Word: kinmen
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...October 1949 the tiny Taiwanese island of Kinmen made the world's headlines as Republican soldiers drove communist forces back into the sea. A mere 1.8 km from mainland China and trapped between the jaws of two promontories, Kinmen proved difficult for the attackers to chew and swallow. For several decades the island and mainland remained only on shelling, then on yelling, terms. Bombardment continued intermittently until 1978, and vast p.a. systems broadcast propaganda each way across the narrow straight - truly a dialogue of the deaf...
...across the water, can do more than stare at Taiwanese territory: they can sail over on organized tours. A two-day visit is a good bet for non-Chinese, too, but they'd be better off starting at Taipei's Song Shan airport, 260 km away. You would expect Kinmen to be a pockmarked moonscape - during 29 years of hostilities more than 940,000 shells were fired at the island - but as your plane descends you see the reassuring orderliness of small-scale agriculture among lush, tree-covered hills. Air-conditioned buses then take you down narrow, winding roads past...
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