Taiwan: Great Kinmen
(April 2017)
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The Kinmen
archipelago is located a few kilometers off China′s southern coast, south
of Quanzhou and east of the port city of Xiamen. It consists of 15 islands and
islets, twelve controlled by Taiwan and three by China. The largest of these
islands is Great Kinmen (approximatively 145sq.km), more commonly called Kinmen
(formerly known as Quemoy). During its retreat to Taiwan in 1949, the
Nationalist Army of Chiang Kai-shek occupied Kinmen, which has since remained
part of Taiwan (Republic of China). The island was heavily bombarded by the
communist regime of China in 1954 and again between 1958 and 1978. After being
a military reserve for more than four decades, the island was returned to the
civilian government in the mid-1990s. Travel to the island was then allowed. In
addition to former military fortifications (tunnels, underground harbor,
barricades on beaches...), the island offers beautiful examples of Fujianese
houses and old ancestral temples.
Jincheng:
Located in
the southwestern part of the island, Jincheng is Kinmen′s busiest town.
Its picturesque center is filled with narrow streets and lanes, colorful shops,
old houses, and small temples.
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Western-influenced
Mofan Street, built in the 1920s with funds from
overseas Chinese. The street is now the hippest in town.
Jincheng has
a rapidly dwindling number of old Fujianese-style house surrounded by modern
buildings.
Noodle shop.
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Traditional
pharmacy.
Shop selling
one-in-a-kind knives made from artillery shells fired by China between 1958 and
1978.
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Kinmen is
reputed for its Kaoliang, a strong liquor (up to 63% in alcohol) made from
local fermented sorghum. Many shops sell this liquor all over the island.
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Jincheng at
night.
Lingji ancient temple (靈濟古寺). It is primarily dedicated to Guanyin (觀音) Bodhisattva.
Kui Pavilion,
originally built in the 1830s to worship Kui Xing (魁星), a revered
deity of literature. Historically, students would pray and make offerings to
Kui Xing to ensure good fortune on the Imperial Civil Service examinations.
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Fujianese-style
house at night.
Wu Jiang
Academy (浯江書院) founded in
1780 (renovated a decade ago). It honors the neo-Confucian scholar Chu Hsi (朱熹) (1130-1200).
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In the Qing Dynasty
Military Headquarters (清金門鎮總兵署 (浯江新莊)) dating back
to the late 1600s. Representation of scenes from the Qing dynasty with wax
figures:
- Meeting of
military officers.
- A military
officer with his wife.
Statues of
deities in a temple.
Shuitou Village:
The village
of Shuitou is located in the southwestern part of the
island, west of Jincheng. An old fishing community, it has a large number of
traditional Fujianese houses. Some have been tastefully renovated, others are
in decay.
Intricate decoration above the door of
the house shown in the previous photo.
Entrance and
interior of a house.
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Roof
decorations.
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Deyue tower surrounded by the Huang
residence built in the 1930s. Their architecture, which combines Fujianese and
Western styles, is a not-very-subtle display of wealth by a Chinese businessman
who made his fortune overseas.
House in need of renovation.
Statues in a
nearby field. They represent generals enshrined in a local temple with their
horses.
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Shanhou Village:
Another beautiful ensemble of Fujianese
houses is found in the village of Shanhou in the
northeastern part of the island. It was built between 1876 and 1900 by a
wealthy Chinese merchant.
Temple in the ensemble.
As can be seen on the left and on the
right of the previous picture, there are two main types of roofs:
saddleback-shaped and swallow-tail-shaped:
- Saddleback-shaped roofs.
- Swallow-tail-shaped roofs.
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House facades.
Courtyards. Note the four dragon heads
in the first picture below collecting rainwater into the courtyard.
Ancestor shrines inside houses.
Ornamental details.
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Qionglin Village:
The village of Qionglin
in central Kinmen is famous for its ancestral temples (and a long tunnel dug
out by villagers in the 1970s).
The largest ancestral temple is the Tsai
(or Cai) Family Temple built in 1770:
- Entrance.
- Paintings on both sides of the
entrance.
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- In one of the temple′s halls.
- Another entrance.
Another temple.
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Guningtou:
Located at the northwestern tip of
Kinmen, Guningtou was the site of a major battle
between the Nationalists and the Communists in 1949. The failure of the
Communists to capture Kinmen halted their advance toward Taiwan. So, the battle
is highly significant in Taiwan.
General Li Guang-qian
temple (李光前將軍廟). This temple commemorates Colonel Li
Guang-qian, who died at the Guningtou
battle. He was promoted to general posthumously. Today, he is revered as a
local guardian deity of the battlefield.
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Arch marking the entrance of the site of
the Guningtou battle.
Paintings in the Guningtou
Battle Museum depicting (from the Nationalists′ viewpoint) the battle and
the surrender of the Communist troops.
Lines of spiked steel rail anchored into
concrete bases designed to slice through enemy landing boats on the Guningtou beach
Military fortifications:
As one can suspect, after the retreat of
the Nationalist Army to Taiwan, Kinmen has been heavily fortified against
bombardments and invasion. A number of former fortifications (mostly built in
the 1950s and 1960s) are now open to the public.
Located at the northeastern tip of
Kinmen, the Mashan Observatory is only a couple of kilometers away from the
coast of China. It is reached via a long concrete tunnel.
- Entrance of the tunnel and inside the
tunnel.
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- View toward China from the
observatory.
Artillery demonstration (pointing toward
China) at Shishan Howitzer Front in northeastern Kinmen.
The construction of the facility was ordered in 1969 by Chiang Kai-shek to
accommodate four eight-inch howitzers (guns). It is the only fully tunneled
artillery position in Kinmen, with a total length of tunnels of 778m.
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Jhaishan underground waterway used to conceal
small vessels. Completed in March 1966 this A-shaped waterway is 357m in
length, 11.5m in width, and 8m in height. It was abandoned in 1986 and opened
to the public in 1998. Now, annually in mid-October, it is the site of the
two-day Kinmen Tunnel Music Festival.
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Other sights:
Wind Lion God. These are a few of the
many statues of the Wind Lion God that are erected around Kinmen, some very old
(like the ones in the two rightmost pictures below). These guardians are
believed to protect the villagers against devastating winds that sometimes blow
over the island, as well as against demons, spirits, and even termites. They
are often placed at village entrances facing the northeast, the direction from
which the strongest wind blows. The rightmost photo shows a statue inserted in
a wall of the Cai Family Temple in Qionglin Village
(see above).
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Juguang Tower, built in 1953 in the style of a
classic Chinese palace tower to honor Nationalist soldiers. By erecting this
tower the Nationalist government was showing its determination to eventually
recover mainland China.
Wentai Pagoda. It was originally built in 1387
to serve a as landmark for ships.
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Fujianese houses lined along the
northern shore of the Ci lake.
Flowers of the kapok tree (left) and the
golden trumpet tree (right) blooming in April in many places around Kinmen.
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