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2014-11-03 01:01
in Ntrips, Taiwan2014, Trips
We left Jennifer's family in PinTung and flew to Kinmen Island, which is literally a stone's throw across China's coast. Somehow the republic of China (aka Taiwan) managed when they retreated from mainland China to keep this island and keep it ever since. They actually had multiple battles with China 60 years ago over this small island, but I guess China didn't try too hard and gave up on it in the end as it not being worth the trouble. On the flipside, Taiwan spent a lot of effort keeping bunkers, cannons and other armament on the island to defend against possible Chinese invasions.
Basically my understanding is that the nationalists who created the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) unfortunately lost battles in mainland china, had to retreat and eventually ended up in those two Islands and Taiwan. China actually went tried to take over the islands and after failing just bombarded them with hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, but thankfully Taiwan got enough external help to defend themselves and hold their position (through much personal bravery and sacrifice)
Lieyu is the small island on the left
this is how close the 2 islands are from China
our electric scooter looked like this
you could swim to China if you really wanted
the chocolate bird as Jennifer calls it :) (michoko)
this tunnel didn't look like it was fun to drill mostly by hand
See more images for Taiwan Day 10: Lieyu and Kinmen Islands