August 23 Artillery War Museum

Kinmen


Set in a beautifully peaceful garden of banyan trees, this engrossing bilingual museum documents the horrific 44-day bombardment in 1958 during which communist China put Kinmen under siege and pummelled the islands with nearly 500,000 shells. Outside you'll find fighter planes, tanks, cannons and one of the crucial landing crafts that helped Kinmen survive the siege.

It's about 1km east of Shanwai near the northeast corner of attractive Tai Lake,; a body of water that was hand dug in the 1960s. From Shanwai bus station (山外車站) you can take bus 23 (alight at Jinmen Gaoji; 金門高職), join tourist bus D, or simply walk.


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