PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES / TOP PHOTO GROUP / JILL SU
likely to come across one of the town’s
t e emi ng popu l a t i on o f c a t s o r a
mountain goat than other people.
The men of Hujing spend their
days tending to their nets, lending
credence to the old Mandarin proverb
“Fish for three days; put your net under
the sun for two,” occasionally going out
to a sea that has less and less to give.
The town’s few children attend the
elementary school (six pupils in 2016)
or the junior high (a lone student for the
school’s only teacher.)
Wai-an Fishing Harbor
̮ဝಥ
comparatively stately Chen family home
draw visitors looking for a taste of life
when the people of Penghu pinned their
fortunes almost wholly on the bounty of
the sea.
SUN, SAND, AND FIREWORKS
Of course, one does not head for
Taiwan’s outer isles simply to soak up
history, but to soak up some sun as well.
If sand and surf are more your thing,
head for Shan Shui village to the south
of Makung, where you’ll find the Beach
Break, a cafe/bar/surf school run by
South African expatriate and surfing
enthusiast Terrence “Ted” Leite.
Right on the water, the Beach
Break offers surf and art lessons, (the
former when the waves cooperate)
along with impromptu performances by
the musically and artistically inclined
clientele the place draws with its
chilled-out “come as you are” vibes.
If you happen to be visiting Penghu
from April through June, be sure to take
in the annual Penghu Ocean Fireworks
Festival. On Monday and Thursday
evenings the festival lights up the sky
over Guanyin Pavilion Leisure Park at
Penghu Bay with jaw-dropping displays
of pyrotechnics courtesy of teams from
Taiwan and abroad, along with musical
performances by well-known and
up-and-coming Taiwanese acts.
OUTLYING ISLANDS
The summer months can make for
crowded streets in Makung and around
the main island, especially at night
when the heat abates. Seeking to get
away from the crowds, many people
hop on a ferry to one of Penghu’s
smaller settlements, such as Chimei.
A few, however, take a short trip to
Hu j i ng (Tab l e I s l and ) , a f i s h i ng
settlement of some 200 souls around 20
minutes from the main island by boat.
The geological features of the island are
worth the trip alone, as the town was
founded on a slim isthmus between two
tabletop hills.
A single road runs around the
island, with the drive from one end to
the other taking no more than 15
minutes. During the trip, you’re more
A MILITARY PAST
A few steps away on Jhongyang Street
is the Well of a Thousand Soldiers, a
source of water once believed to have
been made inexhaustible by the powers
of Matsu herself in the latter years of the
17th century. The rumor of the well’s
divinity spread among Chinese troops
commanded by Shi Lang, who were
amassing in Fujian Province for a cross-
strait raid on Penghu. From that bit of
timely generalship, a piece of island lore
was born.
Walking from the commercial
harbor toward the military harbor along
the Makung waterfront leads to the
intersection of Zhongshan and Xinfu
roads, where the Shuncheng Gate,
gleaming in its oyster-shell-ash coating,
stands as the watchtower to the old
Makung Citadel, a fort dating back to
the Qing dynasty.
Within the walls of the citadel,
beneath the centuries-old coralite turrets
where soldiers once stood watch over
the bay, is Duxing 10th Village, a
training site for troops and a command
center from the Qing dynasty until the
Japanese colonial period (1895-1945).
The buildings therein feature a
unique combination of Japanese and
Western architectural styles, their
expanse and modernity a hint of the
rank of the Nationalist officials who
called the village home following the
ouster of the Japanese at the end of
World War II.
Among the streets of the old
village you’ll find the Brewing Plaza, a
social hangout for soldiers and their
dependents, as well as the homes of
famous former residents such as
musician Yu Sheng and vocalist Pan
Anbang, singer of Penghu’s unofficial
anthem, “Grandma’s Penghu Bay.”
For a further taste of life in
centuries gone by, there is also Erkan
village in Xiyu Township. Located
across the bay from the citadel, Erkan
has been preserved as it was when it
was largely the enclave of the Chen
c l a n , t r a n s p l a n t s f r om a n o t h e r
Taiwanese isle, Kinmen.
Coral-walled houses, cobblestoned
s t r e e t s , a n d t h e r e d t i l e s o f t h e
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