QUEMOY ISLAND

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Chin-men Tao, Kinmen Tao, or (Pinyin) Jinmen Dao, island under Nationalist Chinese (Taiwanese) jurisdiction in the Taiwan Strait at the mouth of Amoy Bay, People's Republic of China, and 184 miles (296 km) northwest of Kao-hsiung, Taiwan. It has an area of 51 square miles (132 square km). Once part of Fukien province, the island was occupied by the Nationalist Chinese when they were driven from the mainland by Chinese Communist forces in 1949. With Matsu Island, Quemoy was heavily bombarded from the mainland in 1958, an incident that caused the redeployment of the U.S. 7th Fleet and provoked an international diplomatic crisis. Its ownership still contested, the island remained under Nationalist military administration until 1992, when civilian rule was restored. Quemoy is the principal island of a group of 12, the Quemoy Islands, which compose Chin-men hsien (county). While most of the smaller islands are low and flat, Quemoy Island itself is hilly, with both a tableland and rocky areas. Farming, the main occupation, produces sweet potatoes, peanuts (groundnuts), sorghum, barley, wheat, soybeans, vegetables, and rice. In the 1960s and '70s, the government enhanced production through dam and reservoir construction, irrigation, reforestation, and fishery development. Sorghum liquor (kaoliang) is a significant export. The all-weather port of Shui-t'ou, situated on the southern coast, serves the main town, Chin-men (Quemoy). Pop. (1990 est.) including smaller adjacent islands, 43,133.