The Kinmen National Park Administration is pulling out all the stops with its "10,000 Great Soldiers Return to Kinmen, a 2010 Journey of Nostalgia." The trip will bring many old comrades in arms back to the islands in search of old memories. Arrangements have been made for lodging in old homes as an "opening salvo" of promotion for the upcoming trips.
Battles between two sides of the Taiwan Strait brought great destruction to Kinmen, an offshore island near mainland China but ruled by the ROC government. They also accidentally brought conservation with it, however. Government policies that focused on battlefields limited the development on the islands over the past half-century, resulting in relatively few modern buildings.
In recent years, however, spurred on by the efforts of the Kinmen National Park Administration and the Kinmen County government, the old-time residences, dripping with traditional style, have taken a leading role in the development of tourism.
Whether tourists wish to experience being woken by a rooster or prefer sleeping until they wake up on their own, either can be accommodated on Kinmen, with many kinds of traditional Minnan-style traditional homes available.
The rise of Kinmen's old residences only happened in the past year or two. The operators of these lodgings are proud that their single-family dwellings used as homestays are seldom seen in Taiwan. The same types of buildings are also common in Xiamen, separated from Kinmen by a narrow band of water. Wave after wave of French, American, Japanese and Hong Kong returnees bear testimony to the beauty of these old buildings. The "homestay village" has stealthily taken form on Kinmen as a result.
Forty-nine homestay hotels are registered in Kinmen. A small number of them are modern buildings, but more than 80 percent of the homestays have traditional details. These include some called "pan-a," foreign-style homes that extend the traditional Minnan stylings and were built by immigrants. The structures hold long-standing cultural underpinnings as well as many architectural secrets.
One of the homestay hotels in Kinmen was designated a historical structure in 2003 by the county government, and was registered Nov. 15 of that year as the Hsiahsing Guest House.
Owner Chen Lian-hsing said the guesthouse was built at the height of the Qing dynasty. It maintained the three-wing plan of traditional homes, featuring the "swallow-tail" rooflines of traditional officials' homes. The third wing of the residence is constructed of bricks, stone and wood brought over from the Chinese mainland.
No detail was missed; even the courtyard is paved with expensive "Quanzhou White" granite. The colors and patterns, window treatments and brick carvings in the residence are all representative of top-notch craftsmanship, and show off the essence of Minnan architecture.
There are 12 traditional settlements within Kinmen National Park. The Minnan buildings, foreign-influenced structures, landmarks and residences all maintain the traditional spatial arrangements, clan system, traditional rituals, and feng-shui beliefs of the culture of the ordinary people. The effect is enchanting.
The names of the homestay hotels in Kinmen are derived from the creative thinking of their owners. Some reflect the characteristics of the owner; some harken to their old functions, and others draw on poetry or local lore.
The owners hail from all over, with some native Kinmen residents and others coming from the Taiwanese mainland. Some fell in love with Kinmen after numerous trips there. Some of them purchased their buildings after an unforgettable night in an old residence, and others signed on after hearing of the "10 million luxury residences."
These buildings are mostly over half a century old, and while they are privy to the secrets of many a traveler, they are themselves a rich source of history. For example, the shiny surfaces of the bricks in some walls carry the trademarks of Japanese manufacturers. These marks bear witness to the climate of the times, and are themselves stories that can lead to deep reflection.
(This article originally appeared in “The Liberty Times” April 11.)