Kinmen: Taiwan's island a step from China

Just kilometers from the Chinese coast, Kinmen today still preserves bunkers and tunnels from when it was the front line of Asia's Cold War.

A rental car or scooter remains useful for exploring the island.

The Zhaishan Tunnel, excavated entirely by hand in granite rock to conceal military vessels, remains one of the islands most impressive military sites.

Minutes away, the village of Shuitou, with its traditional residences built by Kinmen emigrants who grew wealthy in Southeast Asia, preserves well-preserved Minnan architecture.

Heading toward the coast one visits the Memorial of the Battle of Guningtou, recalling the 1949 clash between nationalist and communist Chinese forces.

As evening falls, local knife factories, crafted by melting fragments of artillery projectiles that fell on the island during Cold War bombardments, remain a unique souvenir of the island.

Kinmen was bombarded with hundreds of thousands of artillery shells from mainland China between the Nineteen-Fifties and Seventies, metal that local artisans today recycle to forge kitchen knives sold as souvenirs.

The island lies merely kilometers from mainland China's coast near Xiamen, much closer to the Chinese mainland than to Taiwan itself, yet remains under Taiwanese administration since 1949.