Draft History of Jinmen

Author: Xie Chongguang, Yang Yanjie, Wang Yifu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-08-01
Features: Jinmen is an island county located in the southeastern coastal area of Fujian Province. It consists of Jinmen (commonly referred to as Da Jinmen), Lieyu (commonly referred to as Xiao Jinmen), and surrounding islands such as Huoyu, Dadan, Xiaodan, Dadeng, Xiaodeng, Caoyu, Banyan Island, Huzai Island, Nanding Island, and Dongding Island, totaling 59 islands of various sizes. The easternmost point of the county is Beiding Island, while the westernmost and southernmost points are both Wudan Island, and the northernmost point is Dadengkou. The islands are scattered across the sea, extending approximately 40 kilometers from north to south and about 50 kilometers from east to west, with a total area of approximately 178.9560 square kilometers. The entire county and its adjacent waters are located at the intersection of the east-west and northwestern-trending structural zones of the Changle-South Aozhou fault zone, making it an area of high seismic activity. Particularly in the southern waters, it has been a dense zone of weak earthquakes in recent years. The location of the Jinmen islands is precisely at the throat of Fujian's southern sea, where routes from southern Fujian to Taiwan, Penghu, and overseas countries, as well as from Guangdong to Fujian, Jiangsu, and Shandong, all necessarily pass through Jinmen. The Jinmen, Lieyu, and surrounding reef islands, such as Shashan, not only have numerous deep and wide bays suitable for anchoring numerous warships but also countless dangerous reefs and strong currents, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack. As a result, their military significance surpasses that of neighboring islands and fortresses, making them a historically contested strategic location. Therefore, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, a thousand households' post was established on Jinmen Island, named "Jinmen" to symbolize its role as a gateway to the mainland and its impregnable defense.