Notes:
Kinmen (Jinmen) betekent letterlijk gouden poort. Het eiland kreeg deze naam vanwege de uiterst strategische ligging. Het vormde de toegangspoort tot de zee voor zowel Zhangzhou als voor Xiamen en beschermde beide steden tegen aanvallen vanuit diezelfde zee. De naam 'Quemoy' is een vroeg-Spaanse of vroeg-Portugese verbastering van Kinmen, zoals die werd uitgesproken in het Zuidelijk Min. De namen van de huidige vier gemeenten op het hoofdeiland beginnen steeds met kin (of jin, goud).
De archipel bestaat uit twaalf eilanden met een totale oppervlakte
van 150 km². De twee grootste eilanden zijn Groot Kinmen (130 km²) en
Klein Kinmen (16 km²). Andere eilanden zijn Dadan en Erdan. Wat meer
zuidelijk (24°10' NB en 118°14' OL) ligt Daqiu, met een vuurtoren
daterend uit de Qing-tijd. De Wuqiu-archipel,
die 133 km ten noordoosten van Kinmen en 135 km ten westen van Taiwan
ligt, behoort slechts bestuurlijk tot het district Kinmen.
Kinmen ligt 150 km ten westen van de Pescadores, 270 km ten westen van Taiwan en 280 km ten zuidwesten van de Matsu-archipel.
Daarentegen bedraagt de afstand tussen de Tatan-eilanden, het meest
westelijke deel van het district Kinmen en het Chinese vasteland bij vloed slechts 2,3 km en bij eb
nog maar 1,8 km. De eilandengroep ligt zeer strategisch, omdat vanaf
Kinmen de baai en haven van Xiamen en de monding van de rivier de Jiulong kunnen worden geblokkeerd.
Kinmen (金門) means 'golden gate'. The name was first recorded in 1387 when the Hongwu Emperor appointed Zhou Dexing to administer the island and protect it from pirate attacks.[6] The spelling "Kinmen" is a postal romanization.[7] This transcription system is a variation of Nanking Syllabary, a system developed by Herbert Giles in 1892.[8] It was adopted by the Chinese Imperial Post, part of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service led by Irishman Robert Hart. It is based on pronunciation in the Southern Mandarin, or Jianghuai,
dialect. This dialect is widely spoken in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces,
including the city of Nanjing. The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
uses "Kinmen,"[9] while the United States Board on Geographic Names gives "Kinmen Island."[4] Jinmen is the island's name both in Tongyong Pinyin and in Hanyu Pinyin.[10] Chin-men / Chinmen is the Wade–Giles romanization of the county and island's name.[11]
Quemoy, pronounced /kɪˈmɔɪ/, is a name for the island in English and in other European languages.[12] It may have originated as a Spanish or Portuguese transcription of the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation of the name, Kim-mûi.[13] This is the most common form of the islands' name in English. For example, works that deal with the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crises (the Quemoy Incident[14]) and the 1960 United States presidential election
debates when the islands received prominent worldwide news coverage all
use the word Quemoy. In addition, the former National Kinmen Institute
of Technology was renamed National Quemoy University
in 2010. Kinmen scholar Wei Jian-feng advocates the use of the word
Quemoy to better connect the island to "international society or achieve
more recognition in the world".[13] Kimoi is a Hokkien-derived spelling also used in the postal romanization system.
 | This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. (February 2023) |
Humans have lived on Kinmen for 5,800 to 8,000 years.[17] During the reign of Emperor Yuan (317 CE), the Five Barbarians invasion of China led six extended families to flee south and they settled in Kinmen, then called Wuzhou.[17] More people settled there during the Tang dynasty, changing the name from Wuzhou to Kinmen.[18]
During the Ming dynasty, more migrants settled in Kinmen. Koxinga used Kinmen as a base to capture Formosa
and Penghu from the Dutch. He cut down trees to build his navy,
resulting in massive deforestation that made Kinmen vulnerable to soil
erosion.[18]
The Prince of Lu, a member of the Southern Ming dynasty, resisted the invading Manchu Qing dynasty forces. In 1651, he fled to Kinmen, which the Qing dynasty took in 1663.[19] During the Qing Dynasty, the Kinmen area was part of Tungan County.[20][21]
After the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) in 1912, Kinmen became part of Fujian Province. In 1913, the Kinmen area was made part of Siming County.[21] Kinmen County was established in 1914.[21][22] In 1928, the county came under direct administration of the provincial government.[21]
The Empire of Japan captured Kinmen in 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War.
They blockaded the island on September 3 and landed on October 23.
Fighting was light with ROC forces fleeing rather than fighting. The
only casualty was sustained by a local self-defense unit. Many of the
residents fled to the mainland or to Southeast Asia. The purpose of the
Japanese seizure of Kinmen was to use it as a position from which to
attack the neighboring city of Xiamen which they would seize in May
1938. Following the seizure of Xiamen many of the locals who had fled
there returned to Kinmen.[23]
After the capture of the island the county government went into exile in Dadeng.[20]
The Japanese administered Kinmen as a special municipality of Xiamen,
the government was composed of locals, people from other parts of
occupied China, and Taiwanese.[23]
A poor harvest in 1938 brought challenges for islanders. The
Japanese engaged in economic development of the island including through
the use of forced labor. KMT forces engaged in two serious attempts to
retake the island and kept up a low level campaign against the Japanese.
In 1943 insurgents kidnapped two Taiwanese officials who had been
overseeing the salt fields and took them to China before executing them.
In retaliation the Japanese authorities rounded up 300 young men from
the local community eventually executing four.[23]
Towards the end of WWII conditions worsened with Japanese authorities conscripting 500 locals (with their mules)
into the military and confiscating household goods. The island came
under allied bombing including one attack on Aug. 30, 1944 which killed
19 locals.[23]
WWII ended in Aug. 15, 1945 with the surrender of Japan.
Following the end of the war there were attacks by locals against
Taiwanese who took shelter with the Japanese garrison. Kinmen was
effectively ungoverned until Oct. 3, 1945 when ROC forces landed and
installed a new government. A celebration on Oct. 10 marked the end of
hostilities. Locals who had survived the war following their
conscription by the Japanese were treated as traitors by the KMT
occupation authorities.[23]
After the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC)
by the Chinese Communists in October 1949, Kinmen County was claimed by
both the Nationalists and the Communists. Dadeng, Xiaodeng and Jiaoyu were taken by the Communists on 9 October[22] or 15 October,[24] 1949. While those islands are still claimed by the ROC,[25] they are governed as part of Dadeng Subdistrict, Xiang'an District, Xiamen, Fujian, China.[26][27]
On 25 October 1949, People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces landed on Kinmen Island near Guningtou beginning the Battle of Kuningtou. ROC forces successfully defended the island and prevented an attack on Taiwan.
At the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, retired Admiral Charles M. Cooke Jr., advisor to President Chiang Kai-shek, opposed withdrawing ROC forces from Quemoy (Kinmen).[28] On 26 July 1950, ROC forces on Dadan Island (Tatan), in total 298 soldiers, repulsed an attack (大擔島戰役) from a People's Liberation Army force of 700 soldiers that landed on the island.[29]: 11, 19–20 General Douglas MacArthur and other US officials supported ROC efforts to defend the islands.[30]
The PLA extensively shelled the island during the First and Second Taiwan Strait crises in 1954–1955 and 1958 respectively. In 1954, the United States considered responding by using nuclear weapons against the PRC.[31] Again in 1958, General Nathan Farragut Twining and the Joint Chiefs of Staff
believed that the United States should not permit the loss of the
islands to the communists and recommended to President Eisenhower the
use of whatever force was necessary, including atomic weapons.[32]
The phrase "Quemoy and Matsu" became part of American political language in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. During the debates, both candidates, Vice-President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy,
pledged to use American forces if necessary to protect Taiwan from
invasion by the PRC, which the United States did not recognize as a
legitimate government. But in the second debate on 7 October 1960, the
two candidates presented different opinions about whether to use
American forces to protect Taiwan's
forward positions, Quemoy and Matsu, also. Senator Kennedy stated that
these islands – as little as 9 kilometres (5.5 mi) off the coast of
China and as much as 170 kilometres (106 mi) from Taiwan – were
strategically indefensible and were not essential to the defense of
Taiwan. Vice-President Nixon maintained that since Quemoy and Matsu were
in the "area of freedom," they should not be surrendered to the
Communists as a matter of principle.[33]
Earlier in the debate, then-Vice President Nixon mentioned:[34][35]
In the Truman Administration 600 million people went behind the Iron Curtain including the satellite countries of Eastern Europe and Communist China. In this Administration we have stopped them at Quemoy and Matsu, we have stopped them in Indo China, we have stopped them in Lebanon, we have stopped them in other parts of the world.
Later in the debate, Edward P. Morgan asked then-Senator Kennedy:[34][36][37][38]
Senator, Saturday on television,
you said that you had always thought that Quemoy and Matsu were unwise
places to draw our defense line in the Far East. Would you comment
further on that, and also address to this question: couldn't a pull-back
from those islands be interpreted as appeasement?
Then-Senator Kennedy responded to Morgan's question saying:[34][35][36][37]
Well, the United States has on occasion attempted, mostly in the middle '50s to persuade Chiang Kai-shek
to pull his troops back to Formosa. I believe strongly in the defense
of Formosa. These islands are a few miles, five or six miles[b] off the coast of Red China within a general harbor area, and more than a hundred miles[c]
from Formosa. We have never said flatly that we will defend Quemoy and
Matsu if it is attacked. We say we will defend it if it's part of a
general attack on Formosa, but it is extremely difficult to make that
judgment.
Now, Mr. Herter, in 1958, when he was Under Secretary of State, said they were strategically indefensible. Admiral Spruance and Collins in 1955 said that we should not attempt to defend these islands in their conference on the Far East. General Ridgway
has said the same thing. I believe that when you get into a war, if
you're going to get into a war for the defense of Formosa, it ought to
be on a clearly defined line. One of the problems, I think, at the time
of South Korea was the question of whether the United States would
defend it if it were attacked. I believe that we should defend Formosa,
we should come to its defense. It leaves this rather in the air that we
will defend it under some conditions but not under others, I think it is
a mistake.
Secondly, I would not suggest a withdrawal at the point
of the Communist guns. It is a decision finally that the Nationalists
should make and I believe that we should consult with them and attempt
to work out a plan by which the line is drawn at the Island of Formosa.
It leaves 100 miles[d]
between the sea. But with General Ridgway, Mr. Herter, General Collins,
Admiral Spruance and many others, I think it is unwise to take the
chance of being dragged into a war which may lead to a world war over
two islands which are not strategically defensible, which are not
according to their testimony, essential to the defense of Formosa.
I think that we should protect our commitments. I believe strongly we should do so in Berlin.
I believe strongly we should do so in Formosa and I believe we should
meet our commitments to every country whose security we've guaranteed.
But I do not believe that that line, in case of a war, should be drawn
on those islands, but instead on the island of Formosa. And as long as
they are not essential to the defense of Formosa, it has been my
judgement ever since 1954, at the time of the Eisenhower Doctrine for the Far East, that our line should be drawn in the sea around the island itself.
Then-Vice President Nixon retorted:[34][35][37]
I disagree completely with Senator Kennedy on this point.
I
remember in the period immediately before the Korean War, South Korea
was supposed to be indefensible as well. Generals testified to that, and
Secretary Acheson made a very famous speech at the Press Club
early in the year that the Korean War started, indicating in effect
that South Korea was beyond the defense zone of the United States. I
suppose it was hoped when he made that speech that we wouldn't get into a
war, but it didn't mean that. We had to go in when they came in.
Now
I think as far as Quemoy and Matsu are concerned, that the question is
not these two little pieces of real estate- they are unimportant. It
isn't the few people who live on them- they are not too important. It's
the principle involved. These two islands are in the area of freedom.
The Nationalists have these two islands. We should not force our
Nationalist allies to get off of them and give them to the Communists.
If we do that, we start a chain reaction, because the Communists aren't
after Quemoy and Matsu, they're after Formosa. In my opinion, this is
the same kind of woolly thinking that lead to disaster for America in
Korea, I'm against it, I would never tolerate it as President of the
United States, and I will hope that Senator Kennedy will change his mind
if he should be elected.
After the third debate on 13 October 1960, Kennedy's advisers spoke
with then Secretary of State Herter and said Kennedy was willing to
revise his position on the Quemoy and Matsu issue so as not to give the
Communists the impression that the USA would not stand united against
aggression. Nixon pointed out the change in Kennedy's position but
decided not to press the point due to the importance of the USA's role
in what was an extremely tense situation.[39] Nixon's polls among Republicans and Democrats showed overwhelming support for Nixon's position on the issue.[40]
The county is made up of numerous islands and islets[50][51][21][52] including:
Kinmen was originally a military reserve under the Martial Law curfews, which eventually led to the tragedies of innocent civilian casualties,[41] such as the 1985 Shi Islet Slaughter and 1987 Lieyu massacre.[42][43][44]
The island was returned to the civilian government in the mid-1990s,
after which travel to and from it was allowed. Direct travel between mainland China and Kinmen re-opened in January 2001 under the mini Three Links, and there has been extensive tourism development on the island in anticipation of mainland tourists.[45] Direct travel was suspended in 2003 as a result of the SARS outbreak, but has since resumed.[46][full citation needed]
Many Taiwanese businessmen use the link through Kinmen to enter
the Chinese mainland, seeing it as cheaper and easier than entering
through Hong Kong. However, this changed following the 2005 Pan–Blue visits to mainland China and the 2008 presidential and legislative victories of the KMT, that allowed easier cross-Strait relations.
Kinmen has experienced a considerable economic boom as businessmen
relocate to the island for easier access to the vast markets of the PRC.
On 30 June 2014, Dadan Island and Erdan Island were handed over from the military to civilians, represented by Kinmen County Government.[47] Since 1 January 2015, tourists from Mainland China could directly apply for the Exit and Entry Permit upon arrival in Kinmen. This privilege also applies to Penghu and Matsu Islands as means to boost tourism in the outlying islands of Taiwan.[48]
County/Shire : Latitude: 24.4463605597141, Longitude: 118.32556513487464Matches 1 to 1 of 1
Last Name, Given Name(s)  |
Death  |
Person ID | Tree | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Mulder, Everhardus | 06 Mar 1879 | I802697 | savenije |
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