A look at the mainland from Ma-shan. (File photo)
Chukuang Tower, one of many reconstructed buildings. (File photo)
Kinmen has many names - Quemoy in the West and Wu-chow, Wu-chiang and Hsien-chow in Chinese.
It isn't even an island, really, but a group.
By any name or description, this is the frontline of the Republic of China and within sight and sound of the Communist-held mainland.
The people of the mainland had moved out to Kinmen more than 1,600 years ago.
From its shores Chinese have departed for overseas communities throughout Southeast Asia.
The 1958 Battle of the Taiwan Straits centered here and the enemy was repulsed.
Yang-ming Park and reservoir (File photo)
The Temple of Koxinga honoring a Chinese hero who knew these isles well. (File photo)
Chin-tang Park (File photo)
Jung-hu reservoir (File photo)
400-year-old Pagoda of Wen-tai built by a marquis of the Ming dynasty (File photo)
The Fukien province islands of Kinmen (the name of the biggest) have little water.
Trees were felled in the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties.
Young people began to leave as soon as they were able.
All that has changed. Reforestation of the last two decades has turned Kinmen into a garden isle.
Reservoirs are storing the scant rainfall. The crops include grains, fruit and vegetables.
Once dependent on imports, Kinmen now turns a neat profit on exports of spirits and porcelains. Shells still burst overhead.
The Communists have never stopped their propaganda shellings and people are sometimes killed or maimed. But morale is high, because residents know that their islands are honeycombed by underground defenses.
Grape (File photo)
dwarf variety of kaoliang (File photo)
bottles of kaoliang (File photo)
bottles of kaoliang (File photo)
Kinmen life is good.
There is work for all, often in occupations unknown only a few years ago.
Grape (1st) and other fruits are grown where soil was recently barren.
A dwarf variety of kaoliang (2nd) is distilled and sold not only to Taiwan but to Chinese communities throughout the world.
Even the bottles are made by a new industry supplied from clay deposits found on the island. Bottles are so attractive (3rd and 4th) that they sell without content of kaoliang.