String of islands off China? (5)
I believe the answer is:
chain
'string of islands' is the definition.
'chain' can be an answer for 'string' (synonyms). I am not certain of the 'of islands' bit.
'off china?' is the wordplay.
'off' indicates an anagram.
'china' with letters rearranged gives 'CHAIN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chain that I've seen before include "Series of things linked together" , "Series of interconnecting links" , "Fetter" , "One kind of mail" , "Concatenation" .)