Wuqiu (Wuchiu, Wuciou, Ockseu
) (
Puxian Min
Puxian (Hinghwa Romanized: ''Pó-sing-gṳ̂''; ), also known as Pu-Xian Chinese, Puxian Min, Xinghua, Henghwa or Hinghwa (''Hing-hua̍-gṳ̂''; ), is a Sinitic language that forms a branch of Min Chinese. Puxian is a transitional variety of ...
: ''Ou-chhiu'',
Hakka: ''Vû-hiu-hiông'') is a group of islands comprising two major islands, namely Greater Qiu Islet and Smaller Qiu Islet, in the
Taiwan Strait
The Taiwan Strait is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide.
The Taiwan Strait is itself a ...
. Administratively, Wuqiu Township
is a
rural township which is part of
Kinmen County
Kinmen, alternatively known as Quemoy, is a group of islands governed as a county by the Republic of China (Taiwan), off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It lies roughly east of the city of Xiamen in Fujian, from which it is separa ...
(Quemoy),
Fukien of the
Republic of China (Taiwan) nominally ''de jure'' part of
Putian County.
It is the smallest township in Kinmen County and is located northeast of the rest of the county.
The township is from the
Port of Taichung on Taiwan. The closest territory under PRC control is the neighboring
Luci Island (Lusi Island),
Xiuyu District
Xiuyu District () is a district of the city of Putian, Fujian, People's Republic of China. The district executive, legislature and judiciary are in Hushi Town (), together with the CPC and PSB branches.
History
In October 1952, PRC and ROC ...
,
Putian
Putian or Putien (, Putian dialect: ''Pó-chéng''), also known as Puyang (莆阳) and Puxian (莆仙), historically known as Xinghua or Hing Hwa (), is a prefecture-level city in eastern Fujian province, China. It borders Fuzhou City to the no ...
,
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...
, which is to the north-northwest. Greater Qiu Island is the site of the
Wuqiu Lighthouse
The Wuqiu Lighthouse () is a lighthouse in Daqiu Village, Wuqiu Township (Ockseu), Kinmen County (Quemoy), Fujian Province (Fukien), Republic of China (Taiwan).
History
The lighthouse was constructed by the Netherlands in 1874 with engineer Da ...
.
History
In the early 1400s, Wuqiu was known as a marker on the sailing route between China and the
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yon ...
.
As of 1843, a "considerable fishing village" existed in Ockseu (Wuqiu).
The
Wuqiu Lighthouse
The Wuqiu Lighthouse () is a lighthouse in Daqiu Village, Wuqiu Township (Ockseu), Kinmen County (Quemoy), Fujian Province (Fukien), Republic of China (Taiwan).
History
The lighthouse was constructed by the Netherlands in 1874 with engineer Da ...
was built in 1874, directed by David Marr Henderson.
In September 1910, the center of a typhoon swept over
Niushan Island (Turnabout Island) and Wuqiu (Ockseu) or a few miles to the southeast.
Wuqiu Township was originally part of
Putian County with many of its residents emigrating from the county. After the end of
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...
in 1949, Wuqiu became disconnected from Putian. Control of Ockseu and other insular areas was shared between the KMT and anti-Communist guerrillas.
In June 1954, the township was provisionally reassigned to Kinmen (Quemoy) County.
In 1954, Wuchiu was shelled and attacked by the Chinese Communists on several occasions.
On February 25, 1955, Chinese Communist ships shelled Wuchiu.
On June 21, 1955, Nationalist planes heavily damaged a 40-ton tugboat at Wuchiu.
In February 1956, there were reports that the 480-man guerrilla force on Wuchiu would be evacuated. The Wuchiu Islands were seen as "highly vulnerable to Communist strikes" and "of little military value to the Nationalists."
Once the War Affairs Committee was founded in July 1956, strong and complete foundation for war affairs was built in the township.
In February 1957, the British cargo ship ''
Hydralock'' ran aground off Ockseu Island. All 31 crew abandoned ship, but then disappeared.
They were later discovered safe on
Haitan Island.
In the summer of 1965, then-
Minister of National Defense Chiang Ching-kuo visited the island as part of an inspection.
Late on the night of November 13, 1965, the Nationalist patrol boat ''Yungtai'' and the minesweeper ''Yungchang'' were on patrol southwest of the islands covering amphibious boats that were unloading supplies to Wuchiu. At just after midnight, eight Chinese Communist boats (three escort destroyers and five gunboats) coming from
Quanzhou
Quanzhou, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metropolitan region, with an area of and a popul ...
(Chuanchou) attacked the two Nationalist boats (
烏坵海戰). The ''Yungchang'' was sunk almost immediately with fifteen survivors who were rescued by the
USS ''O'Brien''. ''Yungtai'' sunk four of the Communist gunboats but was scrapped due to excessive damage from the engagement.
In the early morning of March 20, 1974, Lt. Wu Miao-huo defected to the PRC. He took a rubber speedboat from Wuchiu to
Nanjih Island. Wu wasn't able to get along with his superior officers.
Martial law was lifted from the township on 7 November 1992.
On 29 January 1994, Wuqiu residents had their first election to elect the fourth head of Wuqiu Township. And on 16 July 1994, the residents had their first election to elect the fourth village heads of Daqiu Village and Xiaoqiu Village.
In November 1994, General Li Kai, commander of the troops at Wuqiu, committed suicide.
During the
Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, military sources in Taipei expected China to attack a small Taiwan-held island. The most likely target was Wuchiu, then garrisoned by 500 soldiers. The outlying islands were placed on high alert.
In 1998,
Zero Chou
Zero Chou (; born 24 July 1969) is a Taiwanese director and screenwriter.
Life and career
Chou was born in Keelung, Taiwan in 1969. She earned a B.A. in Philosophy from National Chengchi University in 1992. She worked as a journalist before becom ...
produced a documentary about the islands called Yi Shi Zai Hai Xia Zhong ("Lost in the Strait") (Chinese: 遺失在海峽中:烏坵, 48 mins).
On December 26, 2001, President
Chen Shui-bian visited Wuqiu and delivered remarks. Chen was the first president to visit Wuqiu during their presidency.
In 2012, Wuqiu, along with
Daren Township in
Taitung County, was proposed by the
Ministry of Economic Affairs as the candidate of the new disposal site of
nuclear waste after the
Lanyu Storage Site in
Orchid Island,
Taitung County. This proposal however received heavy objection from the local Wuqiu residents.
On July 23, 2017, after a period of sixty years in which the lighthouse remained disused, the Wuqiu Lighthouse resumed service.
On August 24, 2017,
Chen Fu-Hai, then-magistrate of Kinmen County, visited the Wuqiu Township Office.
On the night of August 2, 2019, a cargo ship in port at Wuqiu struck a
tetrapod
Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids ( pelycosaurs, extinct t ...
in choppy waves. The ship sank but the thirteen crew members were rescued by the Wuqiu Islands Garrison Command.
In March 2020, the Kinmen County Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Office () sent five persons to Wuqiu to sterilize five dogs on the island in order to prevent the dogs from breeding and causing problems for the residents.
On March 29, 2020, at about 3:55 PM, a capsized ship from mainland China, Haifa 88 (), which had entered Wuqiu's restricted waters on March 9, broke free from the anchorage holding it in place and floated away. On March 9 at 7:32 AM, the ship had been in a collision with another larger ship from mainland China, Minshiyu 07725 (), in Wuqiu's restricted waters, and the four man crew of the ship were rescued at that time.
In late April 2020, Magistrate
Yang Cheng-wu
Yang Cheng-wu (; born 26 June 1972) is a Taiwanese politician. He has served as Magistrate of Kinmen County since 25 December 2018, having won the office in the 2018 Taiwanese local elections. Prior to contesting the magistracy, Yang represented ...
visited Wuqiu for the first time as magistrate and stayed overnight.
Geography
Wuqiu consists of Greater Qiu Islet (, ''Dàqiū yǔ'') and Smaller Qiu Islet (, ''Xiǎoqiū yǔ'', Hsia Hsü
) with a total area of 1.2 km
2, not to be confused with two islets
Daqiu Island () and Xiaoqiu Island () lying off the north coast off
Beigan in the
Matsu Islands (Lienchiang County).
The islands are considered a
basepoint of the Chinese territorial sea by the PRC.
Greater Qiu Islet lies from
Luci Island (Lusi Island), from
Nanri Island,
and from
Meizhou Island, all in
Xiuyu District
Xiuyu District () is a district of the city of Putian, Fujian, People's Republic of China. The district executive, legislature and judiciary are in Hushi Town (), together with the CPC and PSB branches.
History
In October 1952, PRC and ROC ...
of
Putian
Putian or Putien (, Putian dialect: ''Pó-chéng''), also known as Puyang (莆阳) and Puxian (莆仙), historically known as Xinghua or Hing Hwa (), is a prefecture-level city in eastern Fujian province, China. It borders Fuzhou City to the no ...
,
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...
, China (PRC). It is distant from other territory in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
(ROC) being from
Kinmen, from
Nangan in the Matsu Islands, and from
Port of Taichung on Taiwan.
Government and politics
Administrative divisions
Wuqiu township is made up of two
rural villages:
*
Daqiu Village ()
*
Xiaoqiu Village ()
Elections
Presidential elections
113 residents of Wuqiu participated in the
2020 Taiwanese presidential election.
Mayors
*Yang Jui-Ta ()
*Li I-Chiang ()
*Tsai Yuan-Chen ()
*Chen Hsing-Chiu ()
*Tsai Yung-Fu ()
Military
The Wuqiu Islands Garrison Command ( - ''Wūqiū Shǒubèi Dàduì'') defends the islands. The
Republic of China Navy has deployed twenty
XTR-102 systems in Wuqiu.
Demographics
There are 400 people with household registration in Wuqiu Township. The total population living on the islands fluctuates with the seasons.
Economy
Due to its location surrounded by ocean, fishing is the primary source of income for its residents.
Infrastructure
Drinking water is provided to the residents by using
reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic ...
equipment. Generators are used to improve power shortages.
Transportation
Ferry services and resupply between Greater Kinmen and Daqiu is run by the military every fifteen days. Transportation between Daqiu and Xiaoqiu (900 meters apart) was historically carried out by
sampan
A sampan is a relatively flat-bottomed Chinese and Malay wooden boat. Some sampans include a small shelter on board and may be used as a permanent habitation on inland waters. The design closely resembles Western hard chine boats like ...
. In 2008, the county government received a subsidy to build a boat for the township.
Ferry connection is available to the
Port of Taichung on Taiwan.
Culture
The languages spoken in Wuqiu are the native
Pu-Xian Min (Hinghwa dialect) and
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
.
The residents of other islands in Kinmen (Quemoy) County speak
Quanzhou dialect
The Quanzhou dialects (), also rendered Chin-chew or Choanchew, are a collection of Hokkien dialects spoken in southern Fujian (in southeast China), in the area centered on the city of Quanzhou. Due to migration, various Quanzhou dialects are s ...
of Min-Nan (Hokkien).
Tourist attractions
*
Wuqiu Lighthouse
The Wuqiu Lighthouse () is a lighthouse in Daqiu Village, Wuqiu Township (Ockseu), Kinmen County (Quemoy), Fujian Province (Fukien), Republic of China (Taiwan).
History
The lighthouse was constructed by the Netherlands in 1874 with engineer Da ...
See also
*
Kinmen
*
List of islands of Taiwan
References
External links
Wuqiu Township Office Fujian Provincial Government websiteSatellite image of the islands of Wuchiu and Hsiaochiuby
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...
Locator map of Wuqiu紀錄觀點【烏坵.ROC】(導演:柯金源)('Viewpoints: Wuchiu, ROC (Director: Chin-Yuan Ke)')
2017/9/1 南部開講-在地旅行 烏坵軍旅記憶小旅行('South Taiwan Talk- Area Travelling A Walk Down Memory Lane: Wuchiou Military Memories')
一個最難到達的鄉鎮﹣用心看烏坵(金門縣烏坵鄉)('The Hardest Township to Reach- Understanding Wuchiu (Wuchiu Township, Kinmen County)')
{{Kinmen divisions
Islands of Fujian, Republic of China