Kimen Island Tour from Xiamen

This morning, your guide will pick you up from your hotel in Xiamen when you are ready. Then you will be driven northeastward to Xiamen Wutong Port for about 17 KM. It will take about 25 minutes. Xiamen Wutong Port is in the northeast corner of Xiamen Island, 7 kilometers away from Xiamen International Airport and 9.7 nautical miles away from Jinmen Shuitou Port. It is the closest mainland passenger port to Jinmen Shuitou Port, and the sea voyage time is about 25 minutes. At the same time, this route belongs to the inland sea shelter navigation area, with little influence of the external wind and waves.

Then we will take a ferry to Jinmen Shuitou Port, which is located at No. 90-1, Huanghai Road, Jinhu Town, Kinmen County. Located near Shuitou Settlement, a famous tourist attraction in Kinmen, it is a special port for Jinmen airline, and it is also possible to go to Quanzhou, which is probably the first place after arriving in Kinmen, and many people will take photos here. All ships from the Xiamen-Quanzhou area to Jinmen dock at Shuitou Port and go to Xiaojinmen by ferry here. Out of the dock, the opposite is the service center, eating, shopping, car rental, WIFI rental, and so on.

We will come to Zhaishan Tunnel first. The main function of the Zhaishan Tunnel was to turn around landing boats and transport personnel and supplies, but it was abandoned in 1975 due to the decline of the function of the island. The Kinmen National Park Service took over maintenance in 1997. It was opened to the public in 1987 and has become a major tourist attraction in Kinmen County. Walking down the stairs into the dim light of Zhaishan Tunnel, surrounded by thick walls of stone and with overhead stone walls, you will find the military masterpiece is in front of you. At the end of the tunnel, the bottomless sea brings some cool in the hot summer. Zhaishan Tunnel is divided into the dry pit and water channel, long and wide. The dry pit is about 100 meters long, 6 meters wide and 3.5 meters high. There is no problem with hiding 700 to 800 people inside. Besides, it is more difficult to dig underground, with the cold wind in the tunnel and the surging waves outside the tunnel. It took countless manpower some five years to dig this huge project, which can accommodate 42 boats in and out, and is known as one of the “Underground Golden Gate” masterpieces. The geology of Zhaishan Tunnel is particularly hard granite, so the military security is high, which can let many mechanical boats avoid shelling in the critical moment. Out of the tunnel, there are all kinds of landing boats and anti-aircraft weapons on display, which is also the military memory of the past. 

Next, we will head for Chen Shih-Yin Western-Style House. It was built in 1933 by Chen Shih-Yin, a businessman from Singapore and Indonesia. The construction of Chen Shih-Yin Western-Style House is different from the traditional architecture. The building was transplanted into the New Renaissance style of the UK. The dough figurines were decorated with double dragons and flowers in the house. Walls here are brilliant with the ever-bright symbol of the lintel. Its meaning is that people, suffering, had left home and gone to the ocean to make a living; only a few winners had returned to build a fabulous house. Most of the overseas Chinese were pinching pennies, to send the money back home or for the family, or to build ancestral homes.

Kinmen National Park is the first national park in Taiwan to preserve historical and cultural assets, commemorate battles, and conserve natural resources. Located in Kinmen County, it was established in October 1995, covering an area of 3,780 hectares, including parts of Dajinmen and Liyu. There are otters, waterbirds, turtles, mangroves and other wild animals and plants in the area, and there are important battlefields in modern history. It keeps the cultural assets such as traditional architecture and ancient shell burial mounds in southern Fujian.

Juguang Tower, located in the southwest of Kinmen County, is adjacent to Juguang Lake, flanked by Fenglian Mountain, facing the Wujiang River and adjacent to Jiangong Island. It has beautiful scenery. On the top floor, visitors can view the panoramic view of Kinmen urban area and the tide near and can view the scenery of Jiangong Island as well as the mainland mountains and rivers through the high-powered telescope. The three-story Juguang Tower is a landmark antique building in Kinmen Island. It was built in 1952 under the order of Hu Lian, the then Kinmen defense commander. It is mainly used to commend the deeds of the Kinmen garrison and is a restricted military zone in Kinmen. In 1992, it was lifted and became a tourist attraction. For more than 60 years, the Juguang Tower has been the theme image of Kinmen stamps and postcards and has become a landmark symbol of Kinmen. To understand Kinmen, one must go to Juguang Tower. 

Your Xiamen-Kinmen tour comes to an end, you will be taken back to the hotel Xiamen. We believe that today’s journey should make a deep impression on you.

Kinmen National Park

Juguang Tower

Author: Jiao Chen