Penghu County: Twice It Said No to Casinos, and Chrysanthemum Island Did Not Choose Poverty

30-Second Overview: On September 26, 2009, Penghu held its first gambling referendum; opposition votes accounted for 56.44%, with the opposition side leading by 3,962 votes, marking the first local gambling referendum in Taiwan’s history. Seven years later, on October 15, 2016, the vote was held again; opposition reached 81.07%, a 25-percentage-point increase from the first vote. In those intervening seven years, nothing happened to suddenly make Penghu wealthy. With an annual rainfall of only around 1,000 millimeters, a registered population of 108,000 but a resident population of only about 80,000, and the second-lowest registered population among all offshore islands, this island has twice voted to reject resort casinos. This article argues that the object of the two "NO" votes was not the casino, but the right to choose "what Penghu should become."

At 4 a.m., Makung Central Street is empty.

Central Street is one of the oldest surviving Han Chinese streets in Taiwan¹. The "Four-Eye Well" at the northern end is traditionally said to be a well where residents have drawn water together since the Ming Dynasty, and it is now designated as a county-level historical monument². Walking another two hundred meters south brings you to the Penghu Tainan Temple. In 1919, during the eighth year of the Taishō era, temple workers unearthed a granite stele during renovations. The stele bears nine characters: "Shen Yourong Admonishes the Red Barbarians Wei Malang et al."³. The year on this stele is the 32nd year of the Wanli era, corresponding to 1604 CE.

At 4 a.m., the temple gates are closed, and the stele sits inside a glass case at the Qingfeng Pavilion Cultural Museum. The people of Penghu are asleep. Tourists will not arrive until the 7:30 a.m. flight. In winter, the northeasterly monsoon blows from the northwest across the old street’s langgu stone walls and into the alleys. Penghu experiences this wind for two-thirds of the year.

This archipelago, covering 141 square kilometers, was the first place in Taiwan to attract the attention of European powers over the past four centuries. The Portuguese called it Pescadores (Islands of Fishermen) in the 16th century. The Dutch first arrived in 1604 and returned in 1622. The French visited in 1885. The Japanese landed here in 1895 to take control of all of Taiwan. Each time, Penghu served as the entry point. The Taiwan main island was always the latecomer.

The 1604 Stele: Shen Yourong Admonishes the Red Barbarians Wei Malang

Kaikai Tainan Temple, 2014. Photo: Outlookxp via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

There is controversy surrounding the founding date of Tainan Temple. The Penghu Cultural Heritage Network at penghu.info summarizes it as follows: "No definitive conclusion has been reached regarding when it was founded. However, it is certain that it already existed in the 32nd year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty (1604)."⁴ The academic community cites five different years: 1563, 1592, 1597, 1604, and 1622. The year 1604 is the only one supported by physical evidence: the Shen Yourong Stele.

What happened in 1604?

In that year, Wybrand van Warwijck, commander of the Dutch East India Company, led two ships into Penghu and sent envoys to Fujian to request trade rights. The Ming court dispatched Commander Shen Yourong with fifty warships to negotiate. After assessing the commercial prospects and the disparity in military strength, Van Warwijck withdrew from Penghu on December 15, 1604.⁵ No battle took place. A stele recorded this event; its inscription was written by Ming officials at the time and was unearthed from the temple's foundation 315 years later. In March 2022, the Ministry of Culture designated this stele as a National Treasure⁶.

📝 Curator's Note: Middle school textbooks introducing early Taiwanese history typically begin with the Dutch construction of Fort Zeelandia in Tainan in 1624. However, 1624 was merely the Dutch "Plan B": they originally intended to occupy Penghu. Upon their second arrival in 1622, they had already built a fortress at Fengchwei, known as the "Dutch Fort at Fengchwei, Penghu" (located at Shetoushan in Fengchwei, Makung City; ruins remain). In 1624, the Ming court reinforced its troops in Penghu, forcing the Dutch to retreat to Tainan. The Dutch era on the main island of Taiwan began only after Penghu people drove them away. The Shen Yourong Stele of 1604 records the first round of this twenty-year offensive and defensive struggle. To the Dutch, Penghu was "the island we intended to occupy," while the main island of Taiwan was "the place we went to because we could not take Penghu."

The stele was unearthed in 1919. The Japanese had already ruled Taiwan for 24 years. In 1920, during the 9th year of the Taishō era, local system reforms were implemented, and "Magong was renamed Makung, a name that has persisted to this day. The characters 'Makung' are a simplification of 'Magong' by the Japanese"⁷. The same temple has borne three names over three centuries: Magong → Tianfei Temple → Tainan Temple. The stele was buried in the foundation at the moment the temple was built and was not discovered until 1919.

Basalt houses, basalt Shihu

Columnar basalt on Tongpan Island, 2008-07-12. Photo: Carrie Kellenberger / globetrotter via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The Penghu County Bureau of Cultural Affairs produced an online teaching module titled "World Wonder: Penghu's Basalt." The first paragraph reads: "Approximately 17.4 to 8.2 million years ago, after several discontinuous eruptions, magma surged from surface fissures" ⁸.

The oldest basalt is on Wang'an Island, erupted approximately 17.4 million years ago. The youngest is on Dongyuping Island, 8.2 million years ago. Over the intervening nine million years, magma continuously surged from underwater fissures, cooling, contracting, and cracking into pentagonal or hexagonal columnar jointing. The ninety islands were formed this way.

Only one of the ninety is an exception. The Penghu County Government geology page states: "The geology of the Penghu Islands is the result of Pliocene volcanic activity. Aside from Huahsi Island, which consists of andesitic igneous rock, the composition is mostly basaltic igneous rock" ⁹. Huahsi Island is the westernmost point; its geology is older andesite, and the island hosts nearly a hundred native plant species, hence the name Huahsi (Flower Island). Among the eighty-nine black stone islands lies an even older grey-white island.

Basalt is Penghu's building material. Traditional settlements used basalt mixed with kang-ku-shi (coral reef limestone) to build walls; the Erkan settlement in Xiyu Township was built this way. The Chen Family Ancestral Hall was designated a Third-Class Historic Site in 1988 (now a County-Designated Historic Site), becoming Taiwan's first traditional settlement preservation area ¹⁰. Thick stone slabs press down on the roof tiles to withstand the Northeast Monsoon. Penghu's annual rainfall is only about 1,000 millimeters (the lowest band along the western coast), but the winds are strong. From October to March, the Northeast Monsoon persists for half a year; without heavy weights, tiles would be blown away ¹¹.

Roofs of the Erkan settlement, 2011-07-09. Photo: Perryn1258 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Things grow inside the walls. Penghu's "vegetable houses" (caizhai) are the solution for winter farmland. The Wikipedia entry for Penghu vegetable houses states: "Penghu's 'vegetable houses,' also known as 'zhainei,' are exquisite farmland with stone walls built on all four sides to block the strong Northeast Monsoon, allowing delicate crops to grow smoothly in winter... The north wall is the highest, approximately 1.6 to 2.5 meters... Stone walls are typically built using local materials such as kang-ku-shi or basalt" ¹². Seen from the air, hundreds of vegetable houses connect like a honeycomb. In winter, outside the walls is the wind howling through the Hukumen Strait; inside are cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, ginger, and sweet potatoes.

The same stones go to sea. About 95% of the world's stone weirs are concentrated in Penghu ¹³. A field survey in 2008–2009 counted 592, and a 2006 survey counted 92 on Jibei Island, the island with the most stone weirs in Penghu ¹⁴. Fishermen pile basalt and coral reefs into an arc-shaped wall in the intertidal zone. When the tide rises, fish swim in; when it recedes, they are trapped inside. The Taiwan Prefecture Gazetteer recorded Penghu stone weirs as early as the 35th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1696). By the 1950s, stone weir catches still accounted for nearly 80% of the county's total fishery output value ¹⁵. Today, most stone weirs remain only as cultural landscapes, but a well-preserved Double-Heart Stone Weir remains under the cliff face north of Dingxi in Donghu Village, Qimei Township, rebuilt in 1937 by Jibei master Ba-le-shi ¹⁶.

✦ "Along Penghu's 320-kilometer coastline, after excluding harbors and waters too deep for building weirs, there are nearly 600 stone weirs." (Taiwan World Heritage Potential Sites: Penghu Shihu (Stone Weirs) ¹⁴)

The Ministry of Culture has listed both Penghu basalt and the Penghu Shihu (Stone Weirs) as Taiwan's potential World Heritage sites. However, Taiwan is not a member of UNESCO, so the list cannot be submitted. This list is a checklist written for Taiwan itself.

Double-Heart Stone Weir Cultural Landscape, Qimei, 2017-09-24. Photo: Chang Ya-lun via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

1622: Fengguiwei, the Dutch Springboard

Return to the second round after 1604.

On the morning of July 1, 1622, Dutch commander Rijk van Tanja led a fleet of twelve ships and 1,024 troops to invade Magong Harbor. The Penghu County Government’s history page states: "On the morning of July 1, 1622 (the 2nd year of the Tianqi reign of Emperor Xizong of Ming), Dutch commander Rijk van Tanja led a fleet of 12 ships and 1,024 troops to invade Magong Harbor" ¹⁷. This time, the Dutch had learned their lesson and did not demand trade rights. Instead, they built a fortress directly at Fengguiwei (now the southernmost tip of the Magong Peninsula, known as Shetoushan or Snake Head Mountain).

The Ming court’s response was slow. Two years later, in 1624, Nan Juyi took office as the Governor of Fujian, reinforcing the troops in Penghu to besiege the Dutch. Unable to hold out, the Dutch entered negotiations with the Ming court. The Wikipedia entry on the Dutch period notes: "The Dutch and the Ming Empire reached an agreement, agreeing to destroy the fortifications and artillery batteries at Fengguiwei and relocate to Taiwan, which was not part of the Ming Empire’s territory; the Ming Empire would not interfere with the Dutch occupation of Taiwan. On August 26, 1624, the Dutch forces withdrew from Penghu and moved to Taiwan" ¹⁸.

This Dutch force, having withdrawn from Fengguiwei in Penghu, later built Fort Zeelandia in Anping, Tainan. Thus began the forty-year Dutch era on the main island of Taiwan.

From then on, this island changed hands between Eurasian powers. In 1683, Shi Lang attacked Penghu, and Penghu entered the Qing era alongside the main island of Taiwan; the Qing era lasted 212 years from 1684 to 1895. On March 29, 1885, during the Sino-French War, French Admiral Amédée Courbet led a fleet to occupy Penghu. Another battle was still raging on the main island of Taiwan: that same year, French forces landed in Keelung but were repelled by both Liu Mingchuan and a plague ¹⁹. The situation in Penghu was no better. After the French occupied Penghu, a cholera outbreak occurred. Admiral Courbet himself suffered heatstroke while attending a subordinate’s funeral on June 8, 1885, and died on the flagship Bayard in Magong Harbor on the 11th ²⁰. That same month, the Treaty of Tianjin was signed in Tianjin, and the French forces withdrew.

Ten years later, in 1895, the Japanese arrived. From where? Penghu. The Penghu County Government’s history page states: "On April 17, 1895 (the 21st year of the Guangxu reign), Li Hongzhang and Ito Hirobumi signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, formally ceding Taiwan and Penghu to Japan" ²¹. In fact, Japanese forces had already occupied Penghu from March 23 to 25, three weeks before the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. On March 26, 1895, the Japanese established the "Penghu Islands Administration Office" in Magong, with Rear Admiral Tsunada Tsuneyoshi serving as the first director. It was not until the treaty was signed on April 17 that the Japanese landed on the main island of Taiwan on June 17.

Strategically, the logic remained the same: occupy Penghu first, then advance into Taiwan. The Dutch tried this in 1622 but failed. The Japanese succeeded in 1895.

The Cross-Sea Bridge Stitches Six Townships and Cities into One Penghu

The Penghu Cross-Sea Bridge spans the Houmen Channel, 2015-06-30. Photo: Wing1990hk via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Penghu County Government began constructing the cross-sea bridge in 1965. The official website of the Penghu National Scenic Area states: "Construction of the cross-sea bridge began in 1965, and it was completed and opened to traffic in 1970" ²². The first-generation bridge was 2,478 meters long, making it the longest deep-sea bridge in Southeast Asia at the time.

The bridge connects the Houmen Channel between Baisha and Xiyu, where the water is deep and the current swift. Before the bridge was built, Xiyu could only be reached by boat. After the bridge was completed, the four townships and cities of Magong, Huxi, Baisha, and Xiyu were connected by land. The remaining two townships (Wang'an and Qimei) remained in the middle of the South China Sea, accessible only by boat or plane.

In 1984, the bridge structure began to corrode severely due to constant exposure to saltwater and strong winds. In 1996, the second-generation bridge was completed and opened to traffic, with "the total length of the Penghu Cross-Sea Bridge being 2,494 meters" ²³. It is a dual-lane bridge with a deck width of 13 meters. From 1996 until the Kinmen Bridge opened in 2022, a span of 26 years, it was the longest cross-sea bridge in Taiwan.

✦ The physical significance of the cross-sea bridge is not merely "connecting two places," but "stitching the six townships and cities into one Penghu."

What was stitched together was more than just roads. Before 1970, if you asked a Penghu local "Where are you from?", they might have answered "I am from Xiyu" or "I am from Wang'an." After 1970, the self-identity of "Penghu local" gained a concrete physical carrier. The townships and cities remained, but the people within them shared a common identity.

2002: The Plane That Fell Apart, 2003: The First Fireworks

At 3:28 p.m. on May 25, 2002, China Airlines Flight 611 took off from Taipei Songshan Airport (then known as Zhongzheng International Airport) with Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport as its destination. Fifteen minutes later, the aircraft disintegrated and crashed at an altitude of 34,900 feet, 23 nautical miles northeast of Makung in Penghu. All 225 people on board perished. The final investigation pointed to improper repairs following a tail-strike incident in the 1980s²⁴.

Penghu’s summer tourism industry was devastated. The following year, China Airlines held an event called “Ten Million Charms on Chrysanthemum Island” during the Lunar Qixi Festival as compensation for Penghu’s tourism sector. In 2003, the Penghu County Government took over and hosted the first Penghu Sea Fireworks Festival. The Penghu Sea Fireworks Festival Wikipedia entry states: “To compensate for the tourism impact caused by the air disaster, China Airlines held the ‘Ten Million Charms on Chrysanthemum Island’ event during the Lunar Qixi Festival that year. The following year (2003), the County Government hosted the first 2003 Penghu Sea Fireworks Festival.”²⁵

From that year on, Penghu gained a signature summer event. In 2019, the fireworks festival held 22 shows, attracting approximately 420,000 visitors—the highest number in its history. The COVID-19 pandemic brought visitor numbers back to zero, but the festival resumed in 2022, generating over NT$322 million in tourism revenue during the period.

However, the fireworks festival has a structural problem: it only takes place in the summer. Penghu tourism practitioners told The Reporter: “Summer work and winter rest is the common pattern for Penghu tourism operators.”²⁶ April to September is the peak season, while October to March is the off-season. During the off-season, flights are frequently canceled due to the northeast monsoon, and most restaurants and guesthouses remain empty. The Reporter previously wrote a more precise observation: “Every other year, a different guesthouse takes over operations.”

Outsiders see Penghu as blue skies and green seas in the summer. Penghu locals see Penghu differently: summer is when people work; winter is the true Penghu. In winter, vegetable houses still grow crops. The winter northeast monsoon blows continuously. Winter nights on Makung Central Street are devoid of tourists, populated only by locals. The two distinct temporalities of Penghu overlap on those 141 square kilometers.

19 Islands, 80,000 People: Dongji Island Has Only 20 Residents Left

In 2005, the Penghu County Government commissioned National Formosa University to conduct a comprehensive survey, confirming the total number of islands at 90. Prior to this, the count relied on the 64 islands documented during the Japanese colonial era. The distribution of the 90 islands is as follows: Magong City (7), Huxi Township (10), Baisha Township (37), Xiyu Township (3), Wang'an Township (32), and Qimei Township (1)²⁷.

Of the 90 islands, only 19 are inhabited. The Penghu National Scenic Area Management Office’s children’s version list includes: Penghu Main Island, Tongpan Island, Huji Island, Mudou Island, Jibei Island, Niao Island, Yuanbei Island, Baisha Island, Dacang Island, Zhongtun Island, Yuweng Island, Xiaomen Island, Jiangjun'ao Island, Wang'an Island, Hua Island, Xiyuping Island, Dongxiping Island, Dongji Island, and Qimei Island²⁸. The other 71 islands are uninhabited, with a combined total area of only 3.02 square kilometers—smaller than a single community in Magong City.

Dongji Island serves as a case study. It is the largest island among the Southern Four Islands of Penghu. A record from the KKday blog states: "Dongji Island is the largest island among the Southern Four Islands of Penghu. At its peak, the population exceeded 3,000, earning it the nickname 'Little Shanghai.' Today, only about 10 to 20 people remain."²⁹ How did the population drop from 3,000 to 20? Before the war, Dongji Island served as a relay station between Taiwan and Xiamen. Sailors, traders, and entertainment venue owners gathered on the island. After the war, cross-strait relations were severed, trade routes were cut off, and the island lost its economic foundation, causing people to leave in batches.

In 2014, the Southern Four Islands of Penghu National Park was officially announced. According to the Wikipedia entry: "The Southern Four Islands of Penghu National Park is the ninth national park in the Republic of China and the second marine national park in Taiwan's history... It was officially announced and implemented on June 8, 2014."³⁰ The park covers the four islands of Dongji, Xiji, Dongxiping, and Xiyuping, along with 35,843.62 hectares of surrounding waters. The Marine National Park Management Office specifically noted that on Xiyuping Island, "coral coverage exceeds 50%, the highest among the Southern Four Islands of Penghu."³¹ As people left, the coral grew back.

The demographic structure of Penghu County as a whole follows this trend. As of the end of 2023, the registered population was 108,000, ranking second to last nationwide. However, the resident population recorded in the 2020 census was only 82,000, representing 77% of the registered population. The aging index is approximately 194%, with those aged 65 and over accounting for 18.97%, while those under 15 make up only 9.76%. Magong City concentrates 60% of the population (approximately 64,000), while Qimei Township has only 3,937 residents³².

The fisheries sector is also shrinking. A Central News Agency report from April 20, 2024, stated: "Fishery catch volume has declined by three-quarters over the past 20 years, with annual output value dropping from NT$4 billion to NT$2 billion."³³ Causes include climate change, overfishing, and the deterioration of coral habitats. Currently, aquaculture (such as net pen farming for sea bass and grouper) generates an annual output value of approximately NT$1.53 billion, accounting for two-thirds of the total fishery output. Nearshore catches have shrunk to NT$730 million. In the 1950s, Penghu's stone weirs contributed 80% of the catch; today, they serve only a cultural landscape function.

The green sea turtles in Wang'an Township illustrate the same issue. The "Penghu County Wang'an Island Green Sea Turtle Nesting Habitat Protection Area," established in 1995, is currently Taiwan's only relatively stable green sea turtle nesting site. However, conservation conditions are severe: the number of nesting female turtles has declined annually from a peak of 19, dropping to just one female nesting in 2014; it rebounded to three females laying six clutches in 2022, and in May 2024, the first female turtle was recorded nesting³⁴. After thirty years of conservation efforts, the numbers remain fluctuating in single digits.

81.07%: The Second Time They Said NO

Back to the beginning.

On September 26, 2009, Taiwan held its first local referendum on gambling. The question was: "Should Penghu establish an international tourist resort with an attached casino?" The results were:

• Yes: 13,397 votes (43.56%)
• No: 17,359 votes (56.44%)
• Turnout: 42.16%
• The No camp led by 3,962 votes³⁵

This was the second local referendum held after the passage of the Referendum Act. The law was originally designed to require local referendums as a prerequisite for legalizing casinos. Penghu was selected because it met the criteria: an outlying island, small population, tourism-oriented, and with available land. Business conglomerates placed their bets. After the votes were counted, Shen Yourong (a Buddhist scholar) and convener of the Penghu County Anti-Gambling Alliance, said a quote that has been cited ever since: "Small shrimp defeated big conglomerates; Penghu people used their votes to save Penghu, and also to save Taiwan"³⁶.

In the following two years, the tourism industry actually grew. Data tracked by The Reporter shows: "Two years after Penghu's 2009 anti-casino referendum, tourist arrivals in Penghu increased by 15% by 2011"²⁶. Tourism grew without a casino. But this frame is too thin—Penghu people do not actually live by the narrative that "referendums bring tourism growth."

Seven years later, on October 15, 2016, they voted again. Same question, different numbers:

• Yes: 6,210 votes (18.93%)
• No: 26,598 votes (81.07%)
• Support in each township and city did not exceed 31%³⁷

What happened in those intervening seven years? Nothing. No massive wealth was made, the problem of the winter off-season was not solved, the outmigration of young people was not solved, and the decline of the fishing industry was not solved. Penghu people simply had 25 percentage points more No votes, saying NO a second time.

📝 Curator's Note: The common online narrative is that "Penghu people rejected casinos because they feared public safety issues." But this说法 reverses the causality. The core of Penghu people's opposition to gambling is hidden in Shen Yourong's 2009 quote: "Penghu people used their votes to save Penghu." The subtext of the word "save" is that Penghu was originally going to be turned into something else, and that Penghu people themselves chose not to have that thing. An airport service worker said in The Reporter's interview: "These are money games played by conglomerates; they provide no substantial help to us locally in Penghu"³⁸. A local specialty industry practitioner put it more concretely: "Casinos emphasize a one-stop experience of eating, drinking, and entertainment all within the casino. Tourists coming to the casino are trapped by the casino's facilities and services; who would still come out to the streets to browse and walk? We simply wouldn't earn money from setting up a casino"³⁹. The object of the two NOs was not the casino, but the choice of "who defines Penghu." When outsiders decide for you what you should become, you say no. Even if you cannot see how to proceed next, you still say no first.

CommonWealth Magazine interviewed several second-generation Penghu people who returned home. What they are doing is in-depth tourism, eco-tourism, and environmentally friendly tourism—after rejecting the tourism imagination of casinos, they want to grow something else in the blank space. One of the most cited quotes is: "Pursuing in-depth tourism and environmentally friendly practices are the values they identify with"⁴⁰.

In another in-depth interview by The Reporter, Liu Yi-Yang of the Penghu Youth Front said a quote closer to the core: "Actually, every Penghu child is looking for a way to come home"⁴¹. Every child who leaves Penghu to study or work on the Taiwan mainland has a version in their mind of what Penghu should become. The votes cast are the accumulated decisions of these versions.

Winter Vegetable Houses: The Northeast Monsoon Blows Outside

Return to the opening scene.

Four a.m. on Makung Central Street. There is water in the Four-Eye Well, though it is no longer used for drinking. The doors of the Kaikai Tainan Temple are closed. The Shen Yourong Stele from 1604 sits quietly in a glass case inside the Qingfeng Pavilion. The Northeast Monsoon blows into the alley from the northwest, sweeping past walls built of lurou stone and basalt.

At the Guanyin Pavilion seaside, two hundred meters away, the summer fireworks festival stage stands empty in winter. Twelve kilometers away at Fengchwei’s Snake Head Mountain, the castle built by the Dutch in 1622 remains only as ruins. Thirty kilometers away, the Baisha Cross-Sea Bridge carries no traffic. A little further lies Jibei Island, where 92 stone weirs emerge in the shape of hearts and arcs during low tide. Beyond that lies Qimei Island, where the two hearts of the Double-Heart Stone Weir clearly rise above the sea surface at low tide.

Further south lie the Southern Four Islands. On Dongji Island, 10 to 20 people are asleep. On Xiyuping Island, the coral continues to grow. Within the entire 35,843-hectare marine national park, there are few people but much coral.

The stone walls of every vegetable house were built later than that Dutch castle. Every vegetable house has also been used for longer than that Dutch castle.

The Northeast Monsoon blows outside. Penghu people learn this lesson in childhood: You cannot stop the wind, but you can decide in what kind of wall your crops will grow. In 1604, Shen Yourong forced the Dutch to withdraw. In 1622, the Dutch moved to Tainan. In 1885, the French commander died in Magong Harbor. In 1895, the Japanese began taking over Taiwan from Penghu. In 2002, China Airlines Flight 611 crashed; in 2003, the fireworks festival began. In 2009, 56% opposed casinos; in 2016, 81% opposed them. Penghu has always been chosen by others as an entry point, a stepping stone, a bargaining chip, a resort, or a backup casino plan. Every time, Penghu says: What you think doesn’t count; I think for myself.

Winter. Inside the wall of a vegetable house, a head of broccoli grows slowly in the lee. Outside lies the Houmen Waterway, 17.4-million-year-old volcanic rock, 19 inhabited islands and 71 uninhabited ones, a permanent population of 80,000, and two referendums.

It takes only 50 minutes to fly from Taipei to Makung. Next time you visit Penghu, don’t just go in summer. Go again in winter. Look at those stone walls. Look at what grows within them.

Further Reading

• Penghu Folk Culture — A comprehensive record of local folk customs, including the Kaikai Tainan Temple, Mazu worship, Erkan Baoge, and the Wangchuan ritual
• Offshore Islands and Maritime Culture — The Taiwan offshore islands maritime culture system comprising Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, Lanyu, and Green Island
• Geographical Features and Formation of Taiwan's Islands — The geological differences between Penghu's basalt archipelago and the orogenic movement of Taiwan's main island
• Legends of Mazu and Da Dao Gong — The cross-sea origins of Mazu worship at the site of the Kaikai Tainan Temple
• Administrative Divisions of Taiwan — The historical context of the 1920 administrative reform that renamed Magong
• Sino-French War — A panoramic view of the Taiwan-Penghu battlefield, including the French occupation of Penghu in 1885, the death of Admiral Courbet in Magong Harbor, and the Treaty of Tientsin
• Dutch, Spanish, and Koxinga Era — The critical turning point in 1622–1624 when the Dutch retreated from Funguwei in Penghu to Daeuy in Tainan

Image Credits

This article uses 5 images licensed under Wikimedia Commons:

• Hero (frontmatter): Bridge across the Houmen Channel (CC BY-SA 3.0) — Panoramic view of the Penghu Cross-Sea Bridge, photographed by Wing1990hk on 2015-06-30.
• Scene §1604 The Stele: Penghu Tianhou Temple 02 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — In front of the Penghu Tianhou Temple, photographed by Outlookxp.
• Scene §Columnar Basalt: Columnar Igneous Rocks on Tongpan island in Taiwan (CC BY 2.0) — Columnar basalt on Tongpan Island, photographed by Carrie Kellenberger on 2008-07-12.
• Scene §Erkan Roofs: 二崁聚落古厝的屋頂 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Red-tiled slate roofs in the Erkan settlement, photographed by Perryn1258 on 2011-07-09.
• Scene §Double-Heart Shihu: 七美雙心石滬文化景觀 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — Aerial view of the Double-Heart Shihu in Qimei, photographed by Chang Ya-lun on 2017-09-24.

Extended Video:

• PTS Our Island Penghu Basalt Conservation Area Series — Geological documentaries on the 1992 Penghu Basalt Natural Monument and the 2008 Penghu South China Sea Basalt Natural Monument.
• PTS Our Island Wang'an Green Sea Turtle Conservation Special — On-site observation of the Wang'an Island Green Sea Turtle Nesting Habitat Protection Area, established in 1995.

References