Taiwan Today

Many people are apt to think that Kinmen is just a barren piece of rock with a handful of old soldiers. As a matter of fact, it is larger than either Hongkong or Manhattan. There are 50,000 civilians who live there and more than 100,000 overseas Chinese scattered all over Southeast Asia who claim it as their home.

Kinmen is not just one island. It is a group of islands consisting of Kinmen (Quemoy), Little Kinmen (Liehyu) and 12 smaller islets including the now-famous Tatan and Ehrtan. Since the fall of the Chinese mainland to the Communists, this island complex has become free China's "unsinkable armada" anchored off the mainland coast. Moreover, it is a fine example of a better life and democratic way of living such as the miserable people in the Communist communes long for. It has thus thrown the Communist ruler into a rage.

Kinmen is growing. It has always changed a little when a frequent visitor sees it again. People who recently visited there must have found the island had vertically expanded into two: one remaining above with a placid and ever progressing economic life, while the other going underground, throbbing with tension and watching with vigilence, ready to retaliate whenever it is attacked.

But Kinmen usually impresses outside people with what is going on above, as a U. S. 4-H delegate said recently: "Before I went to Kinmen I thought it was just a battlefield with a few farms; but I found people there were growing lots of vegetables and many other crops on the island .... "

A rural reconstruction program had been carried out there for over six years when the Communists on the opposite shores began their ruthless bombardment on August 23, 1958. The sound economic and agricultural foundation thus laid with the assistance of the Sino-American joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction (JCRR) turned the Communist surprise attack into a stunning failure.

What have the upwards of one million shells that the Communists have lobbed into the island done to the people there? The island now looks as verdant as ever and perhaps more vigorous. Motorized sampans are droning far into the sea while farmers work in the field, regardless of possible shellings from the other side of the channel. Its main streets are flowing with shopping crowds. Well-stocked shops are doing a booming business.

The Kinmen people are always calm and carefree, although they have withstood a heavy attack.

Living standard on the island has been greatly improved since 1952 as a result of the successful implementation of a rural reconstruction program sponsored by the JCRR; Through the introduction of new crop varieties, application of chemical fertilizers, drilling of wells and training of agricultural workers, the total agricultural production has substantially increased.

An experiment on production of kohlrabi seed on Kinmen during the past five years has brought about very satisfactory results. Production of the seed was started last year. A total of 658 pounds of the seed, of better quality than that grown in Japan, have been exported to Taiwan.

A spiraling increase in the use of chemical fertilizers indicates the modernization of Kinmen's agriculture and has substantially boosted its farm production. About 60,000 kilograms of ammonium sulfate was consumed in 1950. The peak consumption of 1,250,000 kilograms of ammonium sulfate, calcium superphosphate and potassium chloride was reached in 1957. The amount, however, dropped to 400,000 kilograms in 1959 because of the Communist bombardment.

The increase in acreage and production during the past 10 years is amazing. Even paddy rice has been put to successful tests through an experimental farm. Watermelon, chewing cane, American onions, string beans, cotton, pineapple, and hybrid corn are new crops which have won popular favor. Supply of farm tools and introduction of improved ones are equally welcomed by the farmers.

As a result, the islanders are now producing more than enough food for both civilian and military consumption. The following figures present an impressive picture of the crop production increase during the past 10 years: sweet potatoes from 8,270 to 25,508 metric tons, peanuts from 281 to 5,852 metric tons, wheat from 51 to 1,218 metric tons, vegetable from 24 to 10,394 metric tons—ranging from three to 500 times. The total production last year was estimated at a little over NT$51 million.

The sea provides the islands with another food source. Fishermen with their motorized sampans often sail out far into the sea. Despite the military restrictions on fishing vessels and nets and the sporadic outbreak of Communist guns, their annual catch still registered a steady growth during the past years. Last year's total catch was 2,000 metric tons as against 313 metric tons of 1952.

The rapid development of hog industry on the island is another remarkable thing to note. In 1950, the islander only owned 1,099 head of hogs, which jumped to 35,264 in 1959—an increase of more than 32 times. Not only the monthly import of 500 head of hogs from Taiwan, as required before, can be stopped, but export of a surplus is now under consideration. Pork price there is at present about two-thirds that in Taiwan. Slaughter tax has become an important source of the revenue of the Kinmen Hsien Government.

The successful hog industry on Kinmen is due to an overall hog cholera control project which was started in 1953 and followed by the introduction of better hog breeds. Construction of improved hogsties increasing supplies of feed and vaccine as well as personnel training have given the project a further push.

Reforestation has changed the very appearance of Kinmen. Planeloads of bamboo, acacia, casuarina and pine seedlings have flown from Taiwan to Kinmen. At present there are 15 million trees planted all over the island. Highways and sea coasts are lined with graceful casuarina. These plants serve as a very good camouflage for both the military and civilian population there.

Educational facilities have also been expanded. Every 92 out of 100 children on Kinmen are getting a schooling. A total of 24 primary schools there are now providing education for 5,546 children. The high school on the island has a current enrollment of 900 students.

A couple of years ago stone desks and benches were still seen in some village primary schools. The chilly-looking equipment had been warmed by thousands of Kinmen's youngsters for generations. But all those crude things have now disappeared. In their places are 4,404 sets of JCRR-donated wooden desks and benches.

In addition, a three-pronged agricultural extension education program for youth, women and adults has been introduced there. Farmers are learning new farming practices with the help of the extension division under the county farmers' association established in 1957. Farm women are receiving the training of sewing, cooking, and other household affairs. Since 1957, more than 1,700 young folks have improved their situation and boosted the welfare of their families through training under the 4-H program.

In public health, the progress is also remarkable. Kinmen used to be ravaged by epidemics. Plague claimed approximately 8,000 lives from 1890 to 1910. However, since the introduction of the public health program in 1951, not a single Kinmen resident has died of plague or of any other epidemic.

"Ten years ago," said a JCRR official, "no one wanted to go to Kinmen because it was notoriously known as a breeding spot for bubonic and pulmonary plague; but there hasn't been a plague death since 1952." Rat control and inoculation are responsible.

The island has now a health center, which serves the islanders with 20 beds, an underground sick room and an underground operation room. The downtown health station, totally built underground, did an excellent job during the fierce gun duels two years ago. No downtown resident was killed during those nightmarish months.

There are few other places where civilian life fits in so well with the military, and vice versa, as on Kinmen. Elsewhere people consider troops stationed in their town an annoying burden. But Kinmen residents cherish a friendly feeling toward their brethren in uniform.

People on Kinmen like to have an enlisted man live with them. They will provide him with a room if they can. Even an already crowded family will usually save one room for this purpose.

Most of these enlisted men are good at farm work and masonry. They regularly help Kinmen civilians farm, do miscellaneous work and even repair houses at their own will. Civilian shelters are largely built by soldiers.

The five buses donated by JCRR can hardly meet the transportation demand on Kinmen. But military trucks will stop at designated spots to pick up civilian hitchhikers. One afternoon last spring, a whole platoon of soldiers lined up in front of a burning house, each with a washing basin, relaying water from a well at the other end of the street to the roof which was puffing smoke. They put down the fire as efficiently as trained fire fighters.

The sanguine and genial appearance of an average Kinmen elder reflects a healthy life the people enjoy now. Photographers find that nine out of ten Kinmen's old men are not camera shy. They like to chat with photographers while posing for pictures. According to latest available statistics, the island has 124 people over 86 years old, and one now 105. They are mostly contented and happy.

Kinmen is one of the few spots along the bamboo curtain where people under the Communist rule could peep through the cracks into a free society. Constantly mainland people abandon their homes and sail out across the sea to seek freedom in free China.

Last October a group of 13 fishermen risked their lives by setting sail for the free land. They succeeded. A pregnant woman among them was delivered of a girl at the Kinmen Health Center on the third day of their arrival. She received all maternal care that an up-to-the-standard hospital could give.

"I've never dreamed of that I could again be treated like a human being," she said. This was her third child. She recalled that during each of the previous two childbirths, the Communists only allowed her to stay at the hospital for two days and forced her back to work on the third day.

Kinmen has undergone many hardships. It has taken many a heavy beating but has ever been growing and becoming stronger and stronger. A National Geographic Magazine editor visited the "Bastion of the Free World" during the Communist bombardment two years ago found that US-aid dollars were responsible for all this. But he wondered what would happen since Kinmen was then still under fire. Would the program be wasted?

 

A JCRR official told him: "Look at it this way. If a weak man receives a blow in the face, he may collapse. A strong man can take that same blow and stay on his feet. The strength this program has given the Kinmen farmer in the past 10 years has made it possible for him to survive."

Two years after the first battle of the Taiwan Straits, the farmer on Kinmen has not only survived, but is doing better. And in him, the other side of the story of Kinmen finds its most eloquent presentation.