Macclesfield Bank is an elongated sunken
atoll of underwater reefs and shoals in the
South China Sea. It lies east of the
Paracel Islands, southwest of the
Pratas Islands and north of the
Spratly Islands. Its length exceeds southwest-northeast, with a maximal width of more than . With an ocean area of within the outer rim of the reef, although completely submerged without any emergent cays or islets, it is one of the largest atolls of the world. The Macclesfield Bank is part of what the PRC call the
Zhongsha Islands, which includes a number of geographically separate submarine features, and also refers to a county-level administrative division.