Kinmen 金門 Photos

[hkskyline]

Source : http://www.pbase.com/adamslin/kinmen

[SpeedoPro]

wow, kinmen looks alot nicer than i have imagined.

[Mdxavita]

xvrsz las maskras o.O

[Mdxavita]

las casas muy tradicionales xD

[Mdxavita]

iaiaia todo esta xvr ehhhh

[thyrdrail]

kinmen's very colorful and beautiful. they should promote more tourism there.

i love this: a "concrete" picket fence, haha. only in taiwan!!

[Great_han]

金門不是福建省的嗎?

[hkskyline]

Technically, it's part of Taiwan although just off the Fujian coast.

[Taihoku_Formosa]

It's really complicated.

"Officially", it is still administered by ROC's provincial government of Fujian. Kinmen has never been part of "Taiwan". There is still a Fujian government on the island.

However, the governer/chairman of Fujian on the island is of course not elected, but appointed by the central government on Taiwan. 99% of ppl who vote for the president are Taiwanese, and the current president is Taiwanese, so some can also argue that Kinmen is administered by Taiwan(not to mention, many ppl start to agree that ROC=Taiwan in the recent years).

However, some can argue that Kinmen lost it's connection with Chinese Mainland until recent years, and has had a really close relationship with Taiwan since 1949, so some ppl might think Kinmen's part of Taiwan since it's got most of it's resources and information from Taiwan instead of Fujian. Especially, some young Kinmen ppl may even considered themselve Taiwanese. I believe if some Kinmen ppl go to a foreign country, they may even say they are Taiwanese(mainly because they don't want to be confused with ppl from PRC).

Also, technically, they are considered Mainlanders(wsr) in Taiwan, but many often confuse them with "Taiwanese" since Kimnen ppl are also part of Hoklo/Hokkien/Minnan population which is the majority of the population in Taiwan.

Why did "Taiwan" get the island in the first place?
From my own readings of this issue in the past few years. It's all about the political games:
1. Kinmen was used as the front line by CKS to let ROC's army have time to react if China were to invade Taiwan.

2.CKS didn't want ROC to lose it's connection with Mainland China, so Kinmen and Matzu were used as the symbol of that. I have also read that later China's PLA didn't want to really "take back" the island, so ROC on Taiwan wouldn't lose it's connection with China completely.

Last, if there is a referendum about whether Kinmen should join Taiwan or return to Fujian/China, I believe it's "unlikely" that Kimen would join Taiwan.

That's just my own understanding, but may not be the whole truth, so you may want to do more researchs or give me some more interesting facts about this.

[Pangu]

It's very simple actually. The ROC flag is flown over 金門 Jinmen and ROC military is stationed there so naturally it's part of Taiwan/ROC.

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@Taihoku_Formosa - Why do you think it's "unlikely" for Kinmen to join Taiwan if there was a referendum?

[Taihoku_Formosa]

I think I have explained enough in my last post.

Kinmen was kind of "kidnaped" by CKS, so it is controlled by Taiwan now. However, originally, "Taiwan" and it's major subislands are just Penghu/Pescadores, Ludao/Green Island, and Lanyu/Orchid Island.

<=ignore this part between the arrows if you don't have time lol
Mainly, Kinmen ppl and Taiwan ppl don't share the same history. Taiwan is like a "new world" inhabited by some aboriginal ppl, and new immegrants mainly from China's south coast. It has been colonized by different regimes, such as Dutch, Spanish, Chinese Koxinga, Manchus, and Japanese. Especially, in Taiwan's moden history, Taiwan was a Japanese colony. Taiwan's elders were educated to become Japanese.

Kinmen is just an island by Mainland. You can even see Mainland from Kinmen. It has always been a Chinese island and has always been ruled by Chinese. In the moden history, Kinmen's old ppl lived the days when the Chinese Republic just founded and shared the same new Chinese nationalsm as the rest of China.

I have been talking about moden history because many ppl who have the different historical backgrounds still live today, and of course, thier descendents are still influenced by them.

However, Taiwan was a part of Fujian for most of the time in Qing dynasty. Also, further back, Koxinga used Kinmen to lauch attacks on Dutch controlled Taiwan. After Koxinga conquered TW. There were a few years that Kinmen and Taiwan were controlled by the same kingdom(should not be even mentioned since it's "too brief").
However, that's too further back and can not influence much. It's just like Lyukyu/Okinawa was a kingdom less than 200 years ago, but the current residents on the islands don't share the same memory. Manchuria is another example.
<=ignore this part between the arrows if you don't have time lol

oop...I wrote too much. Since your background is WSR, you should understand why, if I put it this way Kinmen ppl are WSR. Taiwan island's WSR are those ppl who came to Taiwan from all over China in 1949. Kinmen ppl are WSR who lived in their hometown, but thier hometown became part of "Taiwan" in 1949.

[Andrew]

This is beautiful, I'd love to see more photos. What do the main towns look like?

[oriental_horizon]

Jinmen is very nice. thanks for sharing these cool photos. Jinmen was always part of Fujian province.

[hkskyline]

TV documentary to uncover story of Asian Gibraltar
20 December 2007
Central News Agency English News

Taipei, Dec. 20 (CNA) A television documentary to premiere Dec. 23 reveal the story of the Kinmen islands, the Taiwanese territory which is only two miles off the coast of China and whose history has been often forgotten or unknown, an official said Thursday.

"Given how many shells Kinmen has taken for Taiwan in the past, it's time for Taiwan and people around the world to better to understand the island, " said Yang Chung-chuan, deputy magistrate of Kinmen County, in a press conference to announce the premiere of "Unknown Kinmen, " a documentary produced by the Discovery Channel.

The documentary attempts to explore the islands, which have been described as the "Asian Gibraltar" because of its unique strategic position, through its culture, architecture and history, said Tommy Lin, vice president and general manager of Discovery Networks Asia's Taiwan Office.

Kinmen experienced extensive shelling from China in 1958, when it was hit by more than 470,000 artillery shells in the span of 44 days. Over the following 20 years, it was hit by another 500,000 non-lethal shells containing propaganda materials, Yang said.

The experience still lingers in the minds of senior citizens, but the former military preserve needs to move forward because development on Kinmen was extremely limited during the period of military rule, Yang said.

People in Kinmen did benefit somewhat from the war as nowadays it is famous for its knives, which are made from artillery shells, Yang said. The return to a civilian government in the 1990s and the launch of the Mini Three Links six years ago, which have brought many Taiwanese business people to the islands, dramatically changed the face of Kinmen's economy, he added.

"Now we thrive on the development of tourism, " he noted.

[Bentown]

nice pics up there............

[qqpasswang]

very beautiful~~~i wanna there

[7freedom7]

stunning! kinmen deserves his wannabe

[thomasz]

So nice, it seems we come back to history with ancient houses here.

[henrypan123]

Kinmen belongs to Fujian Province in fact.

[ed21x]

Originally Posted by henrypan123

Kinmen belongs to Fujian Province in fact.

of course not. Kinmen and Matsu are both part of Taiwan. There is absolutely no jurisdiction from Fujian on the island.