Taiwan-Controlled Kinmen Island Is Only 3 Km From China's Coast

Reuters: Model soldiers and secret bunkers on Taiwan’s front line with China 

Chen Ing-wen strides up to a rocky outcrop some 3 km (1.9 miles) from China's coast on Taiwan-controlled Kinmen island and demonstrates how as a soldier he used to shoot from there at Chinese trawlers that got too close. 

"It was just to scare them - but they weren't scared," said Chen, 50, who did his military service on Kinmen from 1991 to 1993. "We were not trying to kill them, just warn them away." 

Sitting on the front line between Taiwan and China, Kinmen is the last place where the two engaged in major fighting, in 1958 at the height of the Cold War, and where memories of war are burned into minds decades later - large model soldiers point guns at China from some old bunkers.  

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WNU editor: In the above picture is the city of Xiamen. I have been going to that city since the 1980s, and I have looked at Taiwan-Controlled Kinmen Island from the Chinese side more times than I can remembered. 

At that time Xiamen was my second favorite city after Quanzho (located 100 km north of Xiamen), and I always enjoyed the green spaces along the coast.

The fresh air. The tree lined streets running along on the coast. The small vendors selling their goods. It was a special time then.

Sighhh .... no more now. China's industrialization and modernization efforts have wiped out all of these green spaces. That China is now long gone.