This is the first of a series of posts devoted to my recent trip to the Matsu Islands [馬祖列島]. The island chain is located in the northwest of the Taiwan Strait and is comprised of 26 main islands. My trip was spent on the two largest islands of the archipelago: Nangan [南竿] and Beigan [北竿].
The closest island is about 20 minutes by boat from China’s Fujian Province. Fujianese started migrating to the islands during the Yuan Dynasty. The language spoken by residents is the Fuzhou dialect of Min Dong Language.
At Taichung’s airport taking photos of planes and the airport is frowned upon… but not on Matsu!
A statue of General Chiang Kai-shek stares towards a land he will never recover
The Republic of China has been able to hold Matsu and Jinmen following their victory of the Battle of Kuningtou in October 1949.
Jiguang Pie (the Matsu Bagel/Hamburger)
At Beigan’s beautiful Banli Beach
More Matsu posts to come… I am busy sifting through about a gig of photos.
Very cool. This is a place I definitely want to get to.
Franc – I really think you would enjoy this place… As time permits, over the next few/several days I will have more posts of the trip.
That’s a great shot of the Chiang statue. Is one able to see China from that vantage point? Is the statue in a park?
We’ll have to see if this one gets retired to Taoyuan – Dashi as well.
Patrick, with the weather we encountered on the trip we weren’t able to see China on that particular day from that particular location. But looking at my map, on a clear day you should be able to from there.
There are tons of CKS statues on the islands, this one sat on top of a hill in front of Fuao Harbor. It’s the same one as pictured in the “Sleeping on Spears” post.