There are several islands along the east side of Zhuhai. One small archipelago bears the name Jiuzhou (Liedao) (九洲列島), which means ‘Nine Islands’. In ancient times, its name was Jiuxing (Zhoushan) (九星洲山), literally ‘Nine Stars’. The sea near this archipelago is known as the Jiuxingyang (九星洋) or Jiuzhouyang (九洲洋). Traditional Chinese texts and maps provide information on both the islands and the sea, but they do not always record their geographical positions correctly. Thus, in some cases, they locate these entities at some distance from old Xiangshan (香山), in the open sea, and not near the Lingdingyang (伶仃洋). The present article examines references to these toponyms in local chronicles, maps and other works, mainly of the Ming period. This involves the discussion of various names, the symbolic dimensions associated with the ‘Nine Stars’, and the possible conceptual relations between two worlds: the islands near the Xiangshan coast and those in the South China Sea.