sea gods. The disparity in numbers between the different spirits is probably because fishing vessels often have small altars or niches for the worship of the sea god with no need for another place of worship on land. With one exception, all temples and shrines in the South China Sea are Chinese and there are no temples or shrines from other Southeast Asian nations. The exepction is a French Huangsha Si (Huangsha Temple on Yongxing Island in the Xisha isles). However, the Chinese are still the most active group in the South China Sea islands.