Shuitou: A point of departure

The only ones left are the information desk workers and a few contractors renovating the aging buildings, stately domiciles with a story to tell, even as they sit silent and empty. Kinmen's Shuitou village (水頭) is now the travel destination famous for being the place everyone left.

Shuitou is one of several towns from which Chinese emigrated to other parts of Asia and the US in the first half of the 19th century. They went as migrant workers and merchants and left from Guangdong and Fujian provinces, as well as from this small island off China's east coast, to become one of history's most successful diasporas.

"Chinese began traveling a long long time ago," said Lee Hsi-rong (李錫隆), chief of the Kinmen County Culture Affairs Bureau. "They left to trade and for military and religious reasons. But emigration had its greatest impact on Kinmen's economy and culture starting around 1840. It was after then that many of these houses started being built."

At first, the government of the Qing dynasty -- which administered Kinmen as a part of Fujian province -- forbade its citizens to venture abroad. But overpopulation, a limited amount of farmland and frequent natural disasters and wars allowed residents of Guangdong and Fujian provinces to leave their homelands unchecked by the law.

Even as young men left in the thousands, others stayed behind and lobbied the Qing government to lift its restrictions on emigration. In 1860, with the signing of the Beijing Treaty, emigration was legalized and workers set off in even greater numbers in search of better job opportunities.

At the time, Western governments were actively seeking laborers from Southeast Asia. Chinese laborers volunteered their services abroad, but were often encouraged to do so by tales of places paved with gold.

Initially, they were indentured laborers who worked in appalling conditions and there was a greater chance among immigrant workers of dying than of returning home rich. But as they toiled, their conditions improved and overseas communities developed.

The effects of this desire to become rich is nowhere more apparent than in Shuitou, with its rows of grand villas that reflect the architectural styles of the places to which its residents aspired: bungalow-styled homes reminiscent of those found in Great Britain's Southeast Asian colonies and an elementary school that echoes traditional Indian architecture

For the residents of Shuitou, emigration occurred in three waves. The first was around 1860, when people fled the many natural disasters that left them impoverished. The second was from 1912 to 1929, when Southeast Asian colonies were becoming prosperous and Kinmen merchants expanded their businesses to the region. The last came in 1937 to 1945, when locals tried to escape the ravages of the Sino-Japanese War.

Traveling first to Xiamen, emigrants would board ships that sailed for five to seven days to Singapore, before departing for the Malay peninsula, Vietnam, Indonesia and further afield.

Many Kinmen residents went to places in Southeast Asia where they already had friends or relatives. As a result, these places developed into Chinese enclaves, many of which remain today.

In Singapore, for example, the Kinmen Guild (金門會館) was established in 1870 to provide a place for immigrants from the island to worship. In addition, smaller community clubs were organized by residents of Kinmen's individual townships, including Shuitou.