An island that knows no water

The beaches in Jinmen are very nice, but to our surprise, each one almost completely empty. An island surrounded by sea, it acts as if it knows no water.

The tourist information center staff didn’t know what to recommend when we asked about beaches suitable for children. An Indonesian maid/elderly comfort-keeper at one village had been living there for one and a half years, and had no clue there was a beach two minute from their house. My friend Ivan, who spent 22 months of his obligatory military duty in Jinmen (by the way, 100% of them hated this island after the most boring 22 months of life), said military personnel are strictly prohibited on the coastal areas unless you’ve been assigned to one of the watch towers. A Mom of one of Noah’s classmates who grew up in Jinmen told me that of the 18 years she was there, she’s never once been to the beach.

In fact, when Mom told Dad on the phone that we enjoyed collecting shells and “cooking” (sand) on the beaches, Dad nearly had a heart attack: “There are land mines! That’s why nobody was there!” I know it’s not true that publicly accessible beaches are still filled with mines, as they have been ‘cleaned up’ leaving only restricted areas still armed. We heard that Africans from the poorest countries have been hired to do the dangerous clean-up job—at a high rate of life insurance! I also found out that Dad’s impression of Jinmen is the common view of the island: a place of national defense, war, mines, weapons, tanks, roundhouses, with the huge China lurking from simply 4km away. Yes, you can actually see what-used-to-be-scary-Communist China, its skyscrapers and all, right off the northern coast.

So this gives you an idea of the morbid and militaristic nature of the island. Visiting it brings you up close with the ugly, gruesome reality of war. Battles were fought, in fact air attacks occurred regularly for 20+ years, soldiers and civilians lives lost, homes occupied, common people’s lives turned upside down. This is the reality of war, something continues to haunt millions of lives in the world.

At a different time, with a different mindset, our family saw the other side of the same land: unpolluted coast, white sand, pretty shells, and a happy family strolling on the beach. An ironic fact illustrates the point: a 'lake', a large nature’s reserve, was a commercial port before the 40s, when the KMT military, for defense purposes, built a concrete bridge over the alcove, artificially creating a peaceful dwelling place for many unusual species of migratory birds. These birds are luckier than the people in Jinmen.