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Kinmen distributes liquor vouchers to all residents

The Kinmen County Government yesterday handed out liquor vouchers worth more than NT$10,000 to all Kinmen residents to commemorate a general who defended the island against a Chinese invasion in 1949.

Earlier this year, the Kinmen County Council passed a resolution to issue three liquor vouchers with a face value of NT$3,600 each to all 85,000 Kinmen residents and immigrant spouses with Alien Resident Certificates, regardless of age, on Tomb Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival with money donated by Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor (KKL). The vouchers can be exchanged for liquor produced by KKL.

The council resolution said the voucher program would commemorate General Hu Lien (胡璉), who defended Kinmen against the Chinese Communist Party troops in the Battle of Kuningtou (古寧頭) on the island 60 years ago.

Hu also established the distillery to support the island’s economy. At the time, there were around 35,000 civilians and more than 50,000 troops on the island.

KKL produces the most popular sorghum liquor in the country and makes large donations to the county government for social welfare projects. Last year, the company donated NT$4.7 billion (US$144 million) — or 50 percent of the county government’s annual budget — to help pay for the NT$3,000 elderly pension, maternity stipend, free cervical cancer vaccinations, free public transportation, free student lunches and free tuition programs.

Anyone born before Jan. 16 or registered as a Kinmen resident before that date is eligible to claim the vouchers at designated distribution centers between 8am and 4pm today. Those who cannot make it today can claim their vouchers at township offices between June 12 and June 14 with national ID cards and personal seals.

Meanwhile, the county government announced on Wednesday that all Kinmen students — from kindergarten to high school, and residents who attend universities on Taiwan proper — are entitled to receive an NT$4,000 annual transportation coupon to subsidize the cost of traveling between Kinmen and Taiwan proper. The new program will cost the county government around NT$70 million per year, officials said.
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