Step onto Kinmen and you are sure to see squads of soldiers jogging along the side of the road, bunkers at crossroads, anti-paratroop pillars standing straight up in the middle of a barren field. . . everywhere you get the impression of a battlefield.

On the front line of the Taiwan Strait, the long-time need for military preparedness has meant that the island of Kinmen is filled with every variety of defensive installation.

In addition to what can be seen above ground, there is also a completely intact spider web of small and large underground tunnels going in all directions, says Lin Hui-cheng, head of Taipei National University of the Arts' Research Institute for Traditional Architecture.

Underground Kinmen

Mt. Taiwu, the tallest on Kinmen, is only 253 meters high. On the granite laccolith, huge, jagged rocks are everywhere. At the bottom of this granite outcropping is a structure hewn out of the rock some 11 meters high, 18 meters broad and 50 meters long that can hold over a thousand men. During the hostilities it was the command center for all of the island. The sky-like roof of the structure still bears the traces of the drills used to carve it out of the granite. The central tunnel running through Mt. Taiwu is wide enough to support two-way traffic for military vehicles. It was an enormous construction project.

The Mt. Chai tunnel, on the southwest side of Kinmen, connects to the sea and was primarily used as cover for ferrying small landing craft and delivering military supplies. The tunnel itself is 100 meters long. The constant thumping sound of a 300-meter long drainage system that moves the seawater sends chills down your spine. The landing craft and munitions displayed against the sides of the tunnel have a faint odor of spent gunpowder.

In addition to the huge tunnels drilled out by the military, the tunnel of Chiunglin Village, located within the National Park, stretches for several kilometers. It carefully winds its way through the village and became a life-saving fortress for the residents. The tunnel's original command center, emergency well and storage room have been preserved exactly as they were.The majestic construction projects underground on Kinmen surpass by far those that are above ground.

Swords to plowshares

During the Jin dynasty, in about 371 AD, six families with six different surnames took up residence on Kinmen and thus began the island's 1600-plus-year history of human habitation. Throughout history the island served as a refuge for people coming from the southeast coast. During the Ming dynasty an Inspection Office was set up here, and Kinmen became an important maritime defense settlement. After the commanding general, Zhou Dexing, said of the place, "It is as impregnable as a metal [kin] wall and a moat of boiling water, and it commands control of the ocean gate [men]," it came to be called Kinmen. Thus Kinmen's role as a key military strong point began several hundred years ago.

In 1949, following the fall of the mainland, Kinmen took on a high profile on the international front. This was the result of the various artillery duels and battles that took place over the years. This was especially true after the August 23 artillery duel of 1958. For 44 straight days the Chinese Communists fired more than 474,000 shells at Kinmen. Our side put up a heroic defense. We sank more than 22 enemy torpedo boats, and shot down 32 MiGs. Because of the victory in this battle, Kinmen came to enjoy a reputation around the world as an impregnable fortress.

After the August 23 battle, over the next 20 years more than 500,000 propaganda shells landed on the island. These shells were in turn used by the residents of Kinmen to make kitchen cleavers, thus creating a war by-product unique to the island: the artillery-shell kitchen utensil.

The front line of peace

In addition to its battlefield atmosphere, Kinmen has a long and impressive history of civil society. The island's clans have been the centers of civil power, and indeed still are, as shown by the facts that villages are still organized largely on the basis of surnames and that there are more than 160 operating clan temples.

Owing to military necessity over the past 40 years, no building has been permitted within a zone of 500 meters from the sea, and no building has been permitted to exceed three stories. As a result, innumerable examples of traditional architecture have been preserved intact. Neat alleyways, layer upon layer of swallow-tail roofs, delicate and finely carved bas-reliefs, beautiful decorative paintings, as well as wonderfully carved stone statues of "wind-lions" meant to ward off evil spirits and protect against raging winds, appear today just as they did in years gone by.

In addition to the old Fujianese styles, many wealthy Kinmen businessmen who emigrated to Southeast Asia brought back with them an eclectic, South China Sea style, concrete testimony to the history of the overseas Chinese and emigration.

In recent years the smell of gunpowder has dissipated and the battlefield has become a favorite tourist spot. In recent months, because of the policy that permits business contacts, air travel and mail delivery between Kinmen and Matsu on one side and the mainland on the other, Kinmen has become a new gathering place for people from both sides of the strait.

From military blockhouse to bridge for communication, Kinmen shines in its historical role as never before.

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Well-preserved traditional Fujianese architecture illustrates the human face of Kinmen. (photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang)

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This military command center located under Mt. Tawu testifies to the intensity of the military crises in Kinmen in the 1950s. (photo by Vincent Chang)