{"id":22533,"date":"2024-03-24T16:37:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T21:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=22533"},"modified":"2024-03-25T17:11:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T22:11:30","slug":"kinmen-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=22533","title":{"rendered":"Kinmen, Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spousal Unit and I had an opportunity to spend a few months in Taiwan <\/strong>in the late ’80 while working for a large T<\/strong>hree I<\/strong>nitial C<\/strong>ompany. Taiwan is a country of great natural beauty, intense industry, an strong work ethic, and friendly people with good humor. They have a complicated and diverse opinion of their neighbors to the west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today WBLOTT<\/strong> visits Kinmen<\/strong>, a small Taiwanese island just a 1.2 miles from mainland China. Kinmen is home to one of Taiwan’s 9 national parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(both maps) By Guss – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=2958718<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A Little Background<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Taiwan<\/strong>, officially the Republic of China (ROC<\/strong>), is a country in East Asia. It is located at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. The territories controlled by the ROC consist of 168 islands<\/strong> with a combined area of 36,193 square kilometres (13,974 square miles)… With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the most densely populated countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan has been settled for at least 25,000 years<\/strong>. Ancestors of Taiwanese indigenous peoples settled the island around 6,000<\/strong> years ago.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The Taiwanese Islands<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The ROC<\/strong> maintains its historical claims to all of the South China Sea Islands. They are also claimed by five other claimants<\/strong>, namely the PRC<\/strong>, Vietnam<\/strong>, the Philippines<\/strong>, Malaysia<\/strong>, and Brunei<\/strong>…. The United Nations considers the South China Sea to be “international waters” and does not acknowledge any of the South China Sea Islands as “true islands”. The acknowledgement of these islands as “true islands” is crucial because the definition of “islands” would justify the creation of an exclusive economic zone around them, which can be used to cut off international shipping lanes and to acquire natural resources such as oil which lie beneath the ocean.
\"\"<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a> \/ Map By Guss – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kinmen <\/strong>is one of 22 administrative districts in Taiwan, with a population of 127,723 and the 4th highest Taiwanese population density (2,777.91\/km2<\/sup>) .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Semi-sequitur: Population Density<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Wikipedia<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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By Our World in Data – https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/grapher\/population-density<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Kinmen National Park<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The Kinmen National Park<\/strong> is a national park in Kinmen, Fuchien Province, Republic of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The park was established in 1995, three years after martial law was lifted in the county.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The park covers an area of 35.29 km\u00b2 or around a quarter of Kinmen County area. It is divided into five areas, which are Taiwu Mountain, Kuningtou, Gugang, Mashan Hill and Lieyu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to its subtropical climate and low human population, the park becomes the place for migratory birds during autumn until spring. As many as 319 species of bird have been sighted in the area.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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WLBOTT<\/strong> is honored to be one of the browsing people<\/a>:
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Kinmen: A View to the West<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Jaingong Islet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The Jiangong Islet<\/strong> is a tidal island<\/strong> in Jincheng Township, Kinmen County, Fujian Province, Republic of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The island has an area of 500 m2<\/sup><\/strong>. The island is connected to main Kinmen island by a causeway which only appears in low tide<\/em>. Numerous incidents of visitors trapped on the island when the tide was wrong have occurred since the island opened to visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By YuTK – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\nWikipedia<\/a> \/ Photo By rheins, CC BY 3.0<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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Chaste Maiden Temple<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Since we are in Kinmen, let’s visit the Chaste Maiden Temple<\/strong>. It holds an important place in the cultural, historical, and spiritual life of Kinmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Chaste Maiden Temple\u2019s real name is \u201cChastity Temple.\u201d It is dedicated to Wanxiangu (Fairy Wang), who was originally called Wang Yulan and came from Xiamen. It has been said that one day when Wang went to collect oysters along the coast at noon, she was […] assaulted and then drowned in the ocean. Her body drifted to the coast of Gueshan, Lieyu, and was later discovered and buried by soldier Liu, a local marine soldier. Afterwards, she appeared in people’s dreams and explained what had happened to her. The stationed soldiers and locals all felt for her and thus raised money in 1956 to commission the 81st Division to build a temple for her. The Temple became a place that offered spiritual support for the stationed soldiers and local villagers at the time.<\/strong><\/p>\nKinmen Travel<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Chaste Maiden Temple<\/strong> was visited by many and seemed to grant whatever was requested. After reconstruction and expansion, it has turned into how it is today, and became a famous tourist attraction, attracting many people to come and pay tribute to the fairy or make wishes. But remember, unmarried couples and single men are considered taboo as it is more suitable for married couples to visit. If your wish is granted, make sure to show your gratitude to the Temple with offerings.<\/p>\nKinmen Travel<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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You Ask How Deeply I Love You<\/a><\/strong>
Kinmen Island, and the Past and Future of Sino-Taiwanese Relations, by Anna Beth Keim<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ms. Keim looks at the possibility of Kinmen, with its proximity to mainland China, easing tensions between the two countries. Oddly, the story of the Chaste Maiden<\/strong> has morphed over the years to soften the tensions. [ed. note: her article provides a detailed, in-depth, and fascinating look at Kinmen]<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following excerpt from her article focuses on the shifting narrative of the Chaste Maiden Temple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So far I have spoken mostly with the middle-aged and old on the island. They seem comfortable, like many of their counterparts on Taiwan, with ambiguity, with being neither officially independent nor reunified with the mainland; the important thing is that life is much better than it was, and the status quo should be maintained. I wonder if the younger people in Kinmen will be like those I had spoken to in Taiwan proper. There I had quizzed \u201cStrawberries<\/strong>\u201d\u2014the privileged younger generation, \u201csoft and easily bruised<\/strong>,\u201d as their elders huff\u2014about whether they felt Chinese, or could envision a unified future with China. \u201cWe are huaren [ethnic Chinese], but there are huaren all over the world,\u201d a 20-year-old college student in Taitung had said. \u201cSingapore, for example. We\u2019re different from the mainlanders; we live different lives.\u201d It was mostly young people who occupied Taiwan\u2019s legislature in the spring of 2014, during the Sunflower Movement, to protest what they saw as a dangerously close trade pact with China. Where they were concerned, this marriage\u2014if indeed it was that\u2014was best ended in divorce….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am back on Kinmen, this time on Little Kinmen, or Heroes\u2019 Isle, the smaller of the two main islands, and I am burning incense at the grave of a young woman called Wang Yulan. More officially, she is known as the \u201cChaste Maiden<\/strong>.\u201d Kinmen is dotted with shrines to the unknown dead of the chaotic war years; this is one of the better-known. The grave, a disconcertingly fresh-looking large swell of earth next to a little temple, holds a female corpse that washed up nearby in the summer of 1954<\/strong>. According to Harvard historian Michael Szonyi\u2019s portrait of Kinmen, Cold War Island, the dead woman\u2019s spirit told her story thus through a local medium:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My surname is Wang, and my given name is Yulan. I am from Xiamen, aged seventeen, from a poor family. . . [While] I was gathering clams at the seashore, brigands from the Zhu-Mao soldiers [i.e., Zhu De and Mao Zedong; in other words, soldiers of the People\u2019s Liberation Army] surrounded me, [intending to] shame me. . . [I] tried every measure to resist. But the bandits\u2019 bestial conduct was impossible to predict. . . [They stripped] me naked and threw me into the sea.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre you married? You can ask her for sons,\u201d says the old woman who sells spirit money and incense, encouraging me to buy more. … The woman\u2019s son, Mr. Hong, who looks to be in his sixties, is sitting to one side of the little temple, and I ask him about the introductory plaque at the temple\u2019s entrance. It now makes no mention of \u201cbandits.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, that\u2019s what it used to say, \u2018Zhu Mao bandits<\/strong>,\u2019\u201d says Hong. He squints at the engraved black stone, which looks polished and fairly new. \u201cHere, it says \u2018Year of the Republic 84, so, 1995. That\u2019s when it was changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow it just says \u2018lawless persons\u2019<\/strong>?\u201d I say, reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask him about the change in Wang Yulan\u2019s story: about 10 years ago, she reportedly declared, through another local medium, that she wanted to go back. She was not the only ghost to change her mind. Perhaps it is an indication that some people here want to be reunited with China?<\/p>\nChina File<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Semi-Sequitur: Google Street View<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While visiting Kinmen Island, we noticed that there are almost no Google street views from mainland China. Let’s check out where street views do and do not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Imagining the Fairy Wang<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We told AI the story of Fairy Wang and the Chaste Maiden Temple, and received some fascinating visualizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spousal Unit and I had an opportunity to spend a few months in Taiwan in the late ’80 while working for a large Three Initial Company. Taiwan is a country of great natural beauty, intense industry, an strong work ethic, and friendly people with good humor. They have a complicated and diverse opinion of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-taiwan"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22533"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22652,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22533\/revisions\/22652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}