The last 'Frontier Island' facing Taiwan
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CRI, December 27, 2011
Dadeng Island in Xiamen
Located along the southeastern coast of the Chinese mainland, Dadeng Island is an important tourist attraction in Xiamen in Fujian Province. It is only a few kilometers away from Jinmen Island of Taiwan.
Collectively known as Three-Hero Islands, the Dadeng, Xiaodeng and Jiaoyu islands were of strategic importance in modern Chinese history, given their role in the defense of the Chinese mainland against possible attacks by the Kuomintang in Taiwan back in the 1950s.
Today the remote atmosphere of Dadeng Island is such a contrast and yet so refreshing compared with the hustle and bustle of Xiamen, the provincial capital.
Today we'll go there and take a look.
The Three-Hero Islands are tiny compared to Xiamen Island. Dadeng Island is 75 kilometers away from the city center of Xiamen, and was previously linked to the mainland via a causeway. However, in 2006, the causeway was replaced by a new bridge, which now serves as the main access to the islet by road.
This is a local shop keeper selling home-made soap to a group of tourists in her shop in the duty free park in Dadeng Island. Her soap is made from locally grown herbal extract mixed with quality fish oil.
Like all the tourist spots on the seaside, marine resources here are abundant. The "Great Wall" of oyster shells on Dadeng Island reminds visitors that this island is famous for its seafood, and especially its oysters, brought in fresh from the sea by the local fishermen.
The Taiwan Duty Free Park is a major attraction for local residents in Fujian and foreign tourists. This park sells imported goods made in Taiwan which are free of import duties and taxes. Built on the site of the former Taiwan Small Goods Market, this is a Chinese garden style park much larger than the previous one. After a year's expansion construction, the park opened to visitors prior to the National Day holiday on October 1st this year.
Gao Ping, a businessman from Taiwan, is in the park selling rice wine made in Taiwan.
"This rice wine is a new product from Taiwan. Its alcoholic content can be as high as 59 percent. Our shop specializes in sorghum wine made in Taiwan. We hope to introduce the popular product into the mainland."
The original duty-free market was opened 12 years ago when it had about two dozen trading companies and 300 shops selling local products from Taiwan with commodities ranging from food and clothing to herbal medicines.
Being duty-free, the market attracted many visitors and became an important gateway for cross-straits trade.
Zhang Zhituan is president of the Cross-Straits Small Commodities Trade Association in Xiamen. He recalls the early years of trade activities across the straits.
China's opening up policy in 1979 had paved the way for contacts between people across the Taiwan Straits. In 1987, Zhang's uncle came to visit him in Dadeng from Jinmen. Zhang heard from his uncle that peanuts and garlic which were in short supply in Dadeng had been overstocked in Jinmen and the prices were very low. Making his first fortune, Zhang took the opportunity and made a profit by shipping these farm products from Jinmen into Dadeng Island. Later Zhang cooperated with traders from across the straits mainly to swap goods in Jinmen and Dadeng during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Later, as part of the overall strategy to develop trade relations across the Straits, the local government of Xiamen set up the duty free market in Dadeng Island.
Already a successful businessman, Zhang Zhituan had five shops and two trading companies in the market selling local products from Jinmen and across Taiwan.
"Over that time, the market became a platform for businessmen from both sides of the straits to communicate and cooperate while doing business together. After the market was set up, business people from Taiwan kept pouring into Dadeng and Xiamen to do trade."
The development of the market has had its ups and downs over the past decade. For a time, illegal trade practices such as the sale of fake or shoddy commodities seriously affected the healthy development of the market.
A series of measures have been taken in an effort to crack down on illegal activities and clean-up the trade environment in Xiamen. This is what led the municipal government to decide to rebuild the market into a trade park to ensure the healthy development of cross-straits trade.
Today the duty free park has more varieties of products then before and includes sports products and aboriginal Taiwanese arts and crafts in addition to food, clothing and other daily necessities. More relaxed duty-free policies have been adopted to include more expensive products such as electronic appliances.
Wang Yanqing runs a shop featuring art works of the aboriginals. She introduces a canoe used by the aboriginals which was painted with eye-catching bright colors.
"This canoe is used by the Dawu tribe whose main industry is fishing. Those over there are ornament stones and wood species that are good for making furniture. They are all native products from Taiwan."
Taiwanese businessman Lin Xinyi has been engaged in medical equipment sales in Taiwan for the past 20 years. His business on the mainland started in Dadeng Island.
“The duty-free park in Dadeng Island is the only one of its kind in China. This is a great opportunity for Taiwanese business people to develop their trade on the mainland. Thanks to a sound trade environment in Xiamen, my medical equipment sales have covered the whole Three-Hero Islands.”
Among various commodities made in Taiwan, Jinmen kitchen choppers, Chinese kitchen knives made of recycled bomb casings from Jinmen Island, are popular throughout China.
A battle ground turned into a tourist spot, Dadeng boasts real military installations which have been preserved and are still in top condition today, many located in their original positions. In fact, military conflicts once occurred between the PLA troops from the mainland and the Kuomintang forces from Taiwan and Jinmen was a military hotspot.
In 1958, at the height of the cross-straits crisis, Dadeng was bombarded from the sea and from Jinmen by the Kuomintang armed forces. During the attack, more than 120,000 artillery shells fell on the island.
The PLA forces from the mainland answered with a formidable array of long-range cannon, anti-aircraft guns and airborne defense. So many bomb shells rained down onto Jinmen and Dadeng islands, that even today, the leftover empty shells and casings are still being recycled and made into famous Jinmen kitchen choppers.
The landscape of Dadeng Island was left in ruins by the exploding shells. Visitors today, however, will find a beautiful park, relaxing and serene, with a lovely view of the sea. On a clear day, one can look out across the Straits and see Jinmen on the other side. In the half century since hostilities ceased, peace has changed the face of the Straits, and economic ties between Jinmen and Dadeng are growing.
Another legacy of the civil war has been the Three-Hero Island Park, which is a central tourist attraction on Dadeng Island. A tour of the restored battlefield is a journey back in time. The big guns are still there -- the long-range cannon, the batteries of the anti-aircraft guns and smaller weaponry are all on display.
Post war Dadeng Island is now one of the most peaceful places in China. With the common goal of mutual benefit for the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, Taiwan and the mainland will someday become one.
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