Solo jaunt.
Jinmen is the name for two islands just off the coast of Xiamen in China, so close that even in cloudy weather the city is visible. Given the tumultuous history and present relationship between Taiwan and China, the island was heavily fortified over the years between 1949, before a considerable demilitarisation effort in 1992; now the overwhelming majority of military sites have been converted into tourist attractions. And they are absolutely everywhere, in every corner of the two islands. And even better, despite considerable bombing attacks on the island over the years, there is an absolute abundance of ornate, historic architecture everywhere we go; thankfully due to Jinmen's isolated location relative to Taiwan, it's avoided drastic modernisation which destroyed swathes of cultural heritage in both Taiwan and China. Nevertheless, Jinmen as far as I know doesn't really get much tourism compared to China or mainland Taiwan, and is seen as a niche place to travel to, and in my experience the island felt mostly empty and tourist-free.
Jinmen is absolutely a rite of passage for me as an explorer here. I've lived in Taiwan since 2016, and been aware of these sites since at least 2019, if not 2018, but never had enough motivation or desire to make a proper plan to get on a plane over here. So making a choice between hiking Taiwan's tallest mountain, Yushan, or this, I obviously chose this. No there was no threat of demolition for any of the sites, but it's never wise to procrastinate when it comes to exploring sites, whether they be new closures, mid-term ones or decade-long derelict sites. However, in exploring (and by extension, ghost hunting and thrillseeking) circles these sites have been extensively covered over the years, so it's about bloody time I actually made an effort to get over to this island and see the absolute abundance of dereliction on offer. And not a single site disappointed me, at all.
This will be a LONG report, so each site will be posted one by one in separate posts.
南雄育樂中心/Nanxiong recreation centre
This is one of those sites that has been extensively covered by explorers for absolutely years and is featured all over forums, much like a British or Belgian classic site that we all know of. This is a military cinema that was built by an army division in 1959 as a 500-seat combined theatre, cinema and recreation venue in a memorial park for the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, which occurred between 1958 and 1979. There isn't a fully comprehensive history for this particular cinema, but to my knowledge it probably closed in 1992 when the military presence on Jinmen was stepped down, and in turn attendees dropped to the point that it was no longer viable to keep it open.
I arrived in Jinmen on Friday 18th and since like the military hospital it was only 5 minutes drive from my hostel, to kill time I chose to check it out without a camera whilst en-route to a museum. I returned a day later to take photos of the place.
Photos won't show it, but the buildings on the site are all fetid pits that are full of animal waste and bones from goats and geese that roam free across the site. Indeed, as I was inside the theatre there was a female goat and baby goat inside with me, hiding at the back.
Hardly a dignified end for a military theatre, to be used as land for livestock grazing...
Although this place was indeed a fetid open sewer, there were still plenty of artefacts to look at as I explored the place, including the original projectors.
To give you a rough translation of what is said on the two pillars, they read: we take the rise and fall of our country as our responsibility, regardless of our own life or death.
It is now too heavily decayed to read, but this was originally a speech by Jiang Jing Guo (蔣經國), son of the first Taiwanese president and former president.
Outside is a memorial "bomb" which is still well looked after in contrast to the other structures.
I don't know what this building was, but I checked it out the first day I arrived and refused to go back in after smelling the foulest stench you could ever imagine.
Part 2 to follow.
Jinmen is the name for two islands just off the coast of Xiamen in China, so close that even in cloudy weather the city is visible. Given the tumultuous history and present relationship between Taiwan and China, the island was heavily fortified over the years between 1949, before a considerable demilitarisation effort in 1992; now the overwhelming majority of military sites have been converted into tourist attractions. And they are absolutely everywhere, in every corner of the two islands. And even better, despite considerable bombing attacks on the island over the years, there is an absolute abundance of ornate, historic architecture everywhere we go; thankfully due to Jinmen's isolated location relative to Taiwan, it's avoided drastic modernisation which destroyed swathes of cultural heritage in both Taiwan and China. Nevertheless, Jinmen as far as I know doesn't really get much tourism compared to China or mainland Taiwan, and is seen as a niche place to travel to, and in my experience the island felt mostly empty and tourist-free.
Jinmen is absolutely a rite of passage for me as an explorer here. I've lived in Taiwan since 2016, and been aware of these sites since at least 2019, if not 2018, but never had enough motivation or desire to make a proper plan to get on a plane over here. So making a choice between hiking Taiwan's tallest mountain, Yushan, or this, I obviously chose this. No there was no threat of demolition for any of the sites, but it's never wise to procrastinate when it comes to exploring sites, whether they be new closures, mid-term ones or decade-long derelict sites. However, in exploring (and by extension, ghost hunting and thrillseeking) circles these sites have been extensively covered over the years, so it's about bloody time I actually made an effort to get over to this island and see the absolute abundance of dereliction on offer. And not a single site disappointed me, at all.
This will be a LONG report, so each site will be posted one by one in separate posts.
南雄育樂中心/Nanxiong recreation centre
This is one of those sites that has been extensively covered by explorers for absolutely years and is featured all over forums, much like a British or Belgian classic site that we all know of. This is a military cinema that was built by an army division in 1959 as a 500-seat combined theatre, cinema and recreation venue in a memorial park for the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, which occurred between 1958 and 1979. There isn't a fully comprehensive history for this particular cinema, but to my knowledge it probably closed in 1992 when the military presence on Jinmen was stepped down, and in turn attendees dropped to the point that it was no longer viable to keep it open.
I arrived in Jinmen on Friday 18th and since like the military hospital it was only 5 minutes drive from my hostel, to kill time I chose to check it out without a camera whilst en-route to a museum. I returned a day later to take photos of the place.
Photos won't show it, but the buildings on the site are all fetid pits that are full of animal waste and bones from goats and geese that roam free across the site. Indeed, as I was inside the theatre there was a female goat and baby goat inside with me, hiding at the back.
Hardly a dignified end for a military theatre, to be used as land for livestock grazing...
Although this place was indeed a fetid open sewer, there were still plenty of artefacts to look at as I explored the place, including the original projectors.
To give you a rough translation of what is said on the two pillars, they read: we take the rise and fall of our country as our responsibility, regardless of our own life or death.
It is now too heavily decayed to read, but this was originally a speech by Jiang Jing Guo (蔣經國), son of the first Taiwanese president and former president.
Outside is a memorial "bomb" which is still well looked after in contrast to the other structures.
I don't know what this building was, but I checked it out the first day I arrived and refused to go back in after smelling the foulest stench you could ever imagine.
Part 2 to follow.
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Cheers!
