From the air, Kinmen airport looks like a military installation. There are bunkers, pillboxes and anti-aircraft gun emplacements dotted around the airfield. And it is this association with Taiwan's "battle against communism" that first made the island notorious -- and now manages to attract a moderate number of tourists.
Fortunately, defunct military installations are not all that Kinmen has to offer. The island has a long history and its position as a front-line military district from the middle of last century has done much to mitigate the effects of rampant modernization, preserving pockets of community life which remain similar in some respects to what they where over a century ago.
PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW
This makes Kinmen an ideal spot for the culturally, architecturally and historically inclined tourist. It certainly pays to have a good guide, whether a book or a person, for Kinmen's monuments are not obviously magnificent, and without knowing something of the story behind them, you are likely to be disappointed.
PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW
Kinmen Model Street is as good a place as any, even though attempts at preservation and exploitation of its commercial potential have largely destroyed any period atmosphere. But even here, housewives will sit out front of their homes opening oysters, a local staple. Also on view is the local red brick architecture, which is more austere than anything to be found elsewhere in Taiwan. It is only a short scooter ride from this urban scene to something more redolent of Kinmen's frontier history.
This is De-yue Tower (得月樓), or Moon Plucking Tower, a fairytale castle of a building that was designed for the very serious business of holding off attacks by pirates in the town of Shuitou (水頭). The tower and the attached house were built by Huang Huei-huang (黃輝煌), a dry-goods merchant based out of Indonesia. The tower was designed with an eye for the protection of the town of Shuitou, which contains many other Western-style homes, mostly built by other members of the Huang family -- all integral members of a financial, trading and kinship organization that emanated from Kinmen and spanned much of Southeast Asia. The battlements and grills for dumping burning coals on attackers seem almost medieval.
PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW
It is this kind of detail that makes Kinmen a delight, with its memories of a largely forgotten history. Some of this has been recreated in the Overseas Chinese Exhibition Center (
PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW
You can also hear some of the stories they brought back from their travels at the Travelers' Story House (
While Shuitou is renowned for the relics of southern emigration, the village of Chionglin (
This is the sort of place that makes one do a double take on the relative positions of Kinmen and Taiwan in history -- Kinmen youngsters were serving at the highest level of the Chinese government 400 years before Taiwan was even a viable concern. It is no real surprise that with all this historical baggage, quite apart from geographical proximity, Kinmen people are not developing their Taiwanese consciousness as rapidly as some would like.
After all, if you are taking a trip to Little Kinmen (
"Because of over-development in Xiamen and along the coast, more and more migratory birds are now stopping over in Kinmen instead," he said. Probably the best place to get an introduction to the island's ecological resources is the Kuningtou Ecology Center (
Kinmen:
GETTING THERE: Flights to Kinmen are available from Taipei, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, Makung and Kaohsiung. The flight is around 45 minutes and costs just under NT$2,000 one-way. An irregular boat service is also available out of Kaohsiung, which takes around 10 hours. Enquires can be made at Kinmen Express (
GETTING AROUND: The majority of tourists who visit are part of group tours, but scooters are available for around NT$500 a day and provide the best means of getting around. A free bicycle rent service is available on Little Kinmen courtesy of the Kinmen National Park. Enquiries can be made at (082) 364 403 or 364 411.
The Kinmen National Park Web site is http://www.kmnp.gov.tw.
The tourism section for Kinmen is (082) 324 174.
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