The dashed line was first shown in 1947 on a map entitled “Map of South China Sea Islands” published by the government of the Republic of China. With 11 dashes at the time, it encompassed most of the South China Sea. The Chinese communist party adopted the map in 1949, but removed two dashes to give the Gulf of Tonkin to communist Vietnam as a courtesy. Within the dashes were key archipelagos—including the disputed Spratly and the Paracel islands—and various other features, including the Scarborough Shoal, a set of coral reefs near the Philippines.