A former military power plant on Matsu archipelago is bathed in an ominous crimson light — an art installation reminding visitors of the ever-present threat of a Chinese invasion.
The exhibit titled “Your Country Needs You: Glory of ‘Jun Hun’” — which means “military spirit” — is part of the Matsu Biennial, which runs until the middle of this month.
Some of the works displayed across Matsu — a chain of rocky islands 20 minutes by boat from China’s eastern coast — focus on its natural beauty, but there were also artists, like light designer Liu Ping-yi and his partner Annie Chu, who chose to capitalize on the outlying islands’ wartime history.
Photo: Annabelle Chih, AFP
“We wanted to use light to let the visitors return to a period in the past, and understand how the soldiers and civilians lived on the island then,” said Liu, who collaborated with a sound artist on the power plant installation. “I hope they can imagine what Matsu was like during wartime.”
The islands were key military strongholds for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) forces after they fled China in 1949 following defeat in the Chinese Civil War.
Sporadically shelled by China, the KMT ramped up Matsu’s fortifications, constructing underground tunnels and air raid shelters, while coastal outposts had narrow openings so that soldiers could fire in the direction of China.
Photo: Annabelle Chih, AFP
Today, many of these military structures are abandoned, although some of the tunnels have been restored and are open to the public.
For the biennial, an air raid shelter now carries soundtracks of the past, while a former military performance hall showcases cut-out Chinese characters strung together — taken from letters sent to service personnel and residents on the islands.
A whale-shaped wire structure is erected on a beach, fashioned out of old Matsu ships with navy vessel accents.
“Matsu is a tourism-oriented county,” said Lienchiang County Commissioner Wang Chung-ming (王忠銘), who takes issue with his home being labeled a “frontline island.”
“Matsu needs to move toward the concept of an island museum,” Wang said.
Beijing has held massive military exercises around the islands in the past year, including one in April that saw warplanes and naval vessels simulate encirclement of Taiwan. For the residents of Matsu, which was the closest Taiwanese territory to April’s drills, life often goes on without skipping a beat in the face of such war games.
Artist Chao Kai-chih, who helped curate the biennial’s installations, said local residents are “not scared of verbal threats by China.”
“Come if you have the guts,” he said — before quickly switching course and quipping that if China were to invade, “you can attack a bit further — attack Taiwan, don’t attack Matsu.”
Growing up in Matsu under the military administration had many restrictions, said Chao, 66, describing a 9pm curfew and not being allowed on the island’s beaches.
“We want peace, we don’t want war and what we can do is to turn Matsu into an art island,” Chao said.
Wang’s hope is that the biennial would bring the islands some much-needed tourism dollars, as three years of border restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have meant a loss in visitors and income.
“Now we have to slowly restart the negotiation process from the perspective of tourism and cargo goods,” Wang said. “Politically, we must follow Taiwan, but economically Matsu must integrate with China.”
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS