The Xiyu Western Fort () or Xiyu Western Battery ( ''Xīyǔ Xī Pàotái'',
[Ko Shu-ling]
"Gun Battery Sheds Light on History, Chinese Attitudes."
'' Taipei Times''. 10 January 2011. p. 3. Retrieved 15 July 2016. informally ''Xītái Gǔbǎo'') is a former
fort and
battery in Wai'an Village,
Xiyu Township,
Penghu
The Penghu ( , Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, about west of the main island of Taiwan across the Penghu Ch ...
,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
.
History
In the 17th century, Chinese
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
loyalist general Chen Guoxuan () built 15 batteries in Penghu to guard against
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
admiral
Shi Lang. Many of the batteries were destroyed during the
Sino-French War of 1884 and 1885, when Penghu was one of the main theaters of conflict. Following the war, Qing governor of Taiwan
Liu Mingchuan built four batteries in Penghu in 1887, including the Xiyu Western Battery.
The battery was inscribed by
Li Hongzhang. Xiyu Western Fort was important in delaying Japanese attacks during the
Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1895 but was abandoned during
Japanese rule.
It was designated a class-one historic relic in 1983 and, after a four-year renovation, was opened to the public in 1990. The
Penghu County government purchased three British-made
Armstrong guns for the fort in 2008 for
NT$20 million and they were installed in 2011.
Architecture
The fort was constructed on
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
terrain and has the same height to the surrounding ground. It is fully surrounded by solid walls in all directions and has four cannons inside. There are many arches stretching to all directions.
See also
*
List of tourist attractions in Taiwan
References
Forts in Penghu County
National monuments of Taiwan
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