A former military power plant on Matsu archipelago is bathed in an ominous crimson light — an art installation reminding visitors of the ever-present threat of a Chinese invasion.
The exhibit titled “Your Country Needs You: Glory of ‘Jun Hun’” — which means “military spirit” — is part of the Matsu Biennial, which runs until the middle of this month.
Some of the works displayed across Matsu — a chain of rocky islands 20 minutes by boat from China’s eastern coast — focus on its natural beauty, but there were also artists, like light designer Liu Ping-yi and his partner Annie Chu, who chose to capitalize on the outlying islands’ wartime history.
Photo: Annabelle Chih, AFP
“We wanted to use light to let the visitors return to a period in the past, and understand how the soldiers and civilians lived on the island then,” said Liu, who collaborated with a sound artist on the power plant installation. “I hope they can imagine what Matsu was like during wartime.”
The islands were key military strongholds for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) forces after they fled China in 1949 following defeat in the Chinese Civil War.
Sporadically shelled by China, the KMT ramped up Matsu’s fortifications, constructing underground tunnels and air raid shelters, while coastal outposts had narrow openings so that soldiers could fire in the direction of China.
Photo: Annabelle Chih, AFP
Today, many of these military structures are abandoned, although some of the tunnels have been restored and are open to the public.
For the biennial, an air raid shelter now carries soundtracks of the past, while a former military performance hall showcases cut-out Chinese characters strung together — taken from letters sent to service personnel and residents on the islands.
A whale-shaped wire structure is erected on a beach, fashioned out of old Matsu ships with navy vessel accents.
“Matsu is a tourism-oriented county,” said Lienchiang County Commissioner Wang Chung-ming (王忠銘), who takes issue with his home being labeled a “frontline island.”
“Matsu needs to move toward the concept of an island museum,” Wang said.
Beijing has held massive military exercises around the islands in the past year, including one in April that saw warplanes and naval vessels simulate encirclement of Taiwan. For the residents of Matsu, which was the closest Taiwanese territory to April’s drills, life often goes on without skipping a beat in the face of such war games.
Artist Chao Kai-chih, who helped curate the biennial’s installations, said local residents are “not scared of verbal threats by China.”
“Come if you have the guts,” he said — before quickly switching course and quipping that if China were to invade, “you can attack a bit further — attack Taiwan, don’t attack Matsu.”
Growing up in Matsu under the military administration had many restrictions, said Chao, 66, describing a 9pm curfew and not being allowed on the island’s beaches.
“We want peace, we don’t want war and what we can do is to turn Matsu into an art island,” Chao said.
Wang’s hope is that the biennial would bring the islands some much-needed tourism dollars, as three years of border restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have meant a loss in visitors and income.
“Now we have to slowly restart the negotiation process from the perspective of tourism and cargo goods,” Wang said. “Politically, we must follow Taiwan, but economically Matsu must integrate with China.”
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RSS